Backyard Buckskin Tanning

03/05/2026

Great meeting you Mariama Li

08/01/2025

I'm thrilled to be running a fish leather tanning workshop this weekend in Taitung, Taiwan, sharing this skill with students from the Earth Passengers Permaculture Community.

I met Hui-i and Peter at the recent International Permaculture Conference, organised by them, and was invited to run a workshop with them at their venue.

Seafood is a huge industry in Taiwan, so tanning fish leather can reduce wasted fishskin byproducts and create opportunities for craft and industry. Tea is also a massive industry in Taiwan, with some tea varieties losing their flavour and freshness after a few years.

Using stale tea leaves for their tannins is great way to use this resource unsold from shops or warehouses. Tea is a from the Camellia sinensis plant is a widely accepted method of creating high quality veg tanned leather. It is accessible, affordable and easy to use. Leaves don't need milling or soaking and are ready to steep and brew into tanning solutions.

28/11/2024

Molding a leather and feeling where it wants to go
I hold my breath of what cannot be undone, cutting a shape.
There.
Waxing the thread - once, twice, thrice. Everything is ready.

I commit and persuade the leather into place
Folding, pressing, pushing, pulling, tying, trimming.
Sewing, in and out, in and out.
Learning, observing, doing, a needle put to leather.
In and out, cut and trim.

Bloody pricked fingertips of the wrong skin,
Sharp surprise of regretful pause, I press on

The unfolding vision emerges to life, suddenly complete!
A fleeting pleasure for the maker.
Whisked off to a new home

The slate is blank again.

15/10/2024

During introduction workshops, students have the opportunity to soften a piece of leather and take it home to enjoy.
When people say that they struggled with natural tanning on their own, it is usually because their hides turned out stiff. So including softening as part of the intro workshop helps students get a taste of that step and how to do it properly.
Skins available usually include either a rabbit or fish skin that is already prepped and ready for the softening step. Once skins are softened they are ready for crafting to make into whatever students desire.
People often ask me; what can I do with my fish skin leather?
Here is an example of a piece I made recently for a friend. A veg tanned salmon skin leather clutch with rabbit tail detail. Made with skins or animal parts that would otherwise go to waste from hunting or farming activities.

Next intro workshop is this Sunday in Mullumbimby at the Paddock Project.

Event Link: https://www.facebook.com/share/oZRnUKirCPEgQoFA/

05/09/2024

This video shows the working of skin, wood and rope for the making of traditional drums in Taiwan.

It shows some processes used for leather tanning, including epilation or hair removal and paring, or scraping the skin to the required thickness.

Although i haven't used scalding water for epilation before due to the effect of cooking the skin, water buffalo skin is much thicker than skins we use at Backyard Buckskin Tanning workshops.

I will travel later in the year to my family's home in Taiwan and am curious to visit their workshop.

difference between a drum and a decent drum is in the sound. In pursuit of sonorous soun...