– Photo courtesy of COTTFNĭESHKAN ZIIBING (CHIPPEWAS OF THE THAMES FIRST NATION)- Community members of Chippewas of the Thames First Nation (COTTFN) have had a unique opportunity to learn about the traditional ways of tanning and preparing deer hide while also creating a new tool to help with learning their ancestral language.Ī small group of crafters and others interested in hide-tanning joined members of the COTTFN Language, Culture, and Heritage Department at a week-long event in the community in Dec., says Elijah Jewell, language resource technician. Pictured in the circle from the bottom left are Elijah Jewell, language resource technician, Wayne Deleary, Jessica Duke, instructor Barry Callow, and Felicia Huff. We were able to take away reference samples from each stage of the tanning process, in order to develop laboratory analysis techniques to help us characterize the older methods used to make the tanned hides in the heritage collections.A deer hide is stretched by hand in the traditional way during a week of instruction in Chippewas of the Thames First Nation. Theresa Emmerich Kamper takes this into account in having clothes made out of some of her tanned hides, and wearing them frequently in order to study the impact of natural wear.īy the end of these four memorable days, we had gained a detailed appreciation of each tanning process, and the particular properties each confers on the skins. The state of the hide is therefore an important factor in identifying the tanning method used. Additionally, as most of the hide objects are everyday items, their history may compromise visual analysis: they have been worn and used, as well as undergoing changes since their arrival in museum collections due to their conditions of conservation. Surface treatments such as painting or dyeing can also hinder the identification of the tanning method. It is not always possible to examine the reverse side of the hide if the object has been lined, for example, or if there is fur. However, the situation is more complex with finely-worked or antique objects such as a bag, a coat or moccasins. Tool marks can also be revealing, as the skin can be fleshed dry or wet, leaving more or less visible indentations.īy applying her criteria to all these marks, Theresa Emmerich Kamper is able to identify the method used to tan a hide. Microscopic criteria concern the fibrous tissue: its compactness (depending on how densely the tanning agent coats the fibres), its orientation (the direction in which the hide has been stretched, and the point in the process at which the stretching took place) and how the fibres look (contoured, glossy, translucent, etc). Amongst the most conclusive macroscopic criteria are the colour of the hide (a dark hide has almost certainly had vegetable tanning), its elasticity (a supple and elastic hide will have been fat tanned), the surface texture (presence or absence of grain), and the thickness (the edge is a clue to the degree of penetration of the tanning agents). Theresa Emmerich Kamper has categorised these marks by applying different macroscopic and microscopic criteria, which indicate the processes used. The result is a relatively hard and thick brown leather that retains its grain (the hair follicle holes) and is quite water-resistant.Īs we have seen, working the hide leaves marks, some of which can be seen with the naked eye, while others are only visible under binocular magnifying glasses. The hide is then partially dried, and then oiled with vegetable or animal fats, using mechanical action to make it soft again. Nowadays – as was exemplified in this workshop – tannin extracts are used, that is, only the active tanning compounds, which reduces the length of time for this crucial stage to one month. In the past, plant parts such as tree bark and leaves were used, and the tanning process could take between 12 and 18 months to complete, that is, to penetrate deep into the hide. The result obtained is a light-colored, flat and rigid material like parchment, light in weight, but also very reactive to water.įor vegetable tanning, after removing the flesh and hair, the skin is immersed in a water bath rich in vegetable tannins. The rawhide was simply stretched over a frame to dry it, and, depending on the desired finish, it could be rubbed with a pumice stone and/or chalk.
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