Handmade Mounted Moosehead

a tedious handmade present that i wouldn't suggest anyone try! i can appreciate it now that it's all finished :)

Posted by Beckz

About

I have no idea how long this took me to make, as it was a Christmas present for my boyfriend that I worked on while he was gone to sea. He was gone for 5 weeks, and it took me the whole 5 weeks off and on to get it to it's finished state (and ready to hide til christmas).
It was a pain in the butt getting the antlers in and the whole thing on the taxidermy plaque. I would not suggest this project to anyone! It was frustrating and took me many beer to get through it haha
But after all is said and done, I've very glad I did it for him. He loves it and everyone who has heard about it, or seen it seems to love it, in all it's tacky glory!

{obviously from our personal belongings on the mantel you can tell we appreciate this sort of random thing}

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You Will Need (8 things)

  • Water
  • Paint
  • Flour
  • Chicken Wire
  • Newspaper
  • Brown Wool Roving
  • Eyes
  • Wooden Plaque

Steps (6 steps, 3480 minutes)

  1. 1

    i started off with a chicken wire frame because there was no way i was going to needlefelt the complete head as one giant piece. this way i got a base to start from at least. I felted the wool on the outside to a thin layer of wool on the inside, so for as large as this is, the hollowness keeps it very very light.

  2. 2

    i found a giant teddy bear at the local salvation army and i cut it's eyes out. they were perfect for my moose, but i kind of felt crazy cutting a stuffed animals eyes out! i wanted the 'realistic' shine from the light with these that i just wouldn't get if i were to needlefelt the eyes.

  3. 3

    i worked on the paper mache'd antlers... using the chicken wire as a base. i formed the paper and let them dry for days then painted them.

  4. 4

    i somehow got the eyes in (half gluegun, half needlefelted).. and started to try to attach the chicken wire to some eyelet hooks i screwed into the plaque. it wasn't working well, and i don't know if i should have waited until after the antlers to do this? i thought this was the most annoying part but it wasn't until the next step that it got really frustrating!

  5. 5

    I had a heck of a time maneuvering the antlers into the mounted head which was attached very sketchily to the plaque. nothing wanted to fit tightly and i wound up with lots of scratches from trying to wind the chicken wire loose ends into each other to hold everything in place. i needlefelted lumps of wool roving under the flopping antlers to try to give them some lift!

  6. 6

    ......and voila! i ran and got it while i made my boyfriend hide in another room. then i hung it above our mantel and brought him in and uncovered his eyes!