Care should be taken to leave the same amount of bone on each side, so the antlers will be the same distance from the wall.
For antlers of small or medium size eastern deer, cut a heart-shaped block about 4×5 inches from a piece of soft ⅞-inch board. The edges of this should be slightly beveled toward one side. This may be cut out in its finished shape with a keyhole saw, or roughed out with a hand saw, and trimmed up with a draw knife or wood rasp.
After drilling two or three holes in the plate of bone attached to the antlers, arrange them evenly on this block and screw fast, using screws which will not protrude from the back of the block. If the bone is uneven or the antlers do not hang right, small pieces of wood may be inserted at one side or the other until the desired effect is had. Now put a half pint of water in some old dish and mix in plaster of paris until it is like very thin putty. With an old knife you can spread this over the bone and round it up nearly to the burr of the antlers.
If the first mixing is not enough, mix a little more, for if too much plaster is put on anywhere it can be easily scraped off before it gets dry. This needs to be put on quickly as the plaster soon "sets" or hardens and in fifteen or twenty minutes it can be scraped and trimmed to a smooth, rounding surface.
For covering this wood and plaster base, plush, soft leather or pantasote is used. Plush or velvet is the easiest to apply for a beginner. A piece about nine inches square will do for our set of small antlers. Lay this on the plaster and turning it over the edge of the block, tack it on the back with carpet tacks, beginning in the center, at top and bottom. Slit in each side to the antler and cut a hole large enough to be a snug fit for the antler below the burr. Draw on and tack, getting the wrinkles out as you proceed, the lower, or front part, first. Lap the upper or back over it neatly at each side, turning the edges under and fastening them with a few stitches.
It is a good plan to drive the tacks only part way at first, then they can be easily drawn and re-arranged. Now cut two strips of the material to go around below the burr of the antlers. Turn the edges of these under, draw them tightly around and fasten the ends together back of the antlers with a few stitches.
They are now ready for fastening on a shield or panel. Cattle horns should have the piece of bone connecting them screwed to a long oval block, then treated similarly. Horns of sheep, cattle and goats frequently come loose from the bony core. A little plaster mixed very thin and poured inside the horn just before replacing them will fasten them on again.
Do not try to polish, paint, gild or otherwise improve the natural appearance of deer antlers. Wash and clean them well and rub in a little linseed oil. Polishing brings out the beauty of horns of cattle and bison, if the operator is lavish of elbow grease.
The process is this: Fasten the horns firmly somewhere and attack first with rasp, then file, scrape with glass, fine sandpaper, finer sandpaper, powdered pumice stone, putty powder. Finish with oiled rag. Old bison horn, weathered on the prairies till they resemble old roots, can be made to look like polished ebony by the above formula. Don't forget to add the elbow grease, though.