Hey, i figured out how to make transparent leather. Sort of a collaboration between the caveman and mad scientist aspects of my personality. It’s softer and more supple than my usual bark tanned deer leather, and transparent enough to read print through. Its texture is waxy, a little bit stretchy, and fairly pliable (but not as soft as a good braintanned buckskin). . . . I took the deer hide, soaked it in hardwood ash lye, and srcaped both sides of it, then (instead of soaking it in an oak bark decocotion like i would normally do) soaked it in an extract of celery seed and Heuchera. Then i stretched it to dry, then finished it with an emulsion of aloe and tallow. . . . As yet i have no particular idea what the application of this material is. It can be dyed with an alcohol-based pigment (like the dot above my finger in the picture), so there is the possibility for it in different colors too. . . . #hidetanning #transparentleather #deerskin #primitiveskills https://www.instagram.com/p/B5_Q_mylv5s/?igshid=isduf67wlouo
