There's a lot of great things you can do with a dead animal, but it takes a special kind of recluse to transform a dead brown bear into wall art. Asen Ognyanov, our favourite Bulgarian photographer friend, has been hanging out with a taxidermist in Toronto. We were so excited by his photos that we called up the taxidermist to see how many ads we'd need to sell in order to buy our very own head. Turns out it's around $800 a pop or $2,000 for a twin set of polar bear craniums. So, uh, look out for the Vice Needs a Bear Head Bake Sale. Anyway, check out Asen's tour of the studio after the jump. And if you're in Toronto, and a student of that monster called U of T, look for a continuation of this taxidermy extravaganza in the winter issue of The Wa, a student magazine from Victoria College. Until then, enjoy the fur and the blood and the skulls and stuff!Once an animal is skinned, the fat needs to be removed and the skin has to be salted. Yum!This is just a handful of bear skin.Separating the horns from the skull is hard work.This is a bucket of skulls. Do you have that album? Anyway, the skulls are bleached in order to clean them.The taxidermist uses this for skin-stretching. It's not a hammer. It's called an "A.K"The bear's skin is nailed to a dummy and then left to dry into shape. You have to spray the bear with arsenic or else it will rot or get eaten by bugs.The head needs to dry in front of a fan for at least 2 weeks. When it's dry the pins and nails are removed.The office is a mess. The studio is full of huge green flies, and it smells bad too.PHOTOS: ASEN OGNYANOV
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