Rabbit skin blankets have probably been around for thousands of years. They were made by indigenous peoples of North America, notably the Paiute (California) and Dene (northern Canada), among many others. The method involves the utilization of many rabbit skins, which are too small to be of much use by themselves. The skins are cut into thin strips and twisted to make furry cordage. And with this, you can begin knitting, weaving, etc.
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There are many different ways to create garments or blankets from rabbit skins. In most cases though, the skins are spiral cut into strips (about 1 inch). If you have a flat open skin, you will draw a hypnotic-like spiral on the flesh side and cut it out. If you have a closed, “case” skin, you can spiral cut a strip from the front to back of the animal. This should produce less waste, since you are using the belly fur. With both methods, you will need to cut eye-holes at the ends of the strips. These holes are used to connect skins forming a long chain. Alternatively, you could sew the ends of the strips to together. With a flat skin, you inevitably waste the edges of the pelt (i.e., the belly fur). Here is an example of the method using open skins in a Paiute-style blanket design. http://www.primitiveways.com/rabbit_skin_blanket.html.
This Paiute method is known as “warp and weft”. It is weaving method.
Here is an example using case skins with a Dene blanket design.
This Dene method is also known as loop knitting.
The traditional way of making these blankets involves using fresh (green) rabbit skin. See video above. I have not tried this, but I suspect that the skin would be more susceptible to rot and insect damage and hair loss if not preserved before cutting into strips. I have used a salt-acid pickle to preserve the skins. Here is a link to instructions on that. https://riseandshinerabbitry.com/2012/01/22/tanning-rabbit-pelts/
After the skins are preserved, they tend to smell a little bit. It’s not really a bad smell. It’s just preserved rabbit pelt smell. To minimize the odor, I have a big box of red cedar shavings that I store all my preserved skins in. This has several benefits. Good smell and keeps the skins dry and insect free. I keep the skins in there for months. When you are ready to use the skins, you will have to clean off some shavings that stick to the flesh side of the skin. A good brushing should do the trick!
The rabbit skin blanket is a great way to use up many junior pelts that I process from meat rabbits. Unlike a prime adult pelt, the junior pelts lack dense fur with minimal rollback, but they are still very soft enough and worth using for something in my opinion. I would love to here feedback on how other process hides and use them in garment or blankets and I'm happy to answer questions! Thanks
mfalconer
