Come out for a for an extended weekend of immersion into the art of fat and smoke sheepskin hide tanning. Hosted in the town of Paonia, Colorado, we will take raw sheepskins and transform them into flexible, preserved and soft rugs. The class will cover all the steps involved with fat and smoke tanning hair-on skins, with other discussions on hide tanning history worldwide, variations for different animals domestic and wild, why good skinning matters, how the process differs from bark tanning and hair off tanning and more. We may experiment with hybrid tanning the skins by applying plant tannin solution to our hides during the process for extra preservation. 

You will leave with your own sheepskin to take home, the basic skills of using hide tanning tools, an understanding of each part of the process, and more. You will leave with skills to do the process on your own directly from wild or domestic animals. 

This hide camp takes place near downtown Paonia in our tanning area behind a private studio, and with a shared kitchen and bathroom to use at your leisure.

We will provide one hearty lunch every day from local meat and vegetables, hot beverages morning-evening. More details about the location and class logistics will be provided upon sign up. Let us know your diet preferences. 

We start at 9:30 AM the first morning and end after dinner on the last evening. 

9:30-5 each day, with a lunch break.

Camping or lodging is not provided, but we can recommend national forest locations nearby, airbnbs, and can host a couple people camping at our place, but space is limited. Get in touch if have accommodation questions.

Limited number of spots available.

Taught by Kelly Moody 

Payment plans are available through Klarna, shown when you check out. 

check out a photo journal of a tanning camp I helped with in 2019 in northern Idaho to get a glimpse into the process (most photos taken by Kelly Moody): 

https://www.ofsedgeandsalt.com/blog/jimcrofts2019tanning