Taxidermy rabbit hide crafts?

Not really. They can be gently surface cleaned. But tanned hides don't like water very much.

Tanned hides mean they can handle water without reverting back to a stiff rawhide type state, but yeah of course with that being said you shouldn't wash leather lol. Also, directed at op, taxidermy isn't the correct terminology. Taxidermy is the art of actually stuffing and mounting an animal to make it appear lifelike. This is just tanning. As for the hides, I don't know. Rabbit hides are so thin that I wouldn't make anything I'd be using a lot, so probably not anything to wear. Honestly it wouldn't be a bad idea to cover over a small end table as a decoration, or something along those lines.

@RosemaryDuck - Man, so sorry I just found this thread! I absolutely love tanning

Me too! I've done it literally since I was a kid. I like to go the traditional route of egg tanning, which is the same concept as brain but less gross, as you can imagine I have plenty of those lol, and smoking. It's truly becoming a lost art form, I don't know of anybody else my age that does it, let alone a more traditional form.
 
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@RosemaryDuck - Man, so sorry I just found this thread! I absolutely love tanning, and I have used alot of domestic and wild rabbit. I've used cut offs from domestic rabbit to trim dreamcatchers, or making walking stick handles. People often use the rabbit fur to make the inside liner of handmade buckskin mittens. I've enjoyed simply using them for wall displays. Some people get a bunch saved up, and make their own rabbit hide pillow (which when you get crazy coat colors, makes a beautiful and unique living room focus point. Get creative with it, and really think about what you'd like to make. Did you get any immediate ideas when you first got those hides? I've got a wild rabbit hide that I sit a small basket on during the fall as a centerpiece that has dried corn ears or pine cones inside, and the fur seems to really bring it more of an interesting pop. Hope these may serve to inspire!
Okay the pillow idea sounds so cool! Do you by any chance have something like a sewing pattern? I imagine it's really easy and you just sew it together and add fluff, but still.
 
@RosemaryDuck - Not off hand, but you may be able to look up some fur and trapping companies or people who sell pillows like that, and get an idea of what it looks like and use a pattern for some kind of patchwork pillow. Rabbit hide, especially wild rabbit I have noticed, can be very very thin and easy to tear on that skin/flesh side (the underneath part that isn't furry) so I highly recommend you put a backing on the flesh side. I haven't made a pillow myself or I would offer a plan or more advice, but let me know how it turns out!
 
@RosemaryDuck - Not off hand, but you may be able to look up some fur and trapping companies or people who sell pillows like that, and get an idea of what it looks like and use a pattern for some kind of patchwork pillow. Rabbit hide, especially wild rabbit I have noticed, can be very very thin and easy to tear on that skin/flesh side (the underneath part that isn't furry) so I highly recommend you put a backing on the flesh side. I haven't made a pillow myself or I would offer a plan or more advice, but let me know how it turns out!
Surprisingly these hides are pretty thick. She did tell me they were meat rabbits, though I'm not sure if that makes a difference in quality. I did skin a wild rabbit a few years ago and tan it and that was /paper/ thin. I had to be really careful even moving it.
 
@RosemaryDuck - Have these hides been tanned at all, or simply dried out/frozen? Your thickness may be from the fat or membrane on the underside. Pictures of the hides would help kind of determine that. Wild rabbit even in winter here for us is super thin- but we’ve ended up befriending them and they don’t cause trouble in the garden so I haven’t tanned one in some time. My resident “Baby Bunny” (now an adult) visits quite often to hang out at a distance from the chicken pen.

Rabbit and squirrel are great practice for moving up hide sizes. If you haven’t already, consider learning to tan things like deer or raccoon for use in crafting. Cow hide is massive and very time consuming, but after some experience on smaller things, deer is manageable and makes for fine rugs, or de-hair it and make yourself some nice buckskin. I made another buckskin satchel last year and was glad to have a strip cutter tool (cuts even sized laces from leather) and wove a braided strap for it. You’ll be amazed at the sheer number of things you can make and do with tanning skills, so kudos for tanning your own rabbits prior!
 
@RosemaryDuck - Have these hides been tanned at all, or simply dried out/frozen? Your thickness may be from the fat or membrane on the underside. Pictures of the hides would help kind of determine that. Wild rabbit even in winter here for us is super thin- but we’ve ended up befriending them and they don’t cause trouble in the garden so I haven’t tanned one in some time. My resident “Baby Bunny” (now an adult) visits quite often to hang out at a distance from the chicken pen.

Rabbit and squirrel are great practice for moving up hide sizes. If you haven’t already, consider learning to tan things like deer or raccoon for use in crafting. Cow hide is massive and very time consuming, but after some experience on smaller things, deer is manageable and makes for fine rugs, or de-hair it and make yourself some nice buckskin. I made another buckskin satchel last year and was glad to have a strip cutter tool (cuts even sized laces from leather) and wove a braided strap for it. You’ll be amazed at the sheer number of things you can make and do with tanning skills, so kudos for tanning your own rabbits prior!
Oh I have! I used to do a lot of tanning and skinning years ago. I got really into taxidermy/skinning in general and did it for many years, but I'm a bit rusty now haha. These pelts are already cleaned and tanned. I'll have to get some pictures after I'm done my lunch. I do wish I could still get things to skin and tan, but I think the area I live in now would definitely frown on it. My neighbors wouldn't appreciate me getting the driveway bloody from a deer 😅.
 
@docteurmccoy - I’ve brain tanned before but it ends up a terrible idea for me in the South. Even in Alabama “Winter” we have bad flies and yellow jackets, and I had flies ruin an entire brain tanned cow hide one yer even though it was in the shop. I want to try egg tanning, but we’ve got older rescue hens who don’t lay often anymore and I’d prefer to use their eggs instead of store bought. I’m 98% of the time salt and alum tanning, but recently bought some of Cumberland trapping’s hide tanning formula to try since it’s allegedly been around 20 plus years and tried on raccoon. Was quite satisfied, but needs to be smoked. I’ve gotten to using neatsfoot oil on my alum tanned hides to soften them as they are stretched and had great results with that, then smoking. I built a tripod style setup with poplar saplings over a fire pit and hang the hides on that and cover with a tarp to hold it in. Gather downed wood to get the smoke from. Want to eventually build a smokehouse for meats, but use one part of it and see how smoking hides in it would go. I’m not traditional about it all, but I think being resourceful about tanning and putting more of the animal to good use is really important. I’m the odd one that even takes deer legs and saves the hide/bone/sinew/hooves.
 
@RosemaryDuck - I absolutely love hearing about other people who’ve been into skinning and tanning. I’ve only been at it for like 5 or 6 years, this year being slow as we didn’t pick up from the processors during Covid. I know it gets quite messy (and very smelly at times) so I can understand why you’d be hesitant to with close neighbors.
Can’t wait to see what those hides look like!
 
@docteurmccoy - I’ve brain tanned before but it ends up a terrible idea for me in the South. Even in Alabama “Winter” we have bad flies and yellow jackets, and I had flies ruin an entire brain tanned cow hide one yer even though it was in the shop. I want to try egg tanning, but we’ve got older rescue hens who don’t lay often anymore and I’d prefer to use their eggs instead of store bought. I’m 98% of the time salt and alum tanning, but recently bought some of Cumberland trapping’s hide tanning formula to try since it’s allegedly been around 20 plus years and tried on raccoon. Was quite satisfied, but needs to be smoked. I’ve gotten to using neatsfoot oil on my alum tanned hides to soften them as they are stretched and had great results with that, then smoking. I built a tripod style setup with poplar saplings over a fire pit and hang the hides on that and cover with a tarp to hold it in. Gather downed wood to get the smoke from. Want to eventually build a smokehouse for meats, but use one part of it and see how smoking hides in it would go. I’m not traditional about it all, but I think being resourceful about tanning and putting more of the animal to good use is really important. I’m the odd one that even takes deer legs and saves the hide/bone/sinew/hooves.
I actually converted a shed many years ago into an area for all my hides. I had a whole area set up to skin and tan, it was great! I brought several hides with me but they're packaged in storage unfortunately. I used to save bones and hooves as well. It's a dying art now a days though. Most people think it's weird or gross or you're a serial killer or something if you do your own skinning and tanning. I really miss doing my own hides so I just have to appreciate others work now! I did use a trapping hide formula a few times, but egg honestly worked better for me. The formula can really oil up the hides (if you're trying for fur on) and it can be difficult to wash out.
 

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