Dear colleagues,
I would like to address a few questions to this forum as I hope that someone might be able to help me out. Any suggestions and hints would be highly appreciated.
I am currently working on a full sized lion mount and have big troubles with the hide coming out of the tannery. It has bare (hairless) blotches (headsize) on the body, also the lower part of the legs (only the feet) is completely free of hair and of course white. Also the mane is thinned out and has lost a lot of hairs as well.
My questions:
1) How could I repair the hairless spots on the body / feet (painting, colour, any other possibilities)?
2) Is there a way to repair the mane and make it thicker again (artificial hair,...)?
I am willing to try anything with which you had good experience as I need to restore the mount in a suitable way as soon as possible. Thank you.
Eric Leitner
Austria
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Holy cow, I know we all send to tanneries at our own risk and end result has alot to do with how it was taken care of in the field but da-gone that doesn't sound good at all. I think if I were you I would call and discuss this situation with your tannery.
Did you hunt this lion yourself or buy the hide? If bought, zoo or import?
In reply to your question, I don't know how those size areas could be fixed to be quality and un-noticeable.
Michelle: first of all I will bet you the cat is from Africa.And field care was alright.Second this is the reason I do all my own tanning.The tannery would have received a dry salted skin ( am I right so for Eric ) the tannery will rehidrate the skin in salt water bad news right there.The epadermis on a lion is extremely fragile,and this is the reason the mane hair is falling out.Always rehydrate in pickling first.Tanneries can screw up the lords prayer,now some poor hunters trophy is all screwed up,but I can probably fix your problem.
Eric take a lot of digital pictures and e-mail it to me houlel@onlink.net and we will see what is the best way to go about this.It will take some work but nothing is impossible,all is probible
May this all be a good lesson to you and mayby you will start tanning your own skins so you have control of your work at all times.
You pay $20,000.00 u.s. for a lion hunt (trophies fee and daily rate)
and have a tannery screw it up and see how pissed off you get.
I don't care if it's a rabbit or a lions skin,the clients trophy care come first,and when you put trust is a tannery they are
NOT A TAXIDERMIST,If you are to busy to do your own tanning,hire someone ( IN YOUR SHOP ) and get them to do the tanning,at least you can control the screw ups.
E-mail me Eric.
Laurier
I totally agree Laurier. My meaning was, if he knew all field care was OK, discussing w/ the tannery about replacing it or compensating him for the cost of repair. The shame of it, if Eric shot the cat himself, not the same to him to replace it. Though I do think I would try to recoup at least some of repair cost from the tannery.
I also agree nothing is impossible. It's just rediculous, that by the sounds of the damage, Eric is going to have an extreme amount of money and work that will be tied up in this cat because of the tannery.
Good luck Eric, I hope you can get things taken care of!
Laurier I hope you can help him!
Why the cat has slipped so badly, these critters are always a high bacteria risk animal, and whether it was an African field dressed or a local zoo animal, poor preperation and salting hightens the potential of slippage.
The one advantage you do have in tanning your own skins is that you can personally monitor the procesess. When signs of slip are evident, some action can be taken to minimize the overall damage . The fact that they went to a tannery and slipped is not, without proof, any of the tanneries fault.
You have a big repair process in front of you by the sounds. If the body slip is on one side, try to convince yourself or the client to do the beast lying down, perhaps even cut good patches of hide from the worst side to repair the least slip side.
Glueing, patching, flocking etc etc, l dont envy your task. Sometimes it is better to say no,it finishes here and simply write the project off, for how much will the client be up for in repairs? Alternatively he may even accept the idea of a replacement skin.
Its a bit like automobiles, they can be repaired after a major crash, but at what price? Often it is better to write them off.