Boiled Skulls, Can't Get Them White

sorry for your problem here . You're first mistake was giving them to someone and not checking on his quality. Too late now so you have to face that fact. Iron out will not help these. Your problem is grease and yes if you want to clean them up you don't have much choice, degreasing is the only way to get by this mess, and it will not by an easy job by any means the way the grease is boiled and set in the skull. tough lesson.

 

paint will not stay stuck on a greasy skull

 

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Unless you have months to degrease them, do the following: Soak in supersaturated Dawn and warm water for a few days. Rinse and allow to dry. Rinse with lacquer thinner and allow to dry Seal Mod Podge. Mist with Polytranspar Superhide White. Seal with Krylon matte. Been there, done that.

 

These are greasy, you need to get that out if you don't want to paint...not sure if paint will stick as greasy as they look.

 

You can get them mostly degreased it will just take time and patience. Moose do make it a challenge but it is doable. I just did one last year and have another to do. I used a big tote and cut grooves for the anlters to sit down into and siliconed around them. You can also use a kiddy pool that it will fit into.

 

Simmer in ammonia out side , then soak completely submerged in Colman fuel for a week making sure there are no air pockets in skull . You can drill that hole on top of skull out just a tad to help release that air , but go small enough not to be noticeable. Then put in peroxide completely submerged for a week . That should do it .

 

kilz oil base primer should help seal them if you cant get the grease out.

 

How do you manage to ship those intact? Or do you have to cut the antlers off and make them so they can be re attached? .. Hopefully, your client understands that what she is getting isn't actually your work. I always dread sending out something of lesser quality that is going to have my name attached to it. You didn't have much choice though.

 

Yep, I wouldn't send them out looking like crapola. I stopped using any wholesaler for my skulls. It was always a crap shoot that I almost always lost. I'd spend more time fixing their crap than if I'd done it myself from start to finish, boiled, painted, mummified flesh still attached, you name it. I now tell customers euros will be done when they are and not a moment sooner, some are Ok others not, oh well, I can't do em all.

 

N

Never tried sanding .. but would be curious what the colored surface stains were and if it reacted to anything. Still would be a lot easier to remove it or change it by soaking it in something. Curious if you tried Iron Out.

 

To eliminate the "I want it now" customers, I have them sign an agreement that I have written. Part of it states that it will take up to three to four months for them to get their skull back. That part is underlined. As well as the part where I state I will call them when it is done. When they call a week after dropping it off, I remind them to read the agreement. When they call again, I tell them that the more time I spend on the phone with them, the less time I am working on their trophies and it is going to make it take even longer. I don't ever rush, I make them wait and they don't get it until it is done. There is no rushing which also puts a prior clients trophy behind theirs. After a new customer has gotten their piece back they are thrilled and happy for the wait. Repeat customers no longer hassle me as they know what the rules are and that I stick to them. It is only the first timers that try to get pushy. I also have two skulls to be examined. One is a skull I cleaned my way. The other is a skull that was quick boiled and whitened and out the door in a few days. Both skulls are now several years old. I let the client examine both skulls and then ask them which quality they would like to bring home. When they point to the clean one, I tell them that it takes a few months to make one like that. The nasty greasy one they can have back in a week or less. That usually eliminates most of the pushy ones.

 

I'm not surprised the customer like them the way they are I have one customer that I clean skulls each year a d he insists not to soak in peroxide he like what he calls the natural look