Sheepskin Hide Tanning

in-person | alchemical | hands-on course.

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 using the mineral alum, the classic natural preservative salt, and a mix of fats.

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: a tanned sheepskin rug.

Dates: Friday, October 11 to Monday, October 14, 2024
Times: 12:30pm start Friday; 10am start Sat-Mon; closing between 3-4pm each day
Location: W̱SÁNEĆ Peninsula, North Saanich, BC

Three-day option to join for Sat-Sun-Mon only. Find this option in the "learn more" link below.

Scroll down for details. Click “learn more” to register.
Camping + accommodations available.

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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.

Your Teachers

  • Mark Santamaria

  • Mara Cur

Staying on the land

You are welcome to stay on the land during the hide tanning course (affectionately known as a “hide camp”).

We have camping spots available in a secluded, fenced 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.

  • 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

  • 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

To hone your hide tanning craft,

is to also hone your somatic relationship with the natural world.

Physical movement, hard work - the motions that humans have moved through for millennia - meet tactile, landbased skill in hide tanning.

You are invited to step in the complexity, the challenge, and the healing of hide tanning.