Bark tanned flatfish skin

Properties & Qualities

Application

Accessories Jewellery

Qualities

2D Flexible Textured / tactile Opaque Translucent Transparent Other

Colour

Brown

Sample Information

Date of Creation

October 10, 2022

Dimensions

15cm x 13cm

Culture & Context

Bark tanning is an old way of tanning leather. Before chromium tanning became the industry standard, bark tanning used to be. It is a non-toxic method that where you take the bark of already dead trees and branches. As all bark contains tannins (what tanned the skins and make them into leather), local trees can be used.

Process & Production

The skin was tanned with an unknown combination of barks found in the woods. The flatfish skin was collected from a local fish store. The skins are waste material and can therefore often be collected for free.

Recipe Details

Put the bark in a pot. Fill with water until it covers the bark. Bring it to a boil and then turn down the temperature and let it simmer for an hour. Now let it cool down to under 20 degrees Celsius. It is important throughout the whole process that the water is never higher than 20 degrees. An idea is to just leave it overnight. Then put your skins into ¼ bark solution and ¾ water. Leave over night. Stir in the solution every few hours to avoid rot. Continue adding a bit of bark solution each day for 7 days. After 7 days, hang the skins to dry and soften them at the same time.