Oil tanning
Oil tanning is used to make uncoloured leather showing of the beautiful and unique patterns of each individual fish.
Cleaning
After you get the skins from the fish store you have to scrape off the excess meat and scales. When all the meat and scales are gone you wash them in a mixture of soap and water. It is very important to be thurow in this first step in order to not end up with a smelly end result. Remember to always keep the waters under 20 degrees Celsius throughout the whole process of tanning.
Tanning
Prepare a mixture of:
1 egg yolk
1 dl oil (rapeseed, fish or olive oil)
1 ts neutral dish wash soap
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Mix the ingredients together and submerge the fish skins in it. Keep the skins in the mixture for 15 min.
Then leave the skins to dry for two days either hanging or laying on a flat surface.
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Washing and
Re-oiling
When the skins are dry, wash them with a mixture of 1:10 water and soap. The skins will then become wet and floppy again. Then prepare a mixture of:
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5 dl water
1 egg yolk
2 ts soap
1 dl oil
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Massage the skins in the mixture for 10-15 minutes then hang to dry again.
Softening
Now this is the last step. When the skin is still a bit damp, you can start to soften it. This is done by rubbing it between your hands. Don`t worry, the skin is not going to tear, you can do this pretty hard! The more you do this as it dries, the softher the finished result will be. If the skin dried a bit too fast before you got around to soften it you can just dip it in some water and it will become soft again.
