This article duo is inspired by a chapter from my book, LeatherCrafted:
A Simple Guide to Creating Unconventional Leather Goods. Enjoy!
For many of us the art of working
with, and of tanning leather is a beautiful mystery. While not terribly complex, it is a process that
has been developed, perfected, and implemented by hardworking humans and
craftspeople over thousands of years.
As far back as 20,000 BC, humans
used leather – at least as clothing – as we know from cave pictographs. We cannot
be sure if they knew how to tan or treat it back then, because references to
tanning are not seen until 8,000 BC. The earliest tanners would scrape the hair
off of the hide before treating it with brains or urine for preservation and
softness. Because of their early efforts, we actually have leather artifacts
that date from 4,000 BC. The oldest leather shoe dates to about 3,500 BC.
The tanning process remained
relatively the same for several thousand years. Different civilizations would
use different substances – such as brains, dung from dogs and pigeons, urine,
salt, alkaline lime, and fat. In the ancient town of Pompeii, we know they gathered
urine for tanning and bleaching from public urinals – the ruins from the town
(covered by the volcano Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD) offer a peek at one of the
world’s oldest tanneries.
Vegetable Tanning, which is the
process we use in crafting Moxie & Oliver products, was discovered around 2,000
BC. It was also known as bark tanning, since it preserves the leather with tree
bark tannins. Although the result was a lovely, smooth and durable leather that
was ideal for tooling and embellishments, the process takes upwards of a month
from start to finish.
During the Middle Ages crafters
began adding decorations and embellishments, and tooling the material by
pounding a stamp into the leather to create a relief pattern. The Moors were
known for beautifully tooled leather saddles, which made their way to the New
World in the mid-1500s with Hernando Cortez and the Conquistadors.
For those in Europe and in the
colonies leather was a necessary material for every-day life. Shoes, horse
gear, accessories, books, blacksmithing equipment and even coaches required
leather. Vegetable tanning was brought to the colonies and the first tanneries
were set up – the crafts involving tanning and use of leather flourished until
the industrial revolution.
In the early 1800s the Industrial
Revolution dramatically changed the way people both made and consumed
goods. With advances in machinery all
goods, leather included, could be made more quickly and at a lower price. They could be manufactured – and consumers
could, and did purchase a higher quantity of goods, even though they were at a
lower quality than their handmade predecessors.
Around this same time “chromium
tanning” was invented in the medical community. This invention, or discovery,
changed the leathercraft community irreversibly. This new process created a leather that was
soft, supple, stretchy, and perfectly suited for mass-manufacture.
However, it was toxic both in
process and waste, and the resulting material could not be tooled, painted,
sculpted, branded, or carved as vegetable-tanned leather could.
Time for a short break to let you
process this information this far, feed your kids, and maybe grab a glass of
wine. I will resume this brief history of leathercraft in just a couple of
days!
