Taxidermy rabbit hide crafts?

[docteurshepherd]

@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.

Don't put your hides in a smoker! We have a smoker but you're not supposed to use them for hides. Smokers get too hot, and cooks the hides, making the hairs fall out and not actually smoke it like you want it.
Yeah I set up a sort of teepee and took strings and lay the hides over it. I wrap a tarp around the teepee partially, with an opening on the top, dig a hole underneath, and throw punkwood in. You want to use partially rotten punkwood so it smolders and smokes more and monitor so it doesn't get too hot for previously mentioned reasons.

I've heard of alum tanning but also heard it isn't good for you, like just isn't good to be having on your skin, etc, how much of that is true I don't know but I have plenty of eggs and works great. Just mix a teaspoon or so of water in with the egg yolk to make it absorb easier.
I've had a bottle of Cumberland's tanning solution for some years but still haven't used it I don't think. Speaking of raccoon I have one that's cured waiting to tan and smoke, just haven't gotten around to it yet.

 

[HomesteaderWife]

@docteurmccoy - I was referring to building by a smoker where the area the wood is at is a seperate area from the hanging house and connected with a pipe to the hanging area, essentially doing the same thing by building a nice fire first then letting it die down and throwing the punk wood in and hanging the hides up. That way heat source isn’t actually close close to the hide, and keep a check on it to make sure it doesn’t get hot. I collect rotten punk wood from the area around and usually make myself a pile near where I smoke at.

I am very picky to use gloves when handling my alum- the worst part for me being the dissolving it it the hot water making a loud smell. I tried to dehair with wood ash one year but isn’t have enough to work well enough, so I tried lye last year and was precautionary with it as well. I wash everything out pretty thoroughly and haven’t had issues with anything I’ve worn made from the hides. I mainly tan for display/crafting.
Sorry for spelling errors- on mobile and this thing likes to correct stuff to something totally different for me

 

[RosemaryDuck]

@RosemaryDuck - would love to see some photos of your tanning projects if you have any! Threw in some here of leg bone needles, buckskin on the line, tanned raccoon and rabbit, buck tails, mounted skull, buckskin bracelet, etc

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Oh wow, these are all gorgeous! I especially love that tanned fox piece with the fox and paw prints. The needle is awesome too! Do you sand those down? Or carve them? Beautiful work.

 

[HomesteaderWife]

@RosemaryDuck - Thank you kindly! I started making bracelets with buckskin for my husband and I, and tried to use wood-burning tools and acrylic paint on them to see how they would turn out so I think that was the first I tried to burn on.

The deer leg bone needles I usually 95% of the time prefer to hand sand on natural sandstone. I tried using rotary tools, but I've had two different brands and the sanding pad head on them likes to fly off even with minimal pressure. I'd rather work it by hand a few minutes every day than spend 20 minutes hunting down the backing and the screw for that little rotary tool after it flies off. If you're interested by chance, I did a little article on how to make them and am totally happy to help anyone else learn how to make them.

 

[RosemaryDuck]

@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.

 

[HomesteaderWife]

@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!

 

[MetroMutt]

It really depends on if the pelt is mountable or not but if its not there are tons of crafts your able to do! Personally I think rabbit hides make great table coaster type things for skulls, plants, etc! I currently dont have any real rabbit fur so i use some faux fur im sewing for a costume currently lol