Post by Moon Seeker on Aug 11, 2009 13:45:41 GMT -5
Southwest Las Vegas resident tans animal skins in backyard
By DANIELLE NADLER
VIEW STAFF WRITER
Editor's Note: This is the eighth installment in an occasional series about products made in Southwest Las Vegas.
Darel Ferguson's hobby seems like something that would be better understood in the plains of the Dakotas or the woods of rural Oregon where he grew up. He admits, he's an unusual breed in Las Vegas.
"I'm not so into the status quo," said Ferguson, dressed in leather pants and beaded moccasins he made by hand. "This is the Indian way."
The 58-year-old skins deer, elk, goat, buffalo and most any other animal killed by hunters to make brain-tanned hide. He uses the treated hide to craft clothes, drums, pouches and other souvenirs.
Ferguson's excitement for tanning hides sparked in an unexpected time and place -- while living in the heart of the 1960s hippie movement at San Francisco's famed Haight and Ashbury streets. Ferguson, part Cherokee and all hippie at the time, sewed and sold leather clothes from his apartment. He bought the pre-tanned leather for $22 a hide.
"I thought, there's got to be a way to do this myself," Ferguson said. "I found all these books on tanning hides and did a lot of research on my own."
At 23 years old, Ferguson made his first shirt and pants out of one elk hide and four deer hides.
"It just blew my mind what could be done," he said.
His project pushed him to discover more about the Native American culture. Ferguson joined an Indian regalia dance group, learned how to do bead work with a loom and met with any Native American willing to teach him more about tanning hides.
"I wanted to learn everything I could as fast as I could," Ferguson said. "I think eventually your creative spirit says, 'I'm doing this.' "
Tanning hides has been a hobby of Ferguson's since. It wasn't until recently when he was laid off as a union carpenter on the Fontainebleau construction project that he considered the talent as an opportunity to help pay the bills.
He makes clothes, mends drums and occasionally sells his products at powwows.
He's repaired Harold Morgan's powwow drum and made him flute pouches. Morgan considers brain-tanning a lost art.
"He's practicing the old traditional ways and bringing it back to life," he said. "I think it's awesome."
It takes Ferguson about a week to treat one hide. Some of his products, for example shirts, are made up of four to five hides.
These days, the time-consuming process keeps him in his southwest Las Vegas-area backyard most of every day.
Ferguson starts with raw hides, which he gets for free from a local shop that processes game meat for hunters. He washes the hide, scrapes off the hair and lets it dry. He then combines a deer brain and water in a blender to create the tanning solution, which he then rubs into the hide.
The brain's tannic acid tans the hide, Ferguson said.
He stretches the hide on a stand and lets it dry a second time. He then hangs the hide above his barbecue to smoke it, which sets the tan and preserves the hide. From there, he can sew, tie or shape the hide into most anything he wants. He turns any scraps into small pouches or laces.
"Nothing is wasted," he said.
Ferguson charges about $60 for each hide, which totals about $250 for a pair of pants.
"You can tell by the finished product that I'm passionate about what I do," he said. "When I finish one, because it's so much work, it feels like I really accomplished something. What's better than that?"
Contact Southeast and Southwest View reporter Danielle Nadler at dnadler@viewnews.com or 224-5524.
www.viewnews.com/2009/VIEW-Aug-11-Tue-2009/SWest/30416434.html
By DANIELLE NADLER
VIEW STAFF WRITER
Editor's Note: This is the eighth installment in an occasional series about products made in Southwest Las Vegas.
Darel Ferguson's hobby seems like something that would be better understood in the plains of the Dakotas or the woods of rural Oregon where he grew up. He admits, he's an unusual breed in Las Vegas.
"I'm not so into the status quo," said Ferguson, dressed in leather pants and beaded moccasins he made by hand. "This is the Indian way."
The 58-year-old skins deer, elk, goat, buffalo and most any other animal killed by hunters to make brain-tanned hide. He uses the treated hide to craft clothes, drums, pouches and other souvenirs.
Ferguson's excitement for tanning hides sparked in an unexpected time and place -- while living in the heart of the 1960s hippie movement at San Francisco's famed Haight and Ashbury streets. Ferguson, part Cherokee and all hippie at the time, sewed and sold leather clothes from his apartment. He bought the pre-tanned leather for $22 a hide.
"I thought, there's got to be a way to do this myself," Ferguson said. "I found all these books on tanning hides and did a lot of research on my own."
At 23 years old, Ferguson made his first shirt and pants out of one elk hide and four deer hides.
"It just blew my mind what could be done," he said.
His project pushed him to discover more about the Native American culture. Ferguson joined an Indian regalia dance group, learned how to do bead work with a loom and met with any Native American willing to teach him more about tanning hides.
"I wanted to learn everything I could as fast as I could," Ferguson said. "I think eventually your creative spirit says, 'I'm doing this.' "
Tanning hides has been a hobby of Ferguson's since. It wasn't until recently when he was laid off as a union carpenter on the Fontainebleau construction project that he considered the talent as an opportunity to help pay the bills.
He makes clothes, mends drums and occasionally sells his products at powwows.
He's repaired Harold Morgan's powwow drum and made him flute pouches. Morgan considers brain-tanning a lost art.
"He's practicing the old traditional ways and bringing it back to life," he said. "I think it's awesome."
It takes Ferguson about a week to treat one hide. Some of his products, for example shirts, are made up of four to five hides.
These days, the time-consuming process keeps him in his southwest Las Vegas-area backyard most of every day.
Ferguson starts with raw hides, which he gets for free from a local shop that processes game meat for hunters. He washes the hide, scrapes off the hair and lets it dry. He then combines a deer brain and water in a blender to create the tanning solution, which he then rubs into the hide.
The brain's tannic acid tans the hide, Ferguson said.
He stretches the hide on a stand and lets it dry a second time. He then hangs the hide above his barbecue to smoke it, which sets the tan and preserves the hide. From there, he can sew, tie or shape the hide into most anything he wants. He turns any scraps into small pouches or laces.
"Nothing is wasted," he said.
Ferguson charges about $60 for each hide, which totals about $250 for a pair of pants.
"You can tell by the finished product that I'm passionate about what I do," he said. "When I finish one, because it's so much work, it feels like I really accomplished something. What's better than that?"
Contact Southeast and Southwest View reporter Danielle Nadler at dnadler@viewnews.com or 224-5524.
www.viewnews.com/2009/VIEW-Aug-11-Tue-2009/SWest/30416434.html