Reshaping A Wolf

Is this a tanned hide or raw/stretched/dried hide?
If tanned, you can wrap put the ears in a bowl of salty warm water and let them soak for about 30 min, then put plastic bag over each, overnight... should be soft enough to form the way you want... BUT they will shrink and become misshapen again unless you babysit them while they dry. (they will still shrink and not look like a 'live animal' ear.)

If you plan to mount this wolf, no need to do any of this. If just for aesthetic purposes of a wall hanger, the above method should work for you.

 

You'll have to soak the head in water with a hand full of salt in it. Then let it drain for an hour or so place just the head in a plastic bag and roll it up and place in a refrigerator overnight. The skin on the head should be softened up enough to be flexible. Then you can remove the ear cartilage and you can glue in size appropriate earliners. First you have to know if the skin has been tanned? It appears to me it has from the picture. Secondly you have to have the knowledge to remove the cartilage without destroying the ears then order the right liners and use a two part epoxy type glue. But this should answer your questions. You may be better off to take it to a professional Taxidermist and tell him/her what you want and have it done or you may be a DIY person. Good luck with your project.

 

Though the hot/warm salty water has been the old standby for decades (and works), I tend to entrust such things to Stop Rot. I'd wet paper towels in Stop Rot and pack them inside the ears. Then I'd wrap the ear in a paper towel ad Stop Rot it before wrapping in plastic freezer wrap. Stop Rot has less surface tension that water and will penetrate faster ad better. I'm a BIG earliner fan, but on this one, I'd have to either go with Bondo or Epo-Grip Ear Magic. Do one ear at a time since catalyzation is relatively fast.

 

From the photos, it looks to be tanned.. You may run into a problem with the leather falling apart if you soak it with salt water. The tan becomes weak over time. You can tell how strong the leather is by doing a 'wet test' on the inner lip skin. Use a sponge and soak the lip with warm salt water. When it is pliable, you can try to tear the skin (as you would a piece of paper). If the skin is weak, it will tear with relative ease. If there is any weakness at all, I would not try rehydrating the the face or the ears.

 

DO NOT REHYDRATE/RESHAPE! Even tans past two years old become VERY fragile! I wouldn't risk it, as at this point tearing /will/ happen. It will be risky to try to rehydrate, so perhaps just try glueing it down on to molded fabric?

 

This post is from February. What was done, was done probably 3 months ago.