(Read the thread and you will "see" what I am talking about.)
I like to use my “ordinary” antlers for a hat rack.
This year I bought the usual mounting “kit” from Wal-mart, but I was unsatisfied with the way the plastic skull-cap cover looked after I had trimmed it and mounted it on the plaque.
Sooooo….I decided to try something different….
Here’s what I did.
#1. --I mounted the rack on the plaque with drywall screws instead of the junk that’s in the kit.
#2. --Then I stole a bunch of stuff out of my wife’s sewing and craft room.
I covered the skull-cap with “batting” (like they use to stuff furniture with). You can get batting material at any craft store or at Wal-mart in the sewing department. It looks like a sheet of cotton balls.
I cut it in the shape of the skull-cap and just placed it on top, no glue or anything.
#3 --Then I laid a piece of black velvet material over the skull-cap and the batting. I then reached under the black velvet and ran a bead of glue around the edge of the skull cap on the plaque (I used an ordinary hot-glue gun.) I pushed the black velvet down and let the glue set up.
After the glue had hardened I took a razor knife and trimmed the excess black velvet off from around the skull cap. I also trimmed around the base of the left and right beams.
This trim job does not have to be fancy or exact because you cover up the rough edges in the next 2 steps, as you’ll see.
#4 --After trimming the excess black velvet material off, I then glued a piece of red embroidery all around the base to cover the rough edges of the velvet.
#5 --I then glue applied a red and gold decorative braid around the base of the skull-cap and around the base of the left and right beams.
I hope I explained this well enough. It is a very easy job with a glue gun and a razor knife. All materials can be found at Wal-mart in the sewing/craft area. All materials are inexpensive and can be used for next year's rack if you have any leftovers. It might be nice to mount them all the same way for four of five years and then change colors or patterns.
You can also find wooden plaques at Wal-Mart that can be finished in whatever stain and varnish you might like.
(thanks for your patience as I struggled with the pics)
Special thanks to Kshunter and the others that helped with the picture. You guys are great.
<img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>
Edited by - vc1111 on 01/16/2002 07:21:01