Honouring the Hide: Brain Tanning & Buckskin Craft

An Ancestral Skills Gathering

There was a time when nothing from an animal was wasted.

When an animal gave its life to feed people, the hide was not discarded. It was carefully worked, softened, and transformed into clothing, shelter, tools, and warmth. The hide became something that continued to live alongside the people who carried it.

Within the ancestral skill of hunting and harvesting, tanning the hide is part of honouring the animal fully. It is a way of giving thanks through care, patience, and skill.

This gathering is devoted to remembering that process.

Not simply how to tan a hide.
But how to continue the relationship with the life that fed us.

Remembering the Work of the Hide

Working a hide asks something of us.

It asks patience.
Strength in the hands.
Attention to detail.

It asks that we slow down and work with the material rather than against it.

Before we begin, we will ground together in the landscape and the process of honouring what has come before us. From this place of awareness, we begin the work.

Through scraping, softening, and working the fibres, we will witness the transformation of raw hide into supple leather.

To tan a hide is to continue the story of the animal.
To work it with care is to honour the life it once carried.

What We Will Explore Together

Understanding the Nature of Hide
Learning how skin transforms into leather and what makes a hide strong, flexible, and long-lasting.

Hair-On and Buckskin
Exploring the difference between keeping the hair on a hide and creating soft buckskin.

Brain / Egg Tanning
Using traditional brain-tanning principles (with egg as an alternative) to soften and nourish the fibres of the hide.

Fleshing and Membrane Removal
Learning how to properly prepare the hide before tanning begins.

Softening the Hide
Working the hide through stretching and movement until it becomes soft and supple.

Introduction to Smoking
Understanding how hides are traditionally smoked to preserve softness and durability.

A Way of Life

Tanning a hide teaches patience.

It reminds us that transformation takes time. That materials from the land respond to care, attention, and persistence.

These practices reconnect us to a time when people knew the full journey of the things they used, when clothing, tools, and shelter carried the memory of the animals and landscapes they came from.

This is more than leatherwork.
It is about honouring relationship.

Who This Is For

This gathering is for those who feel called to:

• Reclaim ancestral craft and land-based skills

• Learn how hides become leather

• Deepen their relationship with animals and materials

• Experience the satisfaction of working with their hands

No prior experience is required, only curiosity and willingness to engage in the process.

What to Bring

• Packed lunch

• Water bottle

• Weather-appropriate clothing

• Clothes you don’t mind getting messy
  

Around the fire and through our hands, we remember.

Through skill, patience, and care, the hide is transformed, and in the process, something in us softens and remembers too.