Caribou Skin Preparation

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stretching

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

The Caribou Skin Turns White as it is Prepared

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

Thank You