How We Tan Sheepskins into Beautiful Rugs

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

OK, that still left me to confront the soaking wet hides. . . another "now that I've got it, what do I do with it?" situation. I squeezed out as much water as possible into the laundry tubs and then hung the rugs wool side up over the porch railing where they could dry in the sun.

Well, Minnesota can be pretty cheap with her sunshine come fall . . . and since each hide carried 3 to 5 inches of fleece (I told you Corriedales are woolly little devils), it soon became obvious that wasn't going to work. So the Chief Tanner, Queen of the Fragrant Follies, resorted to her clothes dryer (a pleasant antique which hadn't ever done any real harm, poor old thing). I put the sheepskins in one at a time on a low setting and took them out frequently to make sure they weren't getting too hot, or that their wool wasn't shrinking, or the hides dissolving, etc. When the fleece felt partially dry (although the hides were still wet), I hung the rugs back out on the porch railings.

That took me to the next step: working and stretching the hides as they dried so they' wouldn't end up hard and shriveled. (At no time, when doing this part of the job, should you pull on the individual tufts of upstanding wool. The fleece sets beautifully as the skin dries, but can pull out when the hide is still wet. Just stretch the skin itself... and I mean stretch. My hands were — to put it mildly — aching and sore when I'd finished. Again, men will fare better at this stake of stage process.) It took days for the hides to completely dry, and periodically I stretched each rug some more.. . rejoicing at each new patch of pure white leather I produced. Hurray! I was almost ready for the fun part of the job.

After the hides were thoroughly dry, an application of good glycerin saddle soap and leather dressing made them nice and flexible. Then came the reward for all the effort: the comb-out. With my fingers luxuriating in 4-inches-plus of Mother Nature's finest covering for necessity or decoration — soft, silky wool — I pulled apart the tips of the little cords of fleece and freed any remaining bits of vegetable matter. Then with an old, not too stiff hairbrush, I brushed each hide into a lovely ivory and white cloud. Oh Lord, to think of what I'd begun with and the many times I'd been tempted to quit when muscle and stomach seemed ready to fail me! True, a supply house back East offered sheepskins in their natural color for $20.00, but a purchased hide could never have given me the satisfaction of my homemade product.

OK, let's run through the steps in the operation again, this time minus the running commentary . . . plus some revisions in the light of further experience.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print