RE: Tanning hides...

[SCAEtain@aol.com]

Poster: SCAEtain@aol.com

Greetings,
When I was working as a Native American at a living history museum (St. Mary's
City), they told us that the way to stretch hides was thus:

-Stretch the hide by putting holes around the edges and pulling it to a frame.

-Scrape off all the fat. Make sure you get it all. We used the edge of a bone,
sharpened...

-Take the deer's brain, put it in a blender (didn't ya know the Native
Americans had those in the 1600s??) with a little water, and rub it into the
hide. Do this really well. Or you can use 2 pig brains, but one deer brain =
enough for one deer hide

-Take your hide and put it in the loft of your home, over a smoky fire til
it's nice and supple. If you don't heat your home with a little smoky fire in
the middle of your floor, well, improvise :)

I must admit, I never did this myself, and I can't bring myself to stop for
roadkill and experiment. But if anyone wants to do a class or demo on this,
please let me know! I do know that my entire outfit for work was made this
way, and it was really comfortable and soft... 

In Service (for whatever it's worth *grin*)
Etain (Ay-den)
=======================================================================
List Archives, FAQ, FTP:  http://merryrose.atlantia.sca.org/
            Submissions:  atlantia@atlantia.sca.org
        Admin. requests:  majordomo@atlantia.sca.org