Smoketanned Buckskin Workshop, Victoria BC, February 13-15, 2021

Description

Buckskin is the velvety-soft textile made from tanning any mammal hide. Its name comes from the ‘bucking solution’ that preps the hides prior to our first day together (more on that in class!). Buckskin is created through a combination of fat and smoke. The fat (in the form of, yes, brains) absorbs into the hide to lubricate the pores, while the smoke organically reacts with the fat molecules and transforms the hide from skin into textile. A hide must be worked vigorously with tools and by hand to turn it from a stiff piece of rawhide (think: drum heads) into smooth fabric.

All hides, tools, and equipment are provided by the course. You work on your own deer skin, sourced ethically during the 2020 hunting season, and take home your brand-new buckskin at the end.

Dates: February 13-15, 2021

Cost: Sliding scale $0-$675

Guide to the sliding scale:

$675: If you are able to pay for “wants” and spend little time worried about securing necessities in your life, this price is for you.

$365: If you are struggling to conquer debt or build savings or move away from paycheck to paycheck living but have access to steady income and are not spending most of your time thinking about meeting basic needs such as food, shelter, medical care, child care, etc., you belong here.

$250: If you struggle to maintain access to needs such as health care, housing, food, child care, and are living paycheck to paycheck or are in significant debt, you belong here and you deserve a community that honours your price as equal an economic offering as the person who can pay the highest tier.

$0: Indigenous people are welcome to choose this tier, in recognition of the reparations that are vital to make to transform colonialism and its legacy from the ground up.

Words borrowed and adapted from Alexis J Cunningfolk in The Sliding Scale: A Tool of Economic Justice.

Schedule
Day one:
9:30am-3:00pm(ish)

Introductions; scraping hides of hair and membrane; neutralizing hides.

Day two:
9:30am-5:30pm(ish)

Braining hides; Softening hides until they are dry.

Day three:
9:30am-3:00pm(ish)

Smoking hides

COVID-19 Protocols

Each participant will be asked to confirm their health and recent travel history in accordance with British Columbia’s health event guidelines Personal information will be collected for contact tracing. We will primarily be working outdoors and spaced over two metres apart during the workshop. When indoors, we will be wearing masks. Common spaces such as the washroom and doorways will be continuously sanitized throughout the day.

For more information please go here: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/health/about-bc-s-health-care-system/office-of-the-provincial-health-officer/covid-19/covid-19-pho-order-gatherings-events.pdf

Once registered, you will receive an automatically-generated confirmation email from Crowsnest and I will follow up with more details a week or two in advance of the workshop. Feel free to email with any questions at crowsnest.wildcraft@gmail.com.