[CraterCove]

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYp9pLcA8MI[/ame]

It's been a long time since I've done any sewing. I don't own a sewing machine and honestly I always preferred hand stitching to using the machine anyway. I am looking at a new hobby to go with raising rabbits. I want to tan the skins and use them for projects like the one I found on youtube above.

In anyone here's experience are things like this time consuming or hard or both? I can imagine the end product make from some beautiful Rex fur would be worth the effort. I used to enjoy working with leather, stamping tooling, lacing, things like that. So this seems like a natural progression, maybe?

It won't be for 3 maybe 4 months that I will have enough skins in hand and ready to start one of these but, any suggestions from those more learned than myself?

 

[Maura]

How about if you photograph your profess as you go along.

 

[CraterCove]

How about if you photograph your profess as you go along.

I will try and do that. I think that recording my struggles for posterity is a humbling experience that I can go back and look to any time I am feeling too cool for my own good.

 

[calliemoonbeam]

I have no real suggestions for you, but would surely appreciate being able to follow along on your journey. I hope to get my rabbit setup going soon, and I also plan to use the furs for crafts.

I found this document a while back on tanning that I thought would be helpful: https://www.tn.gov/twra/pdfs/tanninghides.pdf

Here are a couple of threads I found on hand sewing fur bears. They're not extensive, but have some helpful hints and might be a good place to start:
http://www.teddy-talk.com/viewtopic.php?id=618
http://www.teddy-talk.com/viewtopic.php?id=45660

One says you need to us a "glover's" needle for hand sewing, and of course you'll probably need a good leather thimble. I do know from many years of sewing that you'll have to be careful to cut all your pieces so the nap runs in the same direction. I've worked with leather too, so maybe that does give us the courage to try fur.

Other than that, I figured I'd just look for more information when I'm closer to actually getting ready to do it. Hope this helps, even if just a little bit. I look forward to seeing your progress when you get to it!

 

[CraterCove]

I should have my first set of rabbits by this weekend and hopefully have my first litter soon after. I am very determined to do this. I remember as a small child having a rabbit skin in the crib with me and how soft it was. I want to think about adding something like lavender to the stuffing. I am doing brain and egg tanning exclusively, no harsh chemicals at all. The most harsh thing I plan to do in the preserving process is to smoke them to make them more water resistant.

I will look through those links, every little bit helps!