OUR HIDE TANNING courses
Below is a list of the hide tanning courses we offer. You will see these posted as public courses available to all + you can request them for private instruction. We also teach how to tan these leather textiles in our online program, Hide Club. Scroll to see the variability + potential of naturally made leather textiles!
To see upcoming in-person courses on Vancouver Island, go here.
To see our next cohort of the online Hide Club program, go here.
To request a private hide course or 1:1 mentorship, go here.
WHITE Buckskin (alum-tawed)
Course Length:
2 days
White Buckskin is a soft leather cloth made by mixing hide with the mineral alum. Alum turns the hide white + it adds bulking + density to the hide. Alum does not “true tan” the hide so we call this “tawing.” To keep the tawed hide pristine white, we avoid adding oils to limit the natural oxidation process. The result is a beautiful delicate cloth, best used for indoor applications or summer apparel. You’ll also hear the term “white buckskin” to refer to an unsmoked hide in the smoke-tan process; our alum-tawed version is more water-resistant than that form of white buckskin + we teach it for folks to make ceremonial clothing, alter cloths, and special goods.
Chamois Cloth (Oil-tanned)
Course Length:
2 days
Chamois is a soft leather cloth, historically made by mixing thin animal skins with marine oils. The Chamois cloth is a textile that features prominently in old world markets, in nineteenth century literature, and in museum displays. It could be off-white or deep golden, depending on the presence of oils. Its production declined with the decline of Atlantic cod stocks, the favourite marine oil to use. We make a contemporary version of chamois using everyday household oil + lecithin as an emulsifier.
Rawhide
Course Length:
2 days, typically spaced 1 week apart
Rawhide is the original hide craft. Millennia ago, our ancestors dried hides + formed them into tools, containers, shoes, apparel - even windows for ancient houses. Rawhide is a halfway tanned hide; it is not truly tanned in the sense that its molecular structure remains intact, un-transformed. It is simply a dried hide. Once dried, a hide takes on new characteristic, making it resilient to rehydration, formable to shape into any desired structure, and can lay flat + firm to use as canvas or construction material. Most famously, rawhide is used for drums.
BARK-TANNED FISHSKIN LEATHER
Course Length:
2 days, spaced two weeks apart
Fishskin leather is a thin but incredibly strong leather. Historically prized for outdoor gear around the world, today is more often made into wallets, purses, shoes, and as an accent to clothing. Bark-tanned leather is made by extracting plant tannins into water, i.e. making a bark tea (we call it “bark liquor” in the tanning world). Fishskin takes very few tannins and can be made in a few days. The result is a flexible, red to brown, versatile leather that retains the scale pockets + is reminiscent of the fish it is made from.
Mineral-Tan or Bark-tan RABBIT LEATHER
Course Length:
2 days, spaced two weeks apart
Rabbit leather is a beginner-friendly hide project that turns delicate rabbit skins into functional material. Choose to tan with alum (mineral-tanning) or tannins (bark-tanning) to create either a white-golden leather or a red-brown leather.
Smoke-tanned Buckskin
Course Length:
3 days for small to medium hides
4 days for large to XL hides
Buckskin is the classic naturally-tanned leather textile. Named from the ‘bucking’ process, it can be made from bucks, does, bulls, cows - any mammal skin or hide. It turns from white to golden by going through smoke, a step that transforms the hide on a molecular level + also lends its name to the tanning method. You’ll also hear smoke-tanned buckskin called “brain-tanned buckskin".” This refers to the fat emulsion that hides are mixed with - literally just animal brain, the perfect natural source of emulsified fat.
MINERAL-TAN Sheepskin Rug
Course Length:
3 days for small + thin hides
4 days for large to XL hides
Mineral-tan Sheepskin Rug is thee plush, cozy, down-home textile - and this is Fern + Roe’s most popular course! Mineral tanning creates a white leather while keeping the sheepskin more resilient to moisture + mould-resistant. The result is a sheepskin that’s great for indoor use as a rug or a throw. (For sheepskin clothing, we recommend smoke-tanning; for outdoor rugs + camping rolls, we recommend bark-tanning).
BARK-tanned SHEEPSKIN RUG
Course Length:
3 days
Two consecutive days + wait 2 weeks, then 1 finishing day
Bark-tanned Sheepskin Rug is a durable and waterproof leather rug, made from extracting plant tannins into warm water + then mixing the hide with these. The tannins alter the proteins of a hide and turn it into leather before our eyes. The result is a plush but strong leather, ideal for indoor/outdoor use + resistant to wear + tear.
BARK-TANNED LEATHER
Course Length:
3 days
Two consecutive days + wait 2 weeks, then 1 finishing day
Bark-tanned Leather is the original leather, the ubiquitous material we use today for shoes, belts, bags, saddlery, and more. While today’s leather is 99% made from chromium (yes, even if it calls itself “veg-tan”), original leather is made simply from plants. Our bark-tanned leather at Fern + Roe can be made full-grain or grain-off. We offer deer, goat, and sheep for you to create a wide variety of leather types.
COMBINATION-TAN SHEEPSKIN RUG
Course Length:
5 days
Combination-tan Sheepskin Rug is made through both smoke-tanning and mineral-tanning. We first smoke-tan the hide, creating a super-supple sheepskin rug. Next we apply the mineral alum to the leather, adding robustness, durability, and a water-resistant element. It’s a sheepskin rug that’s the best of both world.
COMBINATION-TAN LEATHER
Course Length:
Three consecutive days, then a fourth day two weeks later
Combination-tan Leather is made from smoke-tanning and bark-tanning, creating a hybrid material that has the colour + water-resistance of bark-tanned leather + the supple characteristics of smoke-tanned hide. First we smoke-tan the hide, then we submerge it with tannins to take over our work.
CUSTOM HIDES
Custom hides are for courses in which you provide the hides. We work with + can teach you to tan Bear, Buffalo, Elk, Raccoon, Mountain Goat, Mountain Sheep, and Seal.
Any hides that you provide need to be sourced with appropriate permits, such as a hunting tag, trapper’s licence, or permit to cull. We only teach Buffalo and Sealskin tanning to members of Indigenous communities.
We do not work with deer or sheep skins provided by organizations, as we prefer to work with our own hides. Once you learn how to tan, you’ll see why!
