Sheepskin Tanning with Crow's Nest Wildcraft

Me in overalls smoothing a sheepskin with a pumice stone.

Last weekend I went to Laurica Farm near Vancouver, BC on Kwantlen and Matsqui First Nations territory, and took a sheepskin tanning workshop from Mara Cur of Crow’s Nest Wildcraft. It was a really interesting experience and thanks to the generous spirit of my teacher and fellow students, I got to take some pictures. Pictures of me were taken by my partner.

Sheepskins are strung on frames so they can be softened using ulu knives and dowels.

Our teacher, Mara, demonstrates how to soften a sheepskin using a large dowel.

We were all there to learn how to take raw sheepskins that had been soaking in a salt and alum solution and turn them into finished pieces that we could use as rugs, chair covers, wall hangings, or motorcycle seat covers. The sheepskins were sourced from local BC farms and it was pretty incredible to work with this animal I love in a whole new way, continuing to honour them by utilizing every part even after their deaths. It was messy, hard labour, but I’m so glad I got to experience it.

After first scraping off the membrane on the skin, we strung our sheepskins on big wooden frames with twine and set to work softening them. We used ulu knives (a rounded blade with a handle) and dowels to scrape the hides for hours in order to keep them from hardening and turning into rawhide. That was definitely the most challenging part and we were exhausted afterwards.

Polishing our sheepskins with pumice stones.

Brushed skeepskins hang in frames in a wood stove heated barn.

After we’d let our hides dry overnight in the barn, we polished them using pumice stones to get the skin side smooth, then washed and combed the wool until it was perfectly soft and fluffy! After oiling the skins, the next step was intimidating, but so rewarding - cutting them out of the frames!

Mara uses a knife to score a hide for cutting.

Mara demonstrated how to mark and cut our hides and then it was our turn!

I used a knife to mark my hide where I wanted to cut it out.

It’s sort of mystical and mysterious after the skin has been cut out.

My finished hide turned out beautiful and imperfect and unique. It’s going to live on my office chair keeping my company and comfortable as I write knitting patterns over here.

A big thank you to my teacher Mara and fellow students for letting me practice my photography skills! (If you were there and would like me to link to you, send me a note at andrea@andrearangel.com or just leave a comment.) Laurica Farm is a really charming place too. Just look!