We have a new item in the shop! It’s a super salty deer bust! It’s a substantial piece that would look smashing in any room of your home! 
It measure 19.5″ wide 16″ tall and 13″ deep. It’s featured over at Brickyardbuffalo.com right now and is 35% off at a ridiculously awesome price of $32.50. We’ve left the deer a natural wood but love it funked up. So to help you give your deer bust its own personal flare we’ve put together this tutorial for you!
Although painting or staining your deer is the easiest option there are several different mediums you can use to decorate your deer bust…fabric, scrap-book paper, tissue paper, wrapping paper, music paper, old books and maps. We’ve experimented with them all so here’s the scoop…
FABRIC
It’s the most time-consuming of the other options but between the textured unique look of it and the endless possibilities for patterns it’s one of my most favorite choices. You’ll need a half of a yard to cover all the pieces. Just lay the pieces on the fabric and trace them out, then cut them out. Starch and press the fabric first, believe me it’s a lot easier!
THE ONLY PIECE THAT NEEDS COVERED ON BOTH SIDES IS THE NECK. SO CUT 2 PIECES FOR EACH NECK PIECE…
Using a paintbrush cover the wooden pieces with decou-page or mod podge. Then secure the fabric pieces on. The fabric is easy to maneuver and can easily be readjusted if placed in the wrong spot. Fabric is great too because it will stretch nicely to wherever you need it, unlike paper. Clean up the edges with scissors if you have too much hang over.
TISSUE PAPER
This is overall the easiest and cheapest option. One package is more than enough to cover the entire deer. The downsize is that there are fewer design options to choose from. Mod Podge doesn’t work well with tissue paper, it rips easy and bubbles a lot so I used spray adhesive. Simply spray the wood piece and lay it on the flattened tissue paper.
Flip the wood piece over so the paper is on top. Using your finger rub out any bumps. Now take some sand paper and using down strokes follow the edge of the wood piece to cut the tissue paper off. This goes really fast!
Don’t forget to run the sand paper through the slots as well…
SCRAP BOOK PAPER
Like the fabric, scrap-book paper provides endless possibilities to customize your deer bust. There’s so many awesome patterns and textures to choose from. You’ll need 7 pieces of 12×12 paper to cover the entire deer.
Trace and cut out the pieces.
Then, like the fabric, decou-page the paper onto the wood pieces and then using a hard object rub out the bubbles. I used my papered chef scraper. A credit card would work great too.
Because the paper is 12×12 there will be a little gap on the back of the neck piece that will need to be patch worked using left over paper scraps. To finish up use some sandpaper to cut off any overhanging paper.
BOOK PAGES
Book pages are probably the most time consuming but the most one-of-a-kind looking! Start out by mod-podging sheets of paper onto the wood piece.
Then like the tissue paper use sand paper to cut the edges off. It takes a little more time because the paper is thicker.
So there’s a glimpse into the possibilities for your deer bust! I hope you have a blast personalizing it! And leave a comment with any questions!
L8RSK8R
P.S. We’d love to see pictures of how yours turns out!! Email us a pic at saltybison@gmail.com and we’ll post it here with the tutorial.
