And with this, you can begin knitting, weaving, etc. The skins are cut into thin strips and twisted to make furry cordage. The method involves the utilization of many rabbit skins, which are too small to be of much use by themselves. They were made by indigenous peoples of North America, notably the Paiute (California) and Dene (northern Canada), among many others. Don't heat or put by fire! They get crunchy! Sometimes it takes me 2 days to let a hide dry.Rabbit skin blankets have probably been around for thousands and thousands of years. While drying keep at a cool or neutral temperature. When they are fully dry, give them a good shake and roughing up. They don't need to be stretched every minute, just keep an eye on them. You will find out just how much time is needed in babysitting your hides. So test your boundaries and learn at what stage is best for what kind of stretching.Ĩ. I like to work the middle on the chair or a corner, as well as giving sharp pulls with my hands. If some part (usually an edge) is hard or yellow, give it a firm but gentle pull to release it into opening up. Get the middle and the edges, keeping a close eye on what seems to be drying and work it to keep it supple. So now is the fun part! You can stretch the hide all kinds of ways- between your hands, using your knees, over the back of a chair or on a corner. Any thread should do, stronger the better probably.ħ. If you want to sew up any holes, do it before the stretching process with a tiny needle and trimming the corners of the hole to create an even surface when the hide is flat. Stretching really wet hides doesn't do much good and creates opportunity for ripping. I have found it useful to drip dry bunnies overnight and allow them to become a bit tacky before stretching. Cutting along the belly is a good and common rule, but if you have a hole in the hide you might choose to cut a line including the hole to reduce holes in the main body of your hide.Ħ. I part the hair to reduce the trimming of long hairs along the edge. If you decide to work on a few now, then part hair down the middle of the belly and cut to make one flat hide. I recommend working 2-3 at a time, maybe more if you get a system down. Or, keep them moist for a few days while you work them in batches. You can string the bunnies, hair side in, and let them dry and wait for a convenient time to work them. Get all solution and soap out by the time you are done.ĥ. I think most soaps are good, I've used pine tar and dish soap before, and both seemed to work fine. Hides should be fur side out at this point. Take out bunnies, toss solution, rinse, soap, and repeat the washing process again. The book says 7 days, so use your own judgement. I've been using frozen bunny hides mainly, so maybe that makes a difference, but I have found that hair tends to shed around 7+ days. I've found it best to let bunnies soak (stirring twice a day) for 5-6 days. The bunnies need more of these compounds because they've probably already soaked up most of what you had put in the previous solution. After adding another 1 cup salt + 1 cup alum to the previously used solution, put bunnies back in solution. The neck is usually the thickest and hardest to work.ģ. A rule of thumb is peel until there is nothing left that can peel. Peel until pure white under-layer is exposed. Peel off all that you can- the hard work will pay off, the easiest time to peel this stuff off is now. It is easiest to start at the bottom near the rump. After 2 days, take out bunnies and squeeze solution from them back in to bucket- save solution! Peel off membrane (non-fur side). Case skinned hide, just out of the solutionĢ.
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