DEER SKIN TANNING VERMONT

Learn the Traditional Craft of Deer Skin Tanning in Vermont

You'll learn this timeless skill from start to finish, transforming a raw hide into a beautiful, usable product.

Join me at In Situ Polyculture Commons, an arts residency and eco-cultural catalyst in the hills of southern Vermont, for three days of hands-on deer skin tanning over Labor Day weekend.

This intensive, three-day course focuses on fat-tanning deer skins using lecithin as the dressing agent. This process isn't for the squeamish, but the end product is worth it. You'll head home with a beautifully soft, durable hide and the skills to tan many more on your own in the future!

The course will cover:

• Desalinating: Preparing salted, preserved skins.

• De-fleshing: Removing the meat and fat.

• De-hairing: Removing the hair.

• De-graining: Removing the outer grain layer.

• Dressing: Working the dressing solution (lecithin) into the skin.

• Softening: Manipulating the fibres of the skin as it dries so they stay, loose, open and soft.

• Smoking: Smoking the skins so they can be more easily washed.

  
  

Before modern tanning agents, people turned raw skin into usable leather with 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! Using materials readily available in the surrounding environment, we'll walk through each step of this transformation, from raw skin to beautiful, usable, finished leather.

In addition to enthusiastic instruction, I provide comfortable, easy-to-use tools and detailed handouts covering the tanning process, along with ethnographic anecdotes and a list of helpful literature for those who want to deepen their knowledge of tanning! So, please join me for a course sure to contain plenty of memorable moments, lots of practical information, and, if you put in the work**, one that will see you heading home with a beautiful, unique, and usable traditionally tanned skin!

* Using brains or egg yolks as an alternative dressing agent will be covered.

** Please be aware that a reasonable amount of fitness is required for this course. I will teach good technique and timing with the skins, but you will need to be on your feet and active for 6 to 8 hours per day. 

Please discuss any serious injuries with me before booking the course.

Additional Information:

Duration: 3 days (Saturday, September 4th, 10:00 am – Monday, September 6th, around 4:00 pm). Monday is Labor Day.

Max number of participants: 12

Prerequisites: None

Price: $450.00 USD

Payment: Pay by credit card or choose Klarna to set up a payment plan.

Location: Westminster, Vermont, USA

Directions: We send directions and travel information after registration.

Venue: In Situ Polyculture Commons sits on unceded Abenaki land in Westminster, Vermont, about a 12-minute drive from the Bellows Falls Amtrak station. The 2,000 square foot Art Barn includes an 800 square foot workshop space, and the site has almost 10 acres of meadow, pollinator garden, and forest. It's a very private place with a lot of space.

Accommodation on site: Stay on site! The costs are for the entire weekend; first come, first served. Camping costs $25 (up to 4 spots). A yurt costs $50 (two off-grid 15′ yurts, up to 2 people per yurt). Add camping or a yurt to your course place at checkout. There's an outdoor shower and a guest bathroom with a shower. See photos of the facilities.

Accommodation off site: If you prefer a bit more comfort, In Situ recommends two local inns with private, ensuite rooms: Moore's Inn and Guesthouse and Harvest Barn Inn Bed & Breakfast. Let them know In Situ Polyculture sent you!

Food: This course is self-catered. I am many things, but a good cook is not one of them! Please come prepared to cook for yourself. The guest kitchen is fully equipped and well stocked with staples. Plan a quick, easy lunch and dinner for day 2, as it will be a busy and, depending on the weather, long day.

Included: All course materials.

Not included: Accommodation and food.

Instructor: Dr Theresa Emmerich Kamper

Host: In Situ Polyculture Commons

Scholarships:

Two scholarships are available for this course:

• 1 full scholarship offered by In Situ Polyculture Commons (includes the camping fee).

• 1 partial scholarship offered by me ($200 class fee).

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In Situ Polyculture Commons reviews all applications. To apply, email hello@insitupolyculture.org with the subject line "Scholarship for 2027 Deer Skin Tanning" and include:

• Name

• Joining from: your hometown or region

• How did you learn about this course?

• Why are you interested in learning these skills?

• How will you share this knowledge?

• Is there anything else you would like us to know?

  
  

Applications are due by the end of May 2027, and we award scholarships in early summer 2027.

Questions?

About logistics, travel, local hotels or on-site camping and yurts: contact In Situ Polyculture Commons at Hello@insitupolyculture.org.

About the course, what to bring, or bringing your own deer skin: contact me at theresaemmerich@gmail.com. I'll email you a list of what to bring before the course. PLEASE CONTACT ME BEFORE BRINGING YOUR OWN DEER SKIN.... Thanks!!

A bit about me:

I'm an avid practitioner of traditional living skills and of all kinds of primitive technology. My interest grew partly from growing up in the USA's Rocky Mountains, where backpacking, hunting, and fishing are deeply rooted in the culture. This passion led me to Experimental Archaeology, where I earned a PhD from the University of Exeter in the UK.

My work has appeared in documentaries and popular TV shows, including Alone Season 8 and Surviving the Stone Age. I've been tanning skins using traditional methods for over 30 years. Learning to tan was a natural extension of my desire to use as much of an animal as possible, and it also produced a beautiful end product.

In my instruction, I share a wide range of information—from the intricate details of skin morphology to helpful tips for dealing with the numerous, frustrating problems often encountered when you're first learning to tan.