James

This X account has been mothballed as I am not a great fan of the direction X had gone and the type of interactions common on the site. Active on Instagram @CotmarshTannery

@andyrumming @DominicElsworth @GreatCotmarsh Working on it @andyrumming 😁

@DominicElsworth No plans to commercially tan here, but aim to be belt manufacturing and processing leather for Farmsneaker events. I hope to use the tannery at @GreatCotmarsh once James has it up and running.

Scaffolding comes down tomorrow so a big push this weekend to finish the reroofing project - and we’re done. A Victorian stable and hay loft, then an abreast parlour and cake loft, now a biomass boiler plant room and soon to be a leather store /leather workshop.

Spending the day peeling in such a beautiful setting was very good for the soul, and the sound of the bark peeling is beautiful!

Nothing from the tree is wasted, making beautiful oak stakes, charcoal and more.

It is at this time of year that the sap is rising in trees as they push out leaves and grow. The sapwood is wet which makes it the best time to peel bark from the trees as it comes off easy and in strips.

Sample sections of hide and sheepskins in for clean and soak to remove salt

Set up for summer tanning experiments 😁

@WelshTannery Do you use a slightly acidic spray? I was really impressed with how much a dry drum helped bring back the wool look and remove the last of the debris but definitely a cost

@CotmarshTannery Some of the longer fibre ones I dampen down to bring the curl back - a bit like an 80s perm 🤣 we have thought about a drum but not sure if it would get much use.

Combed or uncombed which do you prefer?

@WelshTannery @Lady_Clarington Surprised it was only an hour! I don’t know how you do it, I spent 3 hours brushing one and that was more than enough for me. Be worth it though, beautiful!

@Lady_Clarington No it went through the machine to get the worst of the clumps out then hand combed for a good hour 🫣

Urghh 😩

@andyrumming @BBCFarmingToday Working on sorting the tannery problem for you 😁

Thank you to @BBCFarmingToday for featuring my farmsneaker.com workshops on today’s show as part of their “materials “ week bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0… The enquiries started rolling in before breakfast. #regenleather #pastureforlife

Great interview with @andyrumming about his leather sneaker workshop. He highlights the difficulty in getting his hides made into leather. Hoping to make that easier for him 😁

The objective of the tannery is to produce high quality, fully traceable leather utilising hides from ethically managed farms (PFL, Organic and or Regenerative principles).

To help understand the need for a new veg micro-tannery I have created a survey aimed at farmers, leather makers / workers and consumers. I would really appreciate 5 minutes of your time to give some honest feedback and throughs please. Thank you eu.jotform.com/form/233316314…

New FB group for UK veg micro tanners to share ideas, suppliers and kit. facebook.com/groups/ukvegmi…

Great example of a farmer adding value by running a leather makers workshop using veg tanned leather from his own cows. More dates available. Book now!

Baiting softens the hides and pickling reduces their pH, so the hide accepts the tannins. We still have a way to go to get the tannery up and running but it was a big step; it all feels very real and less theoretical all of a sudden.

The pickling drum that was delivered to the farm today was the first step to getting the cattle hide tannery built. The drum will play a key part in the tannery process and is where the hides will be baited and picked before going into the bark liquor for tanning.

When Pittards tannery shut down they auctioned off everything, and I mean everything, even the pictures off the office wall. Though it was sad to see such an institution of tanning in the UK reduced to selling off every scrap we have manged to give a new life to one of the drums.