Custom Tanning

I offer a limited number of custom tanning spots each year for sheep and goatskins, with a preference for folks local to western NC / east TN / southwest VA. At this time I am not accepting any other species for custom work, and I do not have the space or equipment to tan cattle (not even calves, sorry!). 

All skins must be salted, and ideally allowed to dry before arranging to get them to me. Sheep and goatskins may be salted for up to 1 year after harvest in cool and dry conditions and remain viable for hair-on tanning, longer than that and they will begin bacterial breakdown and can only be tanned for hair-off leather. 

Skins that are covered in burrs and/or fine VM and require more than 1 hour of combing will incur additional charges. You can avoid these by noting that you will comb your own skins, or by removing burrs before sending them to me. Much like yarn, the cleaner your pasture and sheep are, the better the end result for your fiber! 

Turn around time in the summer is usually 2-3 months; once harvest season starts in September expect 6-8 months. Please note that I typically close down the tannery from about mid December to mid February due to freezing weather, so I am not able to tan during that time. 

If you'd like to place a deposit to reserve your spot, please contact me! mezzalunafibers [at] gmail [dot] com.