Hand-tanned Churro sheep hide tanned by Montana James in Paonia, Colorado

Tended with care and lots of time and attention

Tanned by hand using non-industrial methods, using emulsified fats, woodsmoke and days of physical softening and preening. Hair has been hand picked of debris, washed and brushed in some areas to clean— with the goal of maintaining some of the sectioned waves of the hide which occur naturally. This said, the animal was alive and lived outside. This one has very little remnant debris left in the hide. That said, these hides pick up debris when being used so you will be tending them for years to come.

This particular hide was traditionally tanned with cow brains hand harvested from the local slaughters with Paonia Food Club (the local butcher shop in Paonia, Colorado), dry scraped and softened with a hatchet.

machine washable in cold water and on cold setting in the dryer.

size: 4 feet in length and 3 feet in width

price is based on a few factors. For this hide, the quality of the softening and smoking, lack of holes, surface area of hide, hair length and quality, and use of traditional methods helped to determine the price. Brain-tanning takes longer and is more work, and especially if they are harvested by hand, which was the case for this particular skin.