Traditionally Tanning

I began apprenticing with Kathleen Hildebrand in 2023, experiencing great healing in her ‘urban hide camp’. in 2025, I began teaching alongside Kathleen.
We teach people throughout the year, either in her backyard or we can be requested to go to your community. In September we are accepting donations hide donations during the hunting season of the Interior, therefore this is the only month we are not able to travel. We generally teach hide work in 2-3 camps. The first camp is defleshing and dehairing the hide, afterwards it can be dried or stored. In the winter we put the hides on frames to frost scrape. The following camp is learning how to make the brain solution, letting the hide marinate in the brain solution, and softening the hide afterwards. Weather permitting-or with the right infrastructure-we smoke the hide. Kathleen is able to teach classes on how to make hide regalia. Hide work is sensitive to weather, but still is flexible and forgiving. Reach out if you’d like to learn or host a camp.