Oh, and I also finished my paper the beginning of last week. I'm feeling pretty confident about this project.

Finished!

I am done with my product! I went to my mentor's house for 1 hours and 45 minutes last night. I worked on my European mount and let it dry. Paula was getting ready to paint the deer, so I had to apoxie the one she forgot to do. I had to fill in around the eyes, in the nose, and the tear ducts. She showed me how to paint them. I brushed all of the lumps out of the hair. Then when my mount dried, I took the tape off of the antlers and made sure none of the paint went through the tape.

Yesterday I spent some more time with my mentor. I was there for about two hours. We worked on my project. I had to mix bondo and put it on the skull cap and attach it to the skull. Then I had to drill a hole through the skull cap and bondo to make sure it doesn't come off of the skull. Then I had to mix epoxy to get the right color. I had to use this to fill in all the gaps and cracks. Then I had to redraw markings on the skull(everything circled in pink) with a pin. Once that started to dry I had to put tape around the antlers to keep them safe from paint, and then spray paint it lightly to even out any color differences there were since the color of the epoxy didn't match exactly.
We had to let it dry, so next time I go see her we will finish it. I am excited to see how the final product turns out.

I spent two hours with my mentor last night. I got all of the skin off of the skull cap of the antlers I'm working on. I also stained them, because they weren't a very nice color. I helped her take the cartilage off of the inside of a deer and fit the hide on a form.
Next time I meet with her we are going to finish my product, and maybe mount a deer.

Friday October 9th I spent with my mentor, I did a practice European mount. We spent about 3 hours together. I helped her do some final touches and detailing on a mount she was working on. I worked on all of the areas on the face that needed to be filled in.