1. Caribou Skin Preparation

2. …And Why it is Important
By Carla Paungrat, Caitlind Paungrat and Charles Martee

3. Preparing Caribou Skins
Preparing caribou skin is hard work
Long ago, girls learned to prepare caribou skin when they were ready to learn this skill

4. Importance of Preparation
Preparing caribou skins was important for survival of Inuit.
Sometimes boys and men would help to scrape or stretch skins if necessary

5. How were skins used?
Skins were used for clothing such as kamiks, parkas, pants, and mitts
They were also used for tents, containers, sled runners, drums and many other useful items

6. Caribou Clothing
Caribou clothing is warm because each caribou hair has honeycomb-like cells. The hairs trap air and act as insulators

7. Tools Used For Skin Preparation
Some of the tools needed to prepare skins are Tasiuktirut, Tusiuktirut, Ipiksaut, Iktuksit, Hakuut, and Ulu
Traditionally these were made of bone, stone, and occasionally metal if it was found

8. Skin Preparation: First Steps * Be prepared for sore muscles!
1. Dry the skin
2. Work overly dried areas
3. Curing the Epidermal Layer
4. Fracturing or cracking the Epidermal layer
5. Wetting the Mami (we used a spray bottle)
6. Folding the skin
7. Seeping
8. First Stretching

9. Stretching

10. Last Steps in Caribou Skin Preparation
9. Chewing
10. Scraping to remove the Hypodermis
11. Slight dampening
12. Final stretching
13. Aligning the sides
14. Marking the middle
15. The completed middle line
16. Folded skins

11. The Caribou Skin Turns White as it is Prepared

12. Do People Still Prepare Caribou Skins?
Caribou skins are still prepared today
They are used to make warm clothing,
blankets, and sleeping bags for the land

13. Thank You