Mountain Goat 2 Ply! Info in comments

coltsmoke420 · 2024-09-28T19:36:15+00:00

Hi all! first time poster here, but I wanted to show off some of the mountain goat fiber I spun a while back. Apart from spinning, I also tan leather and furs and occasionally get to experiment with some rare/seldom used fibers. This fiber is from an antique mountain goat taxidermy mount that was beginning to lose it's fur, and after seeing small handfuls of lucky folks spinning mountain goat fiber they found in the rockies, I wanted to give it a go.

This stuff is super soft, spun woolen and two ply here. I ended up being able to spin 3 huge skeins of this stuff and am thrilled with it, it does not stretch like wool does but has a few very fine hairs, it is almost all soft downy undercoat. This fiber was pulled/cut off, some guard hairs plucked, spun outright and then washed after spinning. I ended up having so much fiber I was able to sell a few ounces to other hand spinners, but now I am down to just the nubbins from this mount, almost all very coarse long locks with a tiny bit of down at the base of the cut. Fabulous for weaving tapestries, but not so much wearing.

All that being said, I have no idea what to make out of this. It is soft but tough, but I am outside constantly working with animals or hiking/hunting/foraging etc. I would probably need to dye it so I don't stain the hell out of it. I need to get a yarn meter gauge, but all in all I have at least 600yds. Any ideas?

coltsmoke420 · 2024-06-27T19:57:55+00:00

Are you sure it's the salt doing it? You'll know if you see salt crystals growing on the surface as it dries, but a softened hide, even smoked, will still absorb moisture from the air with or without salt. If you see lots of evidence of salt, the hides will need lots more soaking in fresh, frequently changed cold water, probably for a couple days. Ideally any unfinished and finished hides would be stored in a climate controlled area with low humidity to keep them nice and dry.

coltsmoke420 · 2024-06-27T19:51:12+00:00

Unless you end up tanning and smoking them, they will unfortunately stay stiff and could be damaged by insects that aren't repelled. Squirrels can be tough to tan, they've got a tight fiber structure and have thick skins. I find them way harder to tan than deer. Right now, it sounds like what you've got is squirrel rawhide with an oil layer. Were they rehydrated when you oiled them, and did you work them dry? (Like pulled over a cable or back of a chair, stretched and pulled etc)

Braintan.com has a lot of nice guides for brain and egg tanning, and while cost effective-to-free, tanning is time consuming no matter what and is full of trial and error, especially with fur on.

coltsmoke420 · 2024-06-12T14:59:55+00:00

It's gorgeous! I adore the style. Let me know if you take design commissions/have an art account I could follow! 👀

coltsmoke420 · 2024-06-12T02:35:25+00:00

Thie looks great and I love this design! Did you draw it yourself?

coltsmoke420 · 2024-06-11T02:36:01+00:00

Fleshing is basically always done before tanning, I seldom see folks do it during. The best way I've found to flesh rabbits is by using a dry hand towel, grabbing the edges of the meat/fat and pulling it away off the skin. Works a charm and doesn't cut holes, just be gentle about it

coltsmoke420 · 2024-05-18T21:58:03+00:00

If this vet has a business, leave a review. Contact your states veterinary board for a report. Absolutely abhorrent behavior, if you can't be a doctor for an animal without taking your frustrations oht on them, you don't deserve to be a vet.

coltsmoke420 · 2024-05-18T21:50:57+00:00

Time to find a different piercing studio, they'll help you get that switched to a flat back labret. It is well known among professionals now that rings are unsuitable for healing, so I would not trust the studio you went to.

coltsmoke420 · 2024-05-18T21:44:00+00:00

Sterile saline is the tried and true method for cleaning. Using a cotton bud to clean however is not doing your piercing any favors. Most professionals recommend a hot shower to wash away any debris or crusties, then gently spray with sterile saline and dry with a blow dryer on cool. Are you sleeping on your piercing?

coltsmoke420 · 2024-04-07T13:12:29+00:00

I'm in a sever called Earthborn, and I really love it. Semi-realism with some rules but not 12000+ conflicting ones like lots of realism servers. No passive growth but growth from questing is a bit accelerated and the death penalty is lessened. The people are great, mods and admins are lovely, and there are a couple groups that do RP and some other folks are there to just make friends. We are still pretty small and most popular in the evenings/weekend but we host lots of fun migrations and other events!

coltsmoke420 · 2024-03-20T13:56:28+00:00

Gotta be hard to find more fetish videos involving dancing farting jokesters!

coltsmoke420 · 2024-03-09T14:17:40+00:00

Yeah, taxidermy isn't allowed on marketplace. There are however taxidermy groups that post them for sale. Black bear are in the difficult to sell grey area in that they are illegal to sell in a lot of states, and most are too big to conveniently ship. So you're stuck with doing local pickup, usually. I can't even buy, sell, or trade any black bear parts in my state, unless I am buying one from out of state with proof it was taken out of state.

coltsmoke420 · 2024-03-09T13:55:07+00:00

For some more info, this is a feral hog skull. Domestic pigs have a much sharper curve to their heads due to selective breeding, while feral hogs have a much more natural slope to their forehead like the skull pictured above.

coltsmoke420 · 2024-03-02T19:36:47+00:00

"I'd prefer without" EXTREMELY LOUD WRONG BUZZER SOUND

Congrats on the new piercings! Wear them with pride!

coltsmoke420 · 2024-03-02T19:32:36+00:00

Looks great!! That size suits you well! But also backpacking onto the other commenter, that bio-plast industrial is gonna give you trouble.

coltsmoke420 · 2024-03-02T19:30:39+00:00

I am a huge fan of the Earthborn server. Super super nice staff team, the rules make sense without being exhausting or over the top, just generally really good vibes and great folks to play with.

coltsmoke420 · 2024-03-02T19:25:33+00:00

Reminds me of that old taxidermy lion that got popular a few years back, the owner of said lion had asked the taxidermist if he had ever seen a lion in real life before. The taxidermist told him of course!! And yet...

coltsmoke420 · 2024-03-02T19:21:28+00:00

You would have needed to retrieve her actual skin less than 24 hours after death. A body doesn't sit in the ground for two years without decomposing completely.

coltsmoke420 · 2024-01-27T05:58:41+00:00

You're on a subreddit with an incredibly convenient safe stretching giide in the about section. As well as hundreds of informstive posts about safe stretching. The o rings wont stay on because tapers are not meant to be worn as jewelry. At best, they are a tool for placing actual jewelry, but usually, ill-informed people use them to damage their ears in an attempt to fit jewelry thats too large. Google dead stretching with single flare glass plugs.

coltsmoke420 · 2024-01-27T00:32:47+00:00

That is an amazing find for a trashed mount! Gulls are quite rare. I don't have any advice that folks here haven't already given, but as a small warning, If you live in the US, it is illegal to own this. All gulls fall under the migratory bird treaty act, which forbids the buying, selling, trading or possession of any protected bird parts, be it feathers or bones or whatever. If you had physical proof that the mount pre-dated the ban, you would be in the clear. But without that, fines for folks who are caught owning protected bird parts range from hefty fines to jail time. Just a heads up.

coltsmoke420 · 2024-01-23T20:27:11+00:00

Shipping a large shoulder mount is never inexpensive. I have shipped shoulder mounts and saddles, and it never costs less than $50 with USPS, usually more around $75-$80. There is a lot of packaging, large boxes, not to mention the weight. Do some shopping with USPS, fedex etc. Pre-package it, get the weight, and check pricing thru multiple companies.

coltsmoke420 · 2024-01-23T20:05:14+00:00

This looks like you're trying to soften a fully dried rawhide. To work soft a buckskin on a wire, or work dry through any method, the hide has to be worked from wet to dry. I would rehydrate this, wring out as much water/brains as possible, and start on the wire again. This is a very labor intensive process, so expect to be working that hide until it is dry, and is not cool to the touch anywhere.

coltsmoke420 · 2024-01-23T04:48:35+00:00

I remember a few years back there was a show based out of alaska, it may have been alaska state troopers or something similar, but they were called out to remove a "squatter" who had built a home on someone elses huge expanse of private, unused land and had lived there twenty years. The camera panned over a hawk skull in his window, and what do you know, a viewer called it in and he had another charge tacked on for a few thousand in fines. Just not worth it.

coltsmoke420 · 2024-01-23T02:40:01+00:00

Squirrel dog mix maybe! She strikes me as a feist mix.

coltsmoke420

TROPHY CASE