In 1982 I killed a bear in Colorado. I made a mistake and didn't do the home work on my taxidermist. After a few years I began to notice that the hide was falling a part. I was wondering if there is any thing that can be done to restore this bear rug. Possiblly gluing the rug to a cowhide and filling in any missing fur with artificail hair or real hair of another animal.If what I suggested can be done what kind of cost are we looking at. Any response wolud be appreciated. My email is inso@vian.k12.ok.us Thanks Irvie
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Let me defend the person a little. We skin, scrape, and salt hides, then package them and than ship off to a tannery, well in most cases. Some of the tannerys not all but some have screwed up so many hides, the reason being that they dont pay thier shavers enough, I would hate to spend my days bent of a fleshing machine all day long. So the guys being paid by the job, start getting in a hurry and the mext thing you know they have shaved it to thin and the hair of the bear falls out, they over tanned it and then it becomes bRittel.
Joe home owner, takes the hide, throws it on the floor, walks over it for years breaking hair off, or lewts every body touch the thing rubbing it and the hair breaks off. To beat all Joe home owner wants to cut corners on the rug and in so doing there is only a border around the edge and no padding or backing underneath.
No you cannot replace the hair, you can using cotton gauze and muslin and liquid latex, apply thei to the skin side and hold off the cracking and breaking. No you can also dye the skin before hand and hide part of the thin haired areas, which you may be perceiving as hair falling out.
Hope this has help, but you will more than likly be mad because after reading you may have found out the problem was not the taxidermist.
Well, I'm certanly no mad at you or your response. But thier were a few things that I left out about the taxidermist. He riased the agreed upon price (my mistake I didn't get it in writting and he cut out one of my bears claws with out my permission) But that is water under the bridge I am looking for some one who can repair this rug. I didn't fully understand what you siad could be done, but I do agree it was the tan job not nessecarrily the taxidermist
Why don't you do what a furrier would do?
Take the rug off it's backing. Lay the hide in all of it's delicacy, on a flat surface such as a huge table or large wooden or marble floor.
Then, get out the ol' TRADE SECRET and paint it on with a brush. Then make SURE to dust with some form of anti-stick powder (corn starch and baking soda are equally good, but baking soda has the added advantage of alkalinizing the hide .. this stops an alum tan's dry rot in it's tracks because the pH is now non-acid!)
Every place you see a rip, go over the rip again with another coating of the trade secret. Re-dust. Let dry 24 hours.
If you still see rips, carefully add backing to these areas. I use grosgrain silk ribbon. (I work on mink, fox, russian sable .. this is appropriate for these hides) You can also use peeled persian lamb. Peel off those gross curly clumps and use the ultra thin, super supple suede underneath as your "new skin".
If you need to sew, sew. I use glue. I hate sewing.
Then, once all of this restoration is done to the leather side, you need to flip it over and GROOM GROOM GROOM. At least 2 hours on a bear size animal. Groom out all the trade secret that got in the hair, and all of the years of mats .. you should be cleaning your grooming rake out every 10 minutes. You will be amazed at how much fur falls out - but in the end what you are left with is something totally beautiful again.
If you see bare spots after a final groom, buy another bear cape and graft the fur in. Most reputable pelt dealers and even some furriers can match a bear hide as easily as they can match a string of fox.
You can either sew or glue the grafts in. I prefer glue, but that's because I don't keep my restores - I sell them! So sew if you want durability, glue if you want speed and no rips.
You can also use like-color angora goat hair. Believe me, the bears will be easier to find and match. You might even want to try mongolian lamb (or tibetan if you can groom out all the curl :)
Once the grafting is done, groom again. Groom until you see no joining areas. By this time your arm better be sore and you better be hungry, and sweating. There should be a small mound of black fur next to you. You can sell this fur to fly-tiers so don't just toss it. You will now have an intimate knowledge of the fur and a critical eye.
Everyone else will think you shot a new bear.
Then get it re-rugged or just leave it as a pelt, on the floor or a shelf or something. I prefer my stuff to have no felt or backing, as I never would walk on an animal, that is disrespectful.
You can buy fake bear claws. You can even buy real bear claws. My pelt supplier sells both kinds. Your bear missing a claw is an emotional pain for you but actually an easy fix, physically.
I am a pelt purist and a perfectionist with restores.
Best of all, this will cost maybe $ 40 (and a day of your precious time). The re-rugging would be $$$ but everything else is just your own skill and ingenuity at work.
You'd be amazed how well these restores work. I sold a SHOT fox coat (rips, mats, wear, you name it - this coat had it - problem wise) for over $ 500 that I got for $ 32. Client loved it. Never, ever underestimate your customers!
Fur girl would you consider doing the job you just described and what would you charge? I am really looking for some one to do the job. Although what you described sounds do-able. Thanks Irvie
I to have a similar problem i have a beautiful fur rug made of lamma and alpaka the back of the rug in drying out and the stitching is ripping out is there something i can put on the back to soften the suede and prevent any more deteroation? thank you please e-mail me.