How to Create Your Own Cruelty Free Hunting Trophy

modified on June 5, 2026, first published on January 1, 2018

Turn a stuffed animal into a DIY trophy head with this step-by-step tutorial. This stuffed animal taxidermy uses a wooden plaque, hot glue, and acrylic paint. Cruelty-free, kawaii, and surprisingly easy. Save this and make your walls weird in the best way.

This tutorial should show you how I made my vegan unicorn art project.

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I’ve wanted a mounted unicorn head in my kawaii vegan dollhouse for so long. I wanted one way before I made my stuffed dog skin rug, way before Little Pine opened (they have a wooden deer head inside), and way before discovering Stitch of Whimsy on the internet. I’m happy to report that thanks to Josipa throwing a bring-your-own-craft housewarming party, I’ve finally created the vegan hunting trophy of my dreams. These instructions will teach you how to mount a stuffed animal head of your choosing. It doesn’t have to be a unicorn of course.

If you’re not crafty, but you’ve been wanting one of these kawaii sculptures forever too, I recommend contacting stitch of whimsy through her etsy store and ask if she can make you a custom vegan one. Hers are wayyyyyy cuter than mine, but I know she uses wool in some of them, so make sure to let her know you prefer man-made materials. However, if you like doing arts and crafts, and you’re into cute kawaii home decor, then read on and see how easy it is to make your own diy vegan hunting trophy.

Step 1: Gather Craft Supplies

Here’s a list of the vegan-friendly arts and crafts supplies I used.

1 stuffed animal
1 wooden plaque
2 hot glue gun sticks
acrylic paint
paint brush
foam board
pencil or pen
scissors
x-acto knife

Stuffed Animal

When you’re choosing your stuffy, make sure the neck diameter isn’t bigger than your plaque. But also make sure it’s big enough to support the head (so maybe don’t choose a giraffe plush). I used a stuffed unicorn.

Wooden Plaque

When choosing your wooden plaque board, there are a number of things to consider.

Is it big enough for your stuffed animal’s neck?
What type of beveled edge do you like?
What type of wood is the board made of? (If it’s pressed wood, it may not be vegan.)

I bought mine at Michael’s craft store, but they don’t have any this cute anymore, so now I would go to etsy for mine. I like this heart shaped one a lot. But I also really like this cloud shaped one. If your stuffie is small, this might be a nice affordable option for you.

Vegan Craft Glue

Hot glue is almost always vegan, and it dries super quick, so I think this is the best option for this use. There are other vegan glues like E6000, but those are best for other applications.

Vegan Acrylic Paint

Believe it or not, not all acrylic paint is vegan. I used Liquitex brand paint because it’s vegan. Their ivory black color is their only color that is NOT vegan, but they have another black that is, so just pay attention to the color names.

I have a list of vegan paints where I document everything I learn about which paint is vegan and cruelty free. I’m planning on making the vegan craft paint section more extensive when I have time, so if you know of any brands that are vegan and cruelty-free, please let me know.

Vegan Paint Brush

If you don’t already have a paint brush, make sure you buy one with synthetic hair, like this set of vegan paint brushes.

some of the supplies needed for mounting a stuffed animal head.

Step 2: Paint The Board

This step is optional. If you choose to paint yours, you can choose any color. It doesn’t have to be pastel purple like mine.

painting the board for your diy stuffed animal trophy.

Step 3: Decapitate the Stuffed Animal

I realize this seems morbid, but after the first couple stuffies you hunt and kill, it gets easier, haha. Sorry, bad vegan joke. I mean, what did you expect when you stumbled upon this DIY vegan animal head mounting tutorial? I recommend using a plushy that was gifted to you by an ex, because then when you cut its head off, it feels realllly good.

Before you make the cut, think about the angle you want it to be on the wall, so that your cut is at the correct angle. You also want to cut an extra half an inch all the way around for wrapping around the foam board.

Step 4: Cut the Foam Board

Set your stuffed animal head on the board and trace around the neck with the pencil or pen. Then, using the x-acto knife, you’ll want to cut on the lines you drew. It took me 2 tries to cut all the way through, and I was using quarter-inch board, so if yours is thicker, it may take you a few cuts to make it through.

Try to stick the piece of foam board into the neck of the stuffy. If it doesn’t fit, figure out where you need to trim, and cut off some of the edges until it fits.

Step 5: Hot Glue the Foam Board

Before starting to glue the foam board into the neck, I took some extra stuffing out of the unicorn body and shoved it into the head. I wanted to make sure the head was nice and stiff and wouldn’t try to flop over. Once the head and neck were filled tightly with stuffing, I shoved the piece of foam board into the neck and made sure that there was enough neck fabric to wrap around the edges of the foam board (around a half an inch is a good amount). Then I started gluing that half inch to the foam board.

Step 6: Hot Glue the Head to the Plaque

The plaque you painted should be dry by this point, and you can now glue the head to the board. Set the head on the board to decide where you want it, and then just squeeze a bunch of hot glue onto the foam board end of the neck and press it into the plaque. Do this quickly so the hot glue won’t dry prematurely.

Step 7: Hang it on the Wall

My plaque I bought didn’t have anything on the back to hang it on the wall with, so I used a staple gun to add a staple to the back of the wood (to use as a hanger). You can also buy frame hanging hardware, but I don’t like buying things unless I have to. I’m a minimalist packrat. That’s a thing, right?

Comments or Questions?

If you make this cute vegan art, I would love it if you’d snap a pic, post to instagram, and tag me @vegandollhouse. It seriously makes my day/week/month!

Please message me (instagram or email) if you have any questions or feedback about the recipe.

How to Create Your Own Cruelty Free Hunting Trophy

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