Coonskin caps!

 September 2020 

A small group started production of coonskin caps.  In total 12 were begun 

 

Each family was provided a bucket of tools which they used throughout the process 

Outline of Process;

Name tags;

Each youth chose a hand made hardwood mallet for the leather stamping 

   Everyone chose a piece of vegetable tanned leather to make a name tag.  Stamps and wood burning pencils were employed to add names to the name tags.  

 

Cut the pelts;

  Next the raccoon pelts were turned inside out and carefully slit open using razor blade knives (along with a leather glove).  In order to not cut the fur, we used knives and cut the leather side with 3 or 4 strokes.  By only penetrating just a smidge past the leather you are typically able to avoid cutting the fur.    

Pattern creation;

  Each boy and girl created a cardboard hat, in order to make a working pattern.  Once the hat fit was confirmed, the cardboard hats were disassembled.  These patterns were laid out on the coon pelts, and the outline of the patterns drawn with pen on the leather side.  

Cutting pieces;

  Razor blades were again utilized to cut out pieces from the coon pelts.  The pattern pieces were placed on the pelts to optimize the beauty of the fur.  The raccoon's back fur tends to be darker, with the belly side fur tends to be a lighter color and a more inconsistent pattern.  

 

Assembly;

  In order to easily sew the pieces together with a special leather needle (these are dull), holes were punched in the fur pieces.  A hardwood mallet and several leather punches were used.  The 3 prong punch works best on the curved piece which makes the top of the hat.  A 6 prong punch makes punching long straight pieces easy.  

  The youth lined up the 2 strips of fur that will make the sides of the hat.  The 2 short ends were aligned, fur side in, and held in place with clothespins.  Waxed thread was used in the leather needles and along with loop stitch to keep the sewing in place long term.  

    After the 2 side pieces were connected, this circular "band of fur" was sewed onto the top piece.  The alignment can be a little tricky, but the fur hides quite a bit.  These are youth and I want them to do the work and be proud of their craft.  (We are not building kitchen cabinets, so we do not have to be exact.)

   Add the face!  Several youth wanted to add the coon's face to the front of their hat.  

   {This is the standard for West Virginia University, whose mascot, for decades, has been The Mountaineer!}. 

  

Another completed coon hat 

Dark thick pelt 

A brisk windy January brought in another NAACS where over 260 scouters gathered in Astoria, Oregon.  This Order of the Arrow event of the Cascade Pacific Council, is organized and run by the youth.  Over the years it has pulled attendees from Oregon, Washington, Idaho and California.

Our team taught 2 classes in the morning and 2 workshops in the afternoon.

A matching game made up the morning class where teams assembled;

• a toy animal 
• a fact sheet covering information about the animal's leather / fur
• the matching pelt / fur / wool 
• a finished product from the animal's leather or fur

 Example = Yak wool fiber & yarn + a Yak wool hat

 
Kuddos go to Schleich, Fred Meyer & www.toyanimalshop.com for their generous donations!

In addition to the 60 unique animals in the matching game, another 60+ animal pelts / skins and finished products were on display, with most accompanied by a toy, picture or fact card.  All visitors were encouraged to learn about the various animals at their own pace through reading and handling the various pieces.
   18 different pieces - totally new to the collection were added this year including gemsbok leather gloves, a fish leather belt, black impala, pig leather baseball mitt, alpaca wool/fur gloves, wildebeest, and cape buffalo rawhide mallet.  A number of companies generously donated - see the "Thank you Donors!" page.
   Prizes from Cabela's were chosen by participants who completed a related word search.

In the afternoon workshops participants crafted a leather pouch including;

• cow leather or deer hide with fur on 
• a leather or deer antler button 
• button tie off to secure the flap closed 
• optional decor pieces from animals including bobcat, sheepskin, rattlesnake, bighorn sheep, coyote, dall sheep, and beaver
• optional leather nametag
  
  Steps to create the pouches included; design, stamping, punching, sewing and stitching.
     Several people also dropped by to get some custom help on their leather projects.
  Paracord bracelets from Cabela's were earned by participants who completed a word search.

Deer hide bag with rabbit trim

   Deer hide bag with coyote fur decor

 Deer hide bag with antler buttons

 Deer hide bag with coyote fur decor and deer antler button

 Deer hide bag with rabbit fur decor

 Leather sheath for hand made axe

Deer hide bag with rabbit trim

 Deer hide with winter coyote fur decor and leather button

 Deer hide bag with bobcat pelt decor

 Cow leather bag with deer antler button

Here are a few of the comments we received this year - we always solicit feedback in an effort to understand our audience and improve our presentations.  Special recogniztion to Brian, Stan, Bob, Eric & Chuck for making these classes possible!

• Unusual furs & great fun! 
• This class was really fun.  I would take it again.
• Great and fun class!  It is so cool learning about different animal hides and why we need to protect the species! 
• FUN and interesting
• I really did enjoy learning, looking and touching all the different hides - I would take the class again
• Thank you for the class - very interactive, which makes it fun!
• I really enjoyed seeing all the cool and unique pelts (especially stingray!).  I also loved seeing some of the products made from them!
• Great class with awesome activities for all ages.  I learn something new everytime.  Keep it up.
• Interesting / enjoyable / educational 
• This class is really cool because you get to learn cool facts about animals.
• Great class, very interesting, has a lot of info that I would not have otherwise known.
• Fun / easy to follow 
• Good class, learned more walking around than just getting talked to 
• Had lots of fun, learned a lot, would do again
• Really fun, found it very interesting to see all the different kinds of animals.  thank you for hosting this class, it was great.

Saturday's AMAZING dinner was potlatch - patterned after the fur trapper / Native American Indian dinners at rendez vous gatherings.  Wild rice, cornbread, brussel sprouts, elk meatloaf, wild boar chunks and apple cider comprised the dinner.