Alright guys I made this handy little guide to help everyone out. I suggest before sending a pelt to someone to be mounted, you really look this over to save you the dissapointment of being told your pelt cant be mounted. ON THE LEFT IS ALL UNMOUNTABLE, THE RIGHT IS MOUNTABLE.
So heres an explanation of each. LIPS
Lips are extremely important in making a mount. If you dont have lip, you might as well stop here. Lips are essential for tucking and keeping the muzzle shape.
Unmountable lips: They will be hardly there. It could be missing in parts, been shaved really close, or just everywhere messed up like the one pictured on the left.
Mountable Lips: The one on the right has TONS of extra lip to tuck. this is ideal. EYES
Eyes are important. This is the character of your mount, the starting point of expression and the most detail-oriented part.
Now the thing with eyes is that it doesnt HAVE to have extra skin, but it HAS to have the lids IN TACT and still there.
Unmountable lids: The lids are still there, but theres no skin to tuck. That wouldnt be a problem if parts of the lids werent missing/ripped!!
Mountable lids: Usually you cant even stick your finger through the eye holes because of the extra skin. It will always be pretty obvious if theres extra eye skin in there! it will also have small eye holes because all of the lid is there. NOSE
Nose is just as important. If somethings off with the nose, well you have a lot of trouble on your hands. Noses can be a bit tricky because some you can work around.
Unmountable nose: you can see right through the nostril and its flat, and sometimes awkwardly dried (because its so thick OR thin)..If it looks paper thin and has no 3D value, its unmountable.
Mountable nose: You cant see through it. (The view is from the inside). Theres extra areas of cartiledge (not TOO MUCH) but enough to "tuck" or form. EARS
Oh holy heck, you BETTER have mountable ears! This is the element that the eyes are drawn to right after the eyes. If the ears look off, its all your going to stare at. And its not going to look right, even if the eyes are stunning.
Ears also define personality JUST as much as eyes, and if you dont have good ears it will really mess up a mount.
Unmountable ears: UNTURNED. thats it. Not turned. If theyre flat against the head and CANT move, if they hardly bend, OR if you cant stick your finger inside the ear and feel 2 seperate pieces, its not turned.
Mountable ears: They will be turned! they might still be stiff, but theyll be floppy on the head and moveable, and you can stick your finger inside of the ear.PAWS
Okay, paws. If they look funny you cant even call it realistic. Everyone skins paws differently, and the most common thing that happens is split paws. Ill explain further on that one.
If you cant stuff the feet, you cant do it.
Unmountable paws: as you can see in that photo,..thats as far as you can get in that paw. The bone is STILL in there!!! Not good, not good at all. If your toes are messed up, theyre staying messed up!
Mountable paws: Most important way to tell?? You an stick your finger inside of it!! As you can see my finger is right up inside the paw. ALTHOUGH this has a split pad (Lazy skinners..) it can be fixed. Its not favorable, but split pads can be mended. If the pad Is NOT split (I dont have any examples, thats how many lazy skinners are out there XD) and you can stick your finger in it, then your going to make your commissioner super happy. LOL GENITALS
Alright. This is a big factor. If its missing it has to be replaced, and its not going to match most likely.
unmountable: Theres that upside down V shape there. Sew that together and your mount is going to look awfully stupid. This can be fixed, but it wont look amazing. Plus, its a lot of work to find extras sometimes!
Mountable: Everything is there and theres no upside down V missing! On Males, Testicles CAN be missing. thats fine. so long as its cut JUST above it, no further.
On females, its usually always missing anyway, since its not an external organ. As I said, so long as theres no V patch missing!!!
Okay, well if you have a completely mountable pellt and shitty leather, it aint happening.
You can test it in these ways:
Color. Is it white and stretchy? or Yellow and stiff?
Shaved: Is the leather super thin or too thick?
Smell: Does it smell like leather? The more potent it is, usually the fresher.
Does it have any holes that are placed to look like a shape? Or does it have any stamps or marked inks? This means its garment tanned. These usually are never mountable, but I have done ONE so far where it was....its not preferred, just to be safe.
And, can it rehydrate?? Test a patch by the butt and soak maybe a half inch square with water by patting it with a sponge. Make sure it goes through the skin and not just lightly brush it.
If you can stretch it and pull it and it doesnt break, then its rehydrateable. If it breaks or falls apart, its not.
I hope this can help someone out there, im no pro and ive only done a few mounts, but I figured id help out with what I know. If anyone else has something to add, tell me.