A Five-Day Immersion in Traditional Hide Craft. The Hide Work Week Course is a considered, five-day immersion into one of humanity’s most enduring and sophisticated crafts: the transformation of raw animal hide into buckskin and rawhide. This programme is designed for those who value depth, discretion, and genuine mastery—offering time, space, and expert guidance to engage fully with a material that has shaped human life for millennia.
This is not a demonstration course, nor a casual workshop. It is a sustained engagement with process, material, and responsibility. The pace is deliberate, allowing understanding to develop through repetition, attention, and touch. Buckskin tanning has never been industrialised; it remains an entirely human craft, dependent on judgement rather than machinery. The Hide Work Week Course honours that reality.
No previous hide-working experience is required, but participants should arrive prepared for focused, physical work and close engagement with natural materials. The rewards are substantial: confidence, capability, and a lasting relationship with a remarkable material.
Hide Work Week Course - 5 Day Buckskin and Rawhide Making - Derbyshire
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A Five-Day Immersion in Traditional Hide Craft. The Hide Work Week Course is a considered, five-day immersion into one of humanity’s most enduring and sophisticated crafts: the transformation of raw animal hide into buckskin and rawhide. This programme is designed for those who value depth, discretion, and genuine mastery—offering time, space, and expert guidance to engage fully with a material that has shaped human life for millennia.
This is not a demonstration course, nor a casual workshop. It is a sustained engagement with process, material, and responsibility. The pace is deliberate, allowing understanding to develop through repetition, attention, and touch. Buckskin tanning has never been industrialised; it remains an entirely human craft, dependent on judgement rather than machinery. The Hide Work Week Course honours that reality.
No previous hide-working experience is required, but participants should arrive prepared for focused, physical work and close engagement with natural materials. The rewards are substantial: confidence, capability, and a lasting relationship with a remarkable material.
Hide work course - Making Buckskin and Rawhide
Hide work course - Making Buckskin and Rawhide
Hide work course - Making Buckskin and Rawhide
Hide work course - Making Buckskin and Rawhide
Hide work course - Making Buckskin and Rawhide
Hide work course - Making Buckskin and Rawhide
The Significance of Hide Work
“Traditional tanning involves far more than the physical act of tanning. It is the act of reviving a dead animal’s hide into a living being, with a soul, power, and sacredness.”
Baillargeon, M. – North American Aboriginal Hide Tanning: The Act of Transformation and Revival
Across cultures and continents, hide was once among the most valuable materials a person could possess. Clothing, shelter, containers, tools, and trade goods all depended upon it. Different environments demanded different methods, yet all shared a common understanding: hide must be treated with respect, patience, and skill.
The Hide Work Week Course is grounded in this lineage. Techniques are taught accurately and without haste, but always within a wider context of material culture, ethics, and responsibility. Participants are encouraged to understand not only how something is done, but why it has been done this way for generations.
Buckskin and Rawhide as Materials
Buckskin is a material of rare quality. Soft, breathable, resilient, and easily repaired, it behaves unlike modern leather. Its strength lies in the integrity of its fibre structure rather than surface finishes or chemical treatments.
Historically, buckskin was used for garments, footwear, bedding, bags, and ceremonial items. Rawhide, left untanned, provided rigidity and strength for bindings, containers, tools, shields, and structural elements.
Throughout the week, participants develop a refined understanding of how these materials behave and how subtle variations in process—moisture, timing, pressure—can transform the final result. This knowledge allows the craft to be adapted confidently to different species and conditions.
Tools, Technique, and Judgement
Hide work requires few tools but considerable discernment. Success depends on recognising when to act, when to wait, and how the hide is responding at each stage of the process.
Participants are introduced to all tools and materials used during the week, alongside their traditional and modern alternatives. Instruction emphasises developing the ability to read the hide—its thickness, elasticity, temperature, and resistance—so that the process can be repeated independently and adapted as needed.
This emphasis on judgement is what distinguishes competence from mastery.
The Tanning Process
Over the course of five days, participants are guided through each stage of traditional buckskin production, including:
- Preparation and soaking of raw hides
- Fleshing and membrane removal
- De-hairing and grain removal
- Braining and fibre lubrication
- Softening through continuous working
- Smoking to stabilise and preserve the hide
Each stage is explored in depth, with close instructor support. Challenges are treated as opportunities for refinement rather than error. Participants learn how to diagnose problems, adjust technique, and recover a hide when conditions change.
The transformation—from fresh hide to supple, responsive buckskin—is both tangible and profound.
Rawhide and Secondary Applications
Alongside buckskin, participants explore the making and use of rawhide. Instruction covers traditional and contemporary applications, including bindings, containers, and structural components.
Where appropriate, secondary uses of by-products are discussed and demonstrated, reinforcing the principle of respectful, complete use of the animal.
Rhythm, Environment, and Instruction
The structure of The Hide Work Week Course follows the needs of the material rather than the clock. Hides are worked, rested, and smoked according to condition and weather, creating a natural rhythm that encourages presence and focus.
Instruction is calm, precise, and unhurried. There is time for repetition, observation, discussion, and quiet progress. The learning environment is collaborative but measured, reflecting the seriousness of the craft.
Outcomes
By the conclusion of the week, participants leave with:
- A finished piece of buckskin produced entirely by their own hands
- A working understanding of rawhide and its practical applications
- The confidence to repeat the tanning process independently
- A deeper appreciation of material culture and ancestral craft
In Summary
The Hide Work Week Course is defined by restraint, depth, and respect—for the material, the animal, and the traditions that shaped this craft. It offers a rare opportunity to work slowly and well, guided by experience rather than instruction alone.
For those seeking a deeply considered immersion into traditional hide work, delivered with professionalism, cultural awareness, and quiet authority, the Hide Work Week Course represents an experience of lasting value.
