FISH SKIN TANNING, DYEING & SEWING

For thousands of years, humans have been turning raw skin into usable leather products using fundamental techniques and materials. Come learn to use these techniques to tan and dye fish skins using materials readily available in your environment!

Fish skins are easy to acquire, small enough to fit in a jar, and come in an incredible variety of patterns and textures. This makes them a great entry into the world of tanning, as they are easy to tan almost anywhere, from your garden to your kitchen counter!

This course will cover the basics of vegetable tanning fish skins using tannins to produce leather that is surprisingly soft, strong, and durable. The subjects included in the course are sourcing skins, scraping and scaling, producing and timing the tan baths, tanning stages, the importance of pH, testing tannedness, and ample time for questions and answers.

Using previously tanned fish skins, you will learn to produce six different colours from natural dyes: cream, yellow, blue, green, red, and black. We will cover how to produce the dye baths and timings, how to test for colour, how to wash and dry the skins, and finally, how to dress and soften them!

Of course, this experience wouldn’t be complete without creating something with fish skin! Between tanning and dyeing, we will pattern and sew a small pouch or bag to create a usable work of art using fish skin and brain-tanned leather. Although this course will utilize salmon skins, many types of fish are also usable, and samples of different species will be available for future inspiration.

In addition to enthusiastic instruction, we provide comfortable and easy-to-use tools, detailed handouts covering the tanning process, ethnographic anecdotes, and a list of helpful literature for those who wish to further their knowledge of tanning.

Please join Caroline and me for a course sure to contain plenty of memorable moments, lots of practical information, and, provided you put in the work, one that will see you heading home with a set of uniquely beautiful, traditionally tanned and dyed fish skins!

Additional Information:

Duration: 3 days (Saturday 10:00 am - Monday ± 4:00 pm)

Prerequisites: None

Venue: Butser Ancient Farm is one of the oldest Open-Air Museums in the UK and has a fantastic array of reconstructed houses from the Stone Age to the Roman Era. Set in a picturesque valley in Hampshire, the venue alone is worth a visit and is an amazing place to hold a course!

Catering: This course is self-catered. I am many things, but a good cook is not one of them!

Included: All course materials, coffee, and tea.

Not included: Off-site Accommodation and food.

Accommodation:

Camping in one of the reconstructed houses on site will be the easiest (and most fun) option for accommodation during the course. However, hotels and B&Bs are available, approximately a 20-minute drive from the course site, if you prefer a bit more luxury. Local campsites are also available nearby.

*An additional fee is required to camp in the reconstructed houses.

Included: All course materials, coffee/tea

For more information, visit:

https://www.butserancientfarm.co.uk/whats-on/calendar/fish-skin-workshop