First Mammal Mount - American Black Bear

Completed June 2015  (yeah, yeah, i've  taken my time to upload this!)
Lifesize American black bear sow, no base by customer request 

So, here is my very first attempt at mammal taxidermy! Jumped right in the deep end like a lunatic. Much blood, sweat and tears (and wine) went into getting this mount complete, and it gave me every problem you could think of! The form and skin were sold to my client as a package by the son of a taxidermist who had passed away. They were supposedly going to mount it themselves before they passed but... the form was for a large boar, skin was a small-medium sow. Spent weeks cutting and shutting and sanding the damned form until she finally fit! So many tears were shed because of that form. No money to buy a new form, client not willing to pay for a new one... Not great but we got there! On top of that, the pads were very damaged and had to be removed, i sculpted replacements with apoxie. Covered multiple slip spots, replaced 4 missing claws, glued 3 torn-off toes back on, sewed up some huge holes... You get the idea! A mess! 

But here we are after the whole ordeal. I hate photos of me, but i actually kinda like that photo. And im glad i managed to not only finish her, but have a good result too! Im still very proud of her, super happy for my first mammal c: