A few pics of some of my brain tan clothes

[BowEd]

Here's some of my work.

[Pappy]

Nice out fit. I love mine,very warm in cold weather but not really hot in warmer weather. 
   Pappy

[richardzane]

looks great..like to see some close-ups of the clothing!
what smokin material did you use for the hides? looks like really nice color.
I have a couple hides to smoke myself and have been waiting for just the right time. was planning on using punk.

[BowEd]

richardzane....you seem serious since you have hides done yourself.I sew up the hide in a tube and force the smoke through to get that color.I use hickory bark.You need to build up some coals fist then lay your smoking material on those coals.It all depends on the intesity of the smoke but on average it takes about an hour for each side.Punk wood is fine.A cautious note here...be careful it does'nt flame up.I keep a squirt bottle of water handy while doing this.

[richardzane]

talk about an embarressment..once i had a flare up once during a public demo when smoking a deer skin.
it was windy out, and in the middle of a hot sunny day.(both no-nos) I'd sewn it up in a tube like you did , even had a canvas skirt on it.
but i was using corn cobs in a metal can and that wind set the cobs ablaze under a tripod i hung the skin from. I acted fast.
well maybe too fast... simply kicked the whole dang thing over to keep from scorching the hide...now i had a grass fire
and in the meantime there was a crowd gathering...some seemed quite entertained. "uh..could some one get a hose over here?"

[BowEd]

Yep it happens.I once scorched a buffalo hair on hide on the bottom edge.The skirt idea is works great.I'll show a picture of a gal who wanted her brain tan dress smoked good.She had stored it in her basement[very humid and damp]and mildew had grown on it.My method did get rid of that mildew and made it a really nice garment.

[richardzane]

ha! that oughta work! 
I know my longhouse ancestors hung hides in the longhouse
and you can bet the entire inside of the longhouse was black after a few years of cooking and winter fires.
they never looked all varnished and clean like the pristine longhouses built at tourist attractions.
likely smoke kept wood gnawing bugs at bay for awhile anyway.
An entire Tionnontate or Wendat village would move and rebuild every twenty years or so.