This will be my first Mt lion and I had a couple of questions. First what is the paint schedule for the nose? Secondly if I use a dorsal incision will the hair lay correctly enough to cover the stitch line. And lastly are there any tips for hide/maniquin prep before mounting (hide already tanned). Thanks and happy new years....
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I usually use a bright flesh color on the nose first,then misting Rich brown over top.Dark brown for the thin,dark border around the outside edge of the nose,
and also up the lower center of the front of the nose.If the nose color gets too reddish or orangish,mist a very light coat of Paynes gray over it to tone it down.It is important to use a reference picture of a nose whose color you like as you apply these colors.You can't just shoot colors on blinly following someone elses color scheme and expect good result with out using good reference.Their are probably 100 color combinations that would achieve a good result.This is one.I use a dorsal incision for animals as small as a weasel and am a fairly neat stitcher,but a mountain lion is one animal that I would never do a dorsal incision on.They just have that kind of hair on their backs that makes a seam very visible.Others on the forum have said the same thing in the past.The hair on their belly and inner legs hides seams a lot better.As far as the hide and mannikin prep,most of this will be like any other animal.Some like to pull the whiskers and install them later with super glue and a needle tool.If a guy is conscientious,either way will do a good job.You may have to cut pockets on the headform and fill with clay to set the butts of the ears in so that they can be adjusted to the proper angle.By all means get and have on hand good reference for face,feet body and tail.There is a lot of tucking to do around and between the toes.There is a lot of skin between the toes and around the claw sheaths that has to be arranged.I spend as much time on the feet as I do the head and face.Unlike a lot of deer shoulder forms,you may have to do a lot of work to the mannikin to make it look like something.Especially around the face.Sometimes eye sockets are too far apart or the wrong angle.Distance from the upper lip to the top of the nose may be too great.Angle of the lipline in front may be too steep or too shallow.Ear liners have to be fit to the head to make sure the shape of the head doesn't keep you from getting them in the position you want.Often the back of the head where the ear sits is a little off in shape and affects the way the ear sits.No one can work these problems out for you over this forum.These are things you will have to figure out for yourself by studying good reference and learning how to manipulate mannikin and skin to cme up with something close to what you see in the pictures.Lion mannikins just aren't as cosistently good as some of the lines of whitetail forms available today for example-especially the heads.Take your time and don't rush in to it.Study face pictures.Proportions are everything in cat faces.The skin itself will stretch out and won't be an accurate indication of some proportions like distance between the eyes and distance between the ears.Use photos to check these proportions and adjust the skin to fit those proportions.Look at the way the eyelids and corners lay in relation to the eye itself and the pupils.A lot of these facial features are completely different than most animals that you mount-not necessarily harder but definitely different.Do your homework and good luck.
here's how i get the seam to disappear - take some plastic sceen wire and t-pins - brush the seam as well as possible and simpley cover the seam with the screen wire and tack it down tight - have never had any trouble with seams this way - also as you are sewing make sure you are injecting paste at edges of seam - you need the glue there to hold the seam in place