Apoxie Sculpt Eyes

I think its a great idea for those really good at setting the eyes properly!

 

It will definitely work, Here's the issue with that , when it dries it is what it is , you can’t adjust if needed. Sometimes a eye skin is a little thinner or thicker and once on could show different looks , try this instead , Do your clay work and let it dry hard , not for days but do it the night before your going to mount it . Now go ahead and put glue on and pull cape over . Put your cape in place and open I skin and give the eye clay a good misting of water . Now set ur rack and such , At this time I set my brisket and staple the back up . Just do what you can do to the mount giving the clay time to soften up . The way I mount the eyes are the last thing I do , by the time I get to them the clay is soft like I just did them now you can tuck and adjust as needed and your clay is still how you set it in the first place to start with.

 

Like 13 point, the eyes are the last thing I do.
But I use apoxie sculpt for my eye work and I do the tuck method. And I do all this through the eye opening after cape is sewn up. Even when I do happen to use critter clay, I will still do it all through the eye opening. If I have to use critter clay, I will set some out to dry for awhile before before putting it through the eye opening and doing my eye work. But I prefer to use apoxie sculpt for my eye work.

 

Though i never used this method i do have a old Ronnie Gaillard : competition whitetail techniques video that show him using this method .

 

I have used both clay and Appoxie and both had their pros and cons. In the end, clay won out.

 

Verne, Ronnie and I had the same teacher, LOL
Ronnie is a great guy.

 

I've been presetting eyes this way for decades and would never go back to clay. No down side IMHO.

 

All I use is apoxie sculp. Tuck method and forget it. I will say if your not comfortable with your eye sets this is not for you. There's no going back and adjusting he next day.

 

Critter clay ?

 

Well it will dry and be ready in a few hours , you only need for it to get a good stiff shell coat on it I typically do my eye work at night when I do my ears then I cover them with clear wrap , in the morning I go out and uncover to start to harden , I have as I told you let it go over night and as you said the thin edges flake a little but not the muscle detail . You can just flake that tiny stuff off and smear a little more on but it’s not necessary as you hide paste will take care of that small issue .

 

Critter clay may be ok for use around eyes while still soft as the eyes are tucked, although I stopped using it because the cape always messed it up while being put on form. I have also had the problem of it cracking and falling of if you allow it to dry uncovered by the skin. I think it is highly overrated and not much better then plain ole potters clay. For my next deer mount I am going to use clay shay, which I think is a far superior clay, to model in the eyes, cut a tucking slot while still wet and then let dry before mounting. If I cannot tuck the eye skin satisfactory this way I will just trim off the tucking skin and lay the lids right against the glass. I hope this works but as said, you have to get it right because eye expression is locked in. Clay shay is a powder so probably has no shelf life as does critter clay.

 

I saw another taxidermist do his ear butts with Apoxi Sculpt and no clay then he glued in the ears on mounting day.

 

Yes sir that’s what I do for competition build all my muscle detail then I notch cut them off , so when I mount the deer they lock in place , works great for ears but puts you in a box for eyes

 

Put plastic wrap over your clay work if you are going to leave it over night. I used to do the eyelids in clay the night before, let it dry for an hour or two and then lay plastic wrap over the clay work and it stayed moist enough not to crack.