I tan
many types of skins (moose, reindeer, goat, sheep, beaver,
ostrich, and fish) using traditional tools and techniques I learned
from the Inuit and Indians in Canada, the Ainu women in Japan and the Sami people
in Sweden and Norway. The preparation of hides from animals that where hunted for food was a natural part of everyday life, usually performed by women in
connection with cooking. The skins are tanned mainly with unsaturated oils or with bark collected in the
spring, which is the time of the year when the bark contains most tannin. Fish skin. In recent years, I have spent much time to further develop techniques for
tanning fish skins. The use of fish skin is an ancient tradition in societies along rivers, streams
and coasts all over the world.
In areas with few mammals, fish skin became regarded as a useful and usable
material. While visiting the Inuit (Eskimos) in northern Canada, I saw boots with shafts of
salmon skin and soles of sealskin. I was intrigued and upon returning home, I
started experimenting. Today I tan fish skin primarily with sallow bark or
with egg yolk and rapeseed oil.
2019, I was presented with a Swedish Mastership diploma as a Tanner from The Swedish craft Council.
2020, Traditional Tanning was declared an Intangible Cultural Heritage in Sweden.