A number of friends of mine have praised this site (that I've just stareted using), and in particular the forum, for the wealth of knowledge both demonstrated and shared. I'm hoping to tap into some of that vast experience because, quite frankly, life is short! Yes, it is really interesting and useful to stumble along in the dark learning from your own mistakes, but also - especially to keep up the enthusiasm and motivation, it's good to get a bit of help and advice sometimes. So, please don't let me down!
Recently, I posted about tanning intestines and stomaches, and have had some initial success:
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=102640
However, yesterday I found a roadkill fox, and realized why a number of tribes around the world have traditionally tanned the bladders of animals. Apart from any other advantage (bag/container-wise) they may have over, for example, stomach, they're also a lot easier to handle and have a natural pleasing shape.
Here's the bladder ofter 12 hours in the tan bath.
https://picasaweb.google.com/100368873080744711453/February172013#5845838384909640194
But, what I really want to do is tan it in such a way that the original colour is maintained USING NATURAL CHEMICALS, so that I can then dye it green using natural plant dyes. Please help with some advice?
This is my current thought experiment:
An alum/salt/acid bath would work after initial salting and pickling a la taxidermy, but I don't want to use alum. The acid, salt, and alkali preparations are all readily sourcable from the wild, but what would act as an alum substitute - and is one neccessary? Note: I don't just want a stretch-dried firm raw hideish type bag/container, but a soft one. Also, I've never dyed my buckskins and other tanned items (at least not any colour than the obvious brown when vegetable tanning). So, what would make a good green? One of the nicest I've seen is wool dyed with common reed flowers - don't recall what mordant was used though. Any other suggestions? (I like moss green by the way). Also, presuming you can't cold dye such materials as tanned skin (?????), what is the ultimate temperature compromise between getting a dye bath hot enough to dye successfully but without cooking the skin?
Lots and lots of questions! Sorry!!
PS Having trouble uploading pictures. Any tips. Sometimes it seems to work, other times not........
Recently, I posted about tanning intestines and stomaches, and have had some initial success:
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=102640
However, yesterday I found a roadkill fox, and realized why a number of tribes around the world have traditionally tanned the bladders of animals. Apart from any other advantage (bag/container-wise) they may have over, for example, stomach, they're also a lot easier to handle and have a natural pleasing shape.
Here's the bladder ofter 12 hours in the tan bath.
https://picasaweb.google.com/100368873080744711453/February172013#5845838384909640194
But, what I really want to do is tan it in such a way that the original colour is maintained USING NATURAL CHEMICALS, so that I can then dye it green using natural plant dyes. Please help with some advice?
This is my current thought experiment:
An alum/salt/acid bath would work after initial salting and pickling a la taxidermy, but I don't want to use alum. The acid, salt, and alkali preparations are all readily sourcable from the wild, but what would act as an alum substitute - and is one neccessary? Note: I don't just want a stretch-dried firm raw hideish type bag/container, but a soft one. Also, I've never dyed my buckskins and other tanned items (at least not any colour than the obvious brown when vegetable tanning). So, what would make a good green? One of the nicest I've seen is wool dyed with common reed flowers - don't recall what mordant was used though. Any other suggestions? (I like moss green by the way). Also, presuming you can't cold dye such materials as tanned skin (?????), what is the ultimate temperature compromise between getting a dye bath hot enough to dye successfully but without cooking the skin?
Lots and lots of questions! Sorry!!
PS Having trouble uploading pictures. Any tips. Sometimes it seems to work, other times not........
