A skill beneath other skills
Many of the objects admired in museums, from beaded moccasins to decorated bags, rest on a less visible craft: preparing hides. Without soft, durable leather there would be no footwear, no clothing, no carrying containers and no base for beadwork. For this reason, hide tanning is described across many Apache groups as a core skill, even though it gets far less attention than the finished items it supports.
The description below is general. Methods varied with the group, the animal, the season and the individual, and published accounts, many of them written by outside observers in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, do not always agree. Treat it as a broad outline, not a recipe.
Where hides came from
Deer were the most widely used source of buckskin in the mountains and deserts of the Southwest. Elk, antelope and other animals were also used, and groups with access to buffalo on the Southern Plains, such as the Plains Apache, Lipan and, at times, Jicarilla and Mescalero, used buffalo hides for some purposes. Hides were a by-product of Apache hunting, so supply depended on the success of hunters, and nothing useful was wasted. The meat fed families while the hide, sinew and bone became materials for other tasks.
The general steps
Accounts of buckskin preparation typically describe the following stages:
- Fleshing. Remaining flesh and fat are scraped from the inside of the fresh hide.
- Removing the hair. Hair is loosened, often by soaking, and scraped away. Some work leaves hair on for particular uses.
- Tanning. The hide is treated so it stays supple and does not rot or turn stiff after wetting. Brain tanning is the best-known approach in many Native traditions, using an emulsion made from animal brain worked into the hide.
- Working and softening. The hide is stretched, pulled and worked until dry and soft.
- Smoking. Many accounts mention exposing the hide to smoke from a smoldering fire, which colors it and helps it keep its softness after getting wet.
Each stage takes time and physical effort, and the whole process can take days. Weather matters, since drying and working a hide are easier in some conditions than others.
Who did this work varied. Many accounts say hide preparation was usually done by women, with men doing the hunting and sometimes helping, but practice differed, and accounts from outside observers should be treated with care.
What buckskin was used for
Prepared hide had many uses:
- Clothing, including shirts, skirts, dresses and leggings, depending on the group and period
- Footwear: Apache moccasins in the Southwest are often described as tall boot moccasins with a turned-up toe, although styles varied
- Bags, pouches and containers for personal belongings
- Coverings and straps for cradleboards
- Parts of shelter, notably among groups using hide coverings
- Fringe, ties and lacing cut from the hide itself
Rawhide, hide that is dried rather than tanned, was stiffer and was used for items such as containers, drumheads and parts of tools. Sinew, the tendon from large animals, was used as thread. All of this made hide work a basic part of household economy.
Styles of traditional Apache clothing changed over time with cloth and trade goods. Hide also figured in housing, from brush-covered wickiup frames to the hide-covered shelters used by some eastern groups, a range of Apache wickiup and tipi homes that differed by region.
Decoration
Hide was a canvas. Fringe, painted designs, metal cones and, from the nineteenth century onward, glass beads were applied to it. Because decoration changed with trade, a well-prepared hide gave makers wide creative choice. A hide that had not been carefully softened would be uncomfortable to wear and hard to stitch through.
Change over time
As cloth became available through trade, and later through stores and agencies, clothing made from fabric replaced some everyday items made of buckskin. Hunting access shrank as reservations replaced seasonal movement across wide territories. Economic hardship, restrictions on movement and the decline of game in some areas made the practice harder. Many families nonetheless continued to prepare hides, and interest in hide tanning has remained strong, partly because hide is still needed for moccasins, ceremonial and dance clothing, and drums.
Practicing it today
Hide tanning is taught today in some community programs and by family members, along with other skills. Learners can find it demanding, and some skills cannot be learned adequately from books. Anyone interested in learning should look for classes offered by Apache nations or cultural programs rather than relying only on online instructions, which often blend traditions from different nations. Specific ceremonial uses of hide are not shared publicly and are not described here. For current information, consult the official websites of the nations themselves.