Table Of Contents      
 
THE WOLF
BY TERRA GROAH
  
 

Once, I saw my friend had a fox pelt and had posted a picture of it online. I thought it was gross and that she was weird so I went back to finding excuses to avoid my homework. Then, at the weekend, I woke up on a Saturday, got out of bed and started researching taxidermy for no other reason than "I could". From then on, it's become the thing that I know I want to do for the rest of my life.

  
 
  1. The mannikin arrives in pieces (clearly much smaller than the wolf     shown).  
         
 
  2. The 'mouth' is hollowed out and marks are made to cut (the muzzle     had to be lengthened by 2 inches, the entire head widened by 1).  
         
 
  3. The teeth and jaws are painted and glued inside. Hours are spent     carving musculature into the head.  
         
 
  4. The wrinkles on the muzzle are sculpted with clay. The eyes are     painted and set into place. The ears are temporarily set into place and     the muscle around the back of them sculpted.  
         
 
  5. After the mannikin is enlarged and put back together, the skin is     slipped over it with the aid of paste. Then the sewing begins.  
         
 
  6. After sewing, the neck and legs are eventually added. Sewing sucks     takes around 6 hours.  
         
 
 
     
All photographs by Terra Groah.