Antler Mount Cover

I have a tear drop template , I basically screw a small wooden block inside skull cap then cover with plaster/mache mix , shaping like the tear drop upside down then cover with deer leather , glueing it on , no nails needed . I charge $150 and have $12 in materials and 1/2 hour hands on . I do like ten at a time . Great money little time

 

the skys the limit. you can use any thing you like. i do my own .got tired of the same thing on every euro. i mount it to a small little branch with out the branches. i cover it with paper mache all the way around to the wood. let dry and cover it in moss i get at wally world. i even painted the mache to match the wood.my customers love them. looks like they were on the trees for ever. just my way.

 

I do the same as 13 point, but I often save the scalps off deer, and make a "hair on" antler mount. My other option is to cover the mache with polyfill mat, then cover with black velvet, and trim with gold braid.

 

Like 13 pts I use a block of wood fitted inside skull cap, but I bondo this in with a couple screws. I use Mache or Durham’s water putty outside to shape desired and smooth. Split buckskin or elk skin glued over with a contact glue, but without the rope (looks cleaner and more professional to me). Now it’s easily secured to a plaque.

 

I use Bondo. I cover with their choice of three coverings; buckskin, felt or hair on with the scalp of the deer. I offer braided buckskin, decorative "rope" or without trim when it comes to trim work. I offer what ever panel the customer likes from the catalogs.

In my opinion, preshaped covers look cheap.

 

Not knocking just asking but isn’t bondo hard to shape ? Mache/plaster wet your hand or butter knife and shape no sanding .

 

That's a beautiful job, 13 point.

I had 3 different sized manikins that I'd made a mold of Bondo and cast my own. I would screw a block of wood to the Bondo form and then pour the foam in. Once it catalyzed, I'd cut off the excess, flatten the form, and remove it from the mold. My manikin had an antler slot cast in it right over the wood. I'd cap the antlers and screw them into the block of wood just like a mount. Then I'd mix Bondo and Cabosil and fill voids and fill gaps.

I liked using buckskin as it stretches all directions easily. I ordered buckskin from Quil Ceda in Marysville, WA. Since I had three sized manikins, I made 3 sized patterns for the buckskin to get the most out of my leather. I would cover the manikin with glue and lay the leather over the skull. I'd slit it in back of so the antler could be surrounded. Then I'd cut a slot down the back side to tuck it. I used a 1/4 upholstery stapler to hold the leather underneath. With a scalpel, I cut the leather so it fit tightly under the burr and removed excess so I could tuck it into the precut slots. I've used gimp, rope, and nothing according to the hunters demand. When done I'd predrill the panel and then use screws that went into the same antler block that held the antlers.

I always used solid wood panels only because I'm a clutz. Invariably, I would drop one of those cheap cardboard jobs and it ALWAYS hit right on a point that would smoosh out and need to be replaced. They weren't very cheap back then and I know they haven't gotten any cheaper.

 

When I would spread the Bondo (I always mixed it with fine sawdust to thicken it to the consistency of thick dough) I would wet my fingers and shape it close to where I wanted it until it started to kick. Then I removed the high spots with a narrow little auto body "cheese grater" until it was smooth. When it got past the kick stage and became fairly hard I finish smoothing with a small wood rasp.

It sounds like a lot of work and time consuming, but in reality, from the time I mixed the Bondo to the time I rasped the harding Bondo was maybe 3 minutes. I let the Bondo dry hard before I put glue and covering on.
I always did a large run in an assembly line fashion, so while one was drying until fully cured, which was mere minutes, I would be working on the next one down the line. By the time I finished with the last one, the first one was fully cured and ready for glue and covering, then on to the next.

Bondo fully cures a lot faster than plaster.

 

When I used plaster, I still used a wood rasp to take out the high spots when it hardened up, so not much different in time working it than Bondo.

 

As stated skies the limit. Done one with just mache, and black cording on the base of antlers, the mache looks like granite, guy thought it super kool. Many are done with leather, I don't use felt on put a couple. Most felt antler mounted really cheesey.

 

Here’s a couple pics of the one and only antler mount I’ve done. I found it really really hard to make the pad and to have the antler burs seated nicely.
I dread the day I have to do another one.