Steps in Tanning Rabbit Skins

Steps 1-4: Alum-tawing

• we generally use an equal amount of salt:alum when alum-tawing. If you start with a salted rabbit skin, there is likely more than enough salt present to only need to add alum to the skin. If you start with an un-salted skin, then you want to add a 1:1 ratio of plain salt: alum.

• If your skin is 10” long or smaller, use 2 tablespoons of alum. This is 2/3 of your materials kit packet of alum. If your skin is over 10” long, use 3 tablespoons of alum. This is the whole packet of you materials kit alum. (We also added some salt into the materials kit pack just to make sure everyone had salt, as a redundancy tactic.)

• Rub salt:alum onto the skin with gloved hands, onto the flesh side of the skin. Get into all the folds and corner.

• Soak the skin in 1-2 gallons of water. Use enough water to ensure the skin can be 2” below the surface of the liquid. The water can be cool, warm, or lukewarm. It cannot be hot or ice cold.

• Keep the alum-tawing skin in a fairly warm place in your house, such as the top of your fridge. Fold and move the hide 1x per day to ensure it stays below the surface of the liquid and that it moves to encourage alum to absorb.

Step 5: Washing

• Use cool to warm water + gently but briefly wash the fur side

• Use any natural soap

• Scrub with a brush if needed (ie if there are any crusty spots)

Step 6: Hang to drip dry

• An underrated but crucial moment in tanning rabbit skins.

• If we try to soften the leather immediately after washing, it will be so wet that hair will “slip” out of the hair follicles and you will get bakd patches

• Hang to drip dry over a sink, bath, or outdoor area so that water rushes from the skin into a drainage area

• If you live in a particularly wet climate or it’s a cold/wet day, you can additionally dry it by laying the rabbitskin flat on a surface, such as a counter counter, with the fur side up. Do this for an additional 4-8 hours, until the fur feels drier to touch (while the leather remains damp because it is laying flat underneath)

• There is no need to start softening with a super-wet rabbitskin. Wait until it is a bit drier to the touch= less slippery and slimy and more pliable.

Step 7: Membraning

• Lay the skin flat on a surface such as a kitchen counter. This time, the rabbitskin is skin-side-up.

• Get your scraping tool: a spoon, the “handheld” dry-scraper, or another dry scraper

• Hold your tool 90 degrees to the hide ie up-and-down

• If using a spoon, scrape with the curved side forward. If using a dry scraper, scrape with the flat side forward (“bevel back, scrape forward”).

• You will start to see a thin tissue lift from the skin. You can begin using your hands to gently pull and tug it to lift, or continue using the tools.

• Tearing hole sis easy to do. Follow directions for hand-stitching if you’d like to stitch them up. Always stitch holes when the leather or hide is still damp.

• Once you’re happy with the amount of membrane removed, check the leather underneath.

  • Is the leather white and opaque? -> This is a sign of thorough alum absorption

  • Is the skin more blueish and translucent? -> This is a sign it needs more alum.

  • If it needs more alum, you can rub more salt:alum directly on the skin with gloved hands and./or you can set the skin back into fresh water for another 1-5 days.

Step 8: Softening

• All hide softening comes down to this: stretching the skin when it’s wet until it is dry

• Rabbitskin leather will take 1-3 hours to soften and dry, if we start with semi-dry fur

• Hold the leather in your hands and stretch it wide apart. Do this widthwise and then lengthwise.

• Use a dry scraper to stretch the skin in different directions, as you like.

• Keep doing it for 1-3 hours until the leather is dry.

• Towards the end, when the skin side feels dry, use a pumice stone to soften up the texture of the leather and remove excess membrane.

Step 9: Applying a fat emulsion (oiling)

• Apply a fat emulsion if you’d like your leather to be more weather-proof. The fat will enter a chemical reaction with the proteins of the skin, making it more durable (and truly tanned). The leather will eventually turn golden.

• Recipe:

  • 1/4 tsp lecithin or liquid soap + 1tsp liquid oil (ie grapeseed) + 2 oz water

• Rub the fat emulsion onto the skin side of the leather with your hands until it is absorbed.

• Keep softening