Mineral-tanned Sheepskin Rug | April 18-21, 2025
This is a four-day | in-person | hands-on course.
You receive a fresh hide salvaged from waste, learn to tan it yourself, and take home your transformed creation at the end: a handmade, a natural sheepskin rug.
Our hide tanning method is Mineral-tanning, also known as alum-tawing. We prepare the hides in advance in a mineral soak.You receive a fresh sheep skin salvaged from Vancouver Island farms, an animal raised for meat whose hide is typically discarded. Learn to tan it yourself over four unique days of hidework and learning.
Come prepared to work hard, sink into hide time, and be on the land + out of your usual rhythms. Then take home your transformed creation at the end.
Schedule: 11am to 4 pm each day
Location: North Saanich, W̱SÁNEĆ Peninsula
Cost: $425 CAD. Payment by card or E-transfer.
Email us to pay by E-transfer
SOLD OUT This course is now sold out. Join us for our next sheepskin tanning courses: May Long Weekend for colourful hair-sheep + August long weekend for white woolly sheep.
Click “learn more” to register in 1 or 3 payments. You’ll be asked to create an account first.
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Your Hide Camp Details Here
The Process
Mineral-tanning is our method.
Frame-softening is our technique.
Your hand-tanned, quality sheep rug is the result.
Campers: you can arrive as early as Thursday, October 10.
Day One: meet on the land at 12:30pm + choose your sheepskin. Wet-scrape the hide to remove layers of membrane, then frame your hide into a rack (pictured, left) + leave overnight.
Day Two: start softening. We spend the whole day softening our hides from wet —> dry. For those choosing the 3-day option, you join us today with a hide prepared for you to slip into class.
Day Three: we dry-scrape, pumice, and sand our hides to perfection. Combing + cleaning the wool starts today.
Day Four: we finish combing + cleaning the wool; spritz it to create lofty woollen curls - and you take home your sheepskin rug.
Hide tanning course cost is $294 USD or $425 CAD (our payment processor is in USD. Canadians, you can E-transfer us if you prefer. Email to enquire).
Payment can be made in one or three payments. Your spot in hide camp includes:
Your salvaged, cleaned and prepared sheep skin
Rental of hide tanning tools and equipment use
Hot drinks in the morning and at lunch
Discount of 10% on Fern + Roe tools to take home
Staying on the land
Available April 17-22, 2025
You are welcome to stay on the land during the hide tanning course (affectionately known as a “hide camp”).
We have unlimited camping spots available in a secluded meadow + The Loft guest suite above the horse barn.
Spending down time with your new tanning cohort makes the weekend take on a whole different dimension. It’s a true retreating out of time and into an immersion of nature, community, and ancestral reverance.
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A handbuilt suite in the old hay loft of the farm barn. Watch the horses, goats, and sheep from your balcony.
Amenities:
- kitchenette
- double bed + pull-out sofa
- dining area
- composting toilet
- clawfoot bathtub
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BOOK CAMPING HERE
For $24 CAD/night per person, stay in the meadow along with other participants of the hide course.Amenities:
- electrical outlet for charging phones
- water
- indoor bathroom with sink, toilet, and shower
- indoor fridge + food storage
How to Make the Most of your Hide Camp
Get lots of sleep
Leave your routines behind
Show up on time
Be okay being a beginner
Work hard, rest well
Bring a notebook if you’re a note-taker, a camera if you’re a photo-taker
Visit the farm animals and the garden
Wander the beautiful WSANEC Peninsula, visit the ocean, spend time in our amazing local community
What to Wear
Clothes for all weather
Outdoor or waterproof shoes/sandals
What to Bring
Camp chair or blanket
Water
Lunch and snacks
Personal knife (we like Mora brand, for ex)
Mineral-tanning Gallery
Check out each step in the smoke-tanning process below by clicking the arrows left or right!
