Description
Pull up a chair and a soothing beverage and experience the magic of making leather with your own hands from the comfort of your kitchen in this Zoom class with Matt Richards. You’ll learn how plant tannins and animal skins combine to become one of humanity’s most important discoveries. No specialized tools or equipment needed, just basic kitchen implements. We’ll tan one square foot of deerskin to keep the labor simple and focus on the process and knowledge. Check it off your list of things you’ve always wanted to do, or go on to tan more and bigger skins armed with the knowledge of how to do it simply and efficiently.
You’ll love this class if:
- You want the hands-on experience of making a piece of leather
- You work with leather, crafting, bookbinding or tailoring and want to deepen your relationship with the material
- You are a tanner and want to learn how we do it, and what we know. We plan to offer more advanced classes in the future and this class will be a pre-requisite.
The materials kit is not included in this class fee so you’ll need to come up with the equivalent of everything you need that you might not have around the kitchen – a square foot of raw salted deerskin, lime, 2 lbs tan oak bark, leather finishing balm and 1/4 lb wheat bran. The most important part of this kit is the oak bark. I’ve found in the past that people providing their own materials, even experienced tanners, typically have low quality materials, forcing us to figure it out on the fly. If you want to just get the oak bark, we sell it in the tannins, dyes and alkalis section of the website.
You might also consider getting a barkometer. They aren’t necessary for the class but are super useful for this type of tanning, especially if you are wild sourcing your own tannins and will add to your experience. They are $40. They will pop up as an option when you checkout.
There is one time slot for this class in May 2026: 6 pm pacific standard time. All sessions will be recorded and available to re-watch.
Customs: declared values will only be the value of the materials kit, not the class cost
Starting Monday May 4th:
60 minutes: Fleshing and Liming
Monday May 11th:
60 minutes: Dehairing and neutralizing
Thursday May 14th:
120 minutes: Make tannin teas, start tanning!
Thursday May 21st:
60 minutes: Rinse out excess tannin. Apply oils, sleeking, set up to dry
Monday May 25th:
60 minutes: Softening and conditioning
Basics of Barktan - Zoom Class (No Materials Kit)
| 5 star | 99% | |
| 4 star | 1% | |
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Verified ReviewIf you want to learn to tan hides, this is the way to go! No need to travel all over the country for a hands-on class. Great communication before and after each class to make sure you know what to do ahead of time and recap what you've learned. Recordings of the video calls ensure that you can watch back the class instruction or catch-up if you are unavailable at class time. The perfect balance of information and "just-do-it." This class made it so simple to learn how to tan hides; I am confident and fully capable of tanning my own hides at home after taking this course.
Verified ReviewI have been working with leather for over 20 years and this class made me fall in love all over again with leather. Matt is a wealth of information, and also quite entertaining! I honestly can’t believe how nice the leather we made came out. It far exceeded my expectations and I would recommend it to anyone interested in beginning tanning, or self taught tanner’s looking to level up their skill set.
Verified ReviewI reccomend this course highly. I learened alot and is was easy to follow along and do each task.
Verified ReviewThis bark tanning class absolutely opened my eyes and inspired me to process deer hides into leather here in Hawaii. Matt is a fantastic teacher !
Verified ReviewAmazing class. I appreciate all the resources to allow us to learn in our own way.
Verified ReviewMatt you are a skilled teacher of the bark tanning method(s). My sample skin/leather piece is rather extraordinary for a first effort and that's due to following your methods.
In truth I have never attempted leather tanning but have dressed sheep and other fur skins for years. Leather was intimidating in the past, but not anymore.
I have renewed interest in the craft now, so your class did that for me.
Tom Lapp
Verified ReviewWorth every penny plus some!!! The amount of knowledge that is shared is amazing!! I was hesitant at first just because you don’t know 100% how the classes will be but take my word, it’s worth it! All supplies are labeled and packaged perfectly.
Verified ReviewSuch a great class to jump start the tanning intro and the format of zoom classes (and recordings) along with the materials kit is a great way to learn from home!
Verified ReviewWonderful education!
