Hide pulled around burr

Maybe take a bit of extra hide with close to matching colored hide, and glue into gap. Then air brush to match.
Are you sewing up the cape from the antlers down? If not, this problem will occur if you are sewing from the bottom up.

 

I guess it depends on how large the gap is. You could add a piece of hide as mentioned, or fill with apoxie sculpt. When that hardens, place a dab of super glue on that and roll the hair into the glue. Hold for a second and the hairs will hide the area, assuming it's not too large.

 

What's "pretty big " in numbers ,measurements ?

 

thats a long way to try and stretch it shut. you can soften the skin and try again. but it could pull from the eyes.

 

That big, it needs to be patched in with parts from a spare cape that matches somewhat. You can dye or air brush color to match somewhat if need be. A "butter knife " , I don't think so . I have never seen one that bad in 50 years in taxidermy. Good luck !

 

NO ! You need another cape to take the hide from around the BURR to patch with !

 

I really shouldn't respond on posts like this one but I tend to be a moth to a candle. After reading it, I just wanted to shout, "What the hell were you thinking?" when you mounted it. I know that it didn't shrink 3/4 an inch while drying.

Be all that as it may, I use a very UNCONVENTIONAL METHOD when I get in a "fixer" like that. I take a tube of RTV Clear Silicone and fill the gap with it. Then I go on the backboard of the form and I cut snippets of hair. I take these snippets and I start pushing the cut ends down into the silicone, layering it as I go. When the gap is completely filled, I then take a piece of papertowel and gently fold the hair back slightly towards the antler. Let it cure for a day.

Many people say that the hair won't match but if you ever get a deer in velvet, you'll see that the hair on its head and around the burrs is quite long. So what happens to this long hair? Obviously SOME of it falls out when the deer sheds to go into winter pelage. HOWEVER, the other hair is ground down as the buck cleans the velvet off its antlers and rubs trees. SO, after the silicone is cured, take a sharp pair of scissors and give the deer a haircut. The hair will match you hide since it's part of it.

NEXT TIME, fix it before you mount it or cinch it up tighter when you do mount it. Then monitor it every day until it's dry.

 

I've hidden a few (1/4" ) by extending the antler burr lower with a small roll of epoxy and some paint.. you would never know ..
Being yours is so large tho maybe a combination of adding hair and burr to hide from both ends..

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

 

I think I'd tell my customer to hang tight. Meanwhile I'd let every bow hunter I knew that I needed some repair parts. Have your customer do the same. Don't know when your season starts, but ours does in a week. I'll bet you get a specimen for a patch reasonably quickly. While I've admittedly never done it, I would think you could get good results relatively easily. My $.02

 

Now I hate to be a party pooper, but when I hear the advice about getting "replacement parts", I always wonder who's going to dick up a perfectly good hide so you can get a "replacement part" for someone else's screw up. An early season hide on a respectable buck is worth at least $150 in many quarters, more in others. If a guy kills that type of buck and I have an opportunity on it, he either mounts it himself and I use that hide or I save that hide waiting to make extra money on some numbnuts who screwed up his own hide.

 

I agree with George here. When I get antlers to mount from customers, they usually come in connected to a head cut off at the skull/neck atlas or a scalp that has the hair on it. I would home tan those heads up for spare parts and repair work. I would never use a profitable cape for a repair that could be accomplished by other means.
Going to a butcher to get a head or two would be a better option than ruining a cape.