This 3 day workshop transforms a sheep hide using a natural mineral tanning method into a beautiful, soft, cozy sheepskin rug, blanket.. or textile for some future sewing projects! Each student in the workshop left the class with a beautiful naturally hand tanned sheepskin!

This workshop is great for hide tanners at all levels, farmers, shepherds, textile artists, bodyworkers, cultural workers, caregivers, Activists, and you! No prior experience or knowledge is necessary.

All tools and materials included with the materials fee. This is a unique opportunity to build community, intimacy with place and ancestors, and land-based embodiment practices.

Accessibility: Part of the work will include being on your hands and knees, using string and needles, working with sharp objects, standing or sitting in a chair for 5+ hours, and repetitive use of arm motions and your full body to soften and work the hide. If you really would like to participate and some of parts explained above sound difficult, please reach out and we can see if we can come up with creative solutions!

If you would like to bring a friend/partner/family member to help you with your hide throughout the weekend there will be an additional $100 teaching fee. Myself and any helpers at the class will be able to also provide hands on support.

Marissa Sieck (they/them) is a hide tanner, plant tender, wilderness guide, and soon-to-be therapist. They live and tend to land and a small herd of sheep and goats in southern Tiwa speaking lands of so-called Albuquerque, NM at Chispas Farms, located in the South Valley. Marissa's experience has been guided by grief, love, and longing. Marissa comes to this work with deep curiosity and reverence for the animals and the practice of hide tanning. Their way in the world has centered around community, relationships to the human and more than/other than human world, accompaniment, social justice, and care work. Hide tanning has been a teacher in the cycles of life, death, and rebirth and ancestral connection. They love sharing this practice with others in a way that honors their lineages and opens doorways to other ways of being in the world, while also learning the practical and physical skills of transforming skin into textiles.