DEER SKIN TANNING

Before the advent of modern tanning agents, humans were turning raw skin into usable leather products using very basic techniques and materials. Learn to produce incredibly soft, strong, and durable leather from raw animal skin using one of humankind’s earliest tanning technologies! Utilizing materials readily available in the surrounding environment, we will walk through the steps of this transformation. Come learn the progression of this process from raw skin to beautiful, usable, finished leather! 

This class will focus on tanning Deer Skin with a variation of fat tanning using lecithin as the dressing agent. Whilst not for the squeamish, the end product is worth the work! The class will cover desalinating preserved skins, de-fleshing, de-hairing, de-graining, and softening the skins, as well as smoking them so they can be easily washed.

In addition to enthusiastic instruction, I provide comfortable, easy-to-use tools and detailed handouts covering the tanning process, as well…