WEBVTT 00:00:11.428 --> 00:00:22.689 Mary Gull taught me when they used to have a culture camp, and it's where I learned how to do it. 00:00:22.689 --> 00:00:27.861 Christine Saganash was another person who has taught me. 00:00:28.278 --> 00:00:34.284 I would sometimes go to her while she worked on the moosehide outside her place. 00:00:34.284 --> 00:00:41.416 I would help her scrape the moosehide or soften it during summer. 00:00:41.416 --> 00:00:46.629 It's where I learned how to work on a moose hide. 00:00:47.338 --> 00:00:53.762 With your moose hide, you need to find out where it's thick 00:00:56.389 --> 00:00:59.809 so you can scrape it evenly and thinly. 00:01:00.393 --> 00:01:08.651 You first need to remove the flesh on the moose hide, 00:01:09.486 --> 00:01:13.364 and once you flip it over, 00:01:13.364 --> 00:01:21.873 you need to cut and scrape off the moose hair. 00:01:22.707 --> 00:01:34.010 Once you've completed that, you scrape the moose hide using these. 00:01:36.346 --> 00:01:42.685 I use this one for removing the fleshy part 00:01:42.685 --> 00:01:45.855 and use this one when I flip the moose hide. 00:01:49.317 --> 00:01:52.237 Once you've completed the scraping, 00:01:52.237 --> 00:02:02.956 you'll need to soak it and scrape off the remaining moose hair. 00:02:03.915 --> 00:02:09.379 Then you take it outside, stretch it out on a frame, 00:02:10.713 --> 00:02:19.722 scrape it and see where you need to thin it out. 00:02:22.100 --> 00:02:29.732 You thin a moose hide this way during winter. 00:02:31.693 --> 00:02:41.077 If you find areas where it's thick, you will take it out and scrape it again. 00:02:42.662 --> 00:02:47.417 Until it's thin enough, then you're done. 00:02:49.002 --> 00:02:56.217 You're going to have a hard time softening it is too thick. 00:02:56.968 --> 00:03:02.265 If the moose hide is too thick, you can't soften the moose hide. 00:03:03.141 --> 00:03:04.559 Then I soak it. 00:03:04.559 --> 00:03:20.158 First, I boil my water with one package of lard and a bar of sunlight soap, 00:03:21.659 --> 00:03:24.579 and I boil it for four hours. 00:03:25.538 --> 00:03:27.957 It's to make the moose hide soft. 00:03:27.957 --> 00:03:35.423 Older women say that it's better to boil the ingredients longer. 00:03:36.257 --> 00:03:41.971 We place our moose hide until the liquid has cooled off, 00:03:42.680 --> 00:03:48.895 and we let it soak for three days. 00:03:49.979 --> 00:03:56.361 Every day I move the moosehide around. 00:03:56.986 --> 00:04:03.201 I take the moose hides outside where you see them. 00:04:03.576 --> 00:04:09.457 I hang it outside for a long time, sometimes for one or two months. 00:04:10.124 --> 00:04:26.307 It becomes whiter if it's hung outside for a long time. 00:04:26.641 --> 00:04:31.354 I fold the moose hide once it's dry. 00:04:32.105 --> 00:04:39.862 By summer, I bring it out and soak it in water for three days. 00:04:40.697 --> 00:04:50.456 Then I wring the moose hide and begin stretching and softening the hide. 00:04:51.416 --> 00:04:54.419 I wring the moose hide. 00:04:54.961 --> 00:05:09.726 Then I soften it by stretching and pounding. 00:05:09.726 --> 00:05:14.897 The entire hide is stretched and pounded constantly. 00:05:15.898 --> 00:05:19.694 If you stop stretching, the hide will harden. 00:05:19.694 --> 00:05:24.407 You won't be able to complete the softening of the hide. 00:05:26.034 --> 00:05:33.875 Once the softening process is complete, then it's ready. 00:05:34.625 --> 00:05:40.840 It takes us two days to complete stretching and softening a moose hide. 00:05:41.758 --> 00:05:51.517 Once you complete doing that, you cut the moose hide around the edges. 00:05:52.060 --> 00:05:57.106 Then you sow it together and smoke it. 00:05:58.316 --> 00:06:08.659 On the bottom part, you sow it with canvas where you place the pail. 00:06:10.078 --> 00:06:16.709 You will then place the rotten wood inside then start smoking the moose hide. 00:06:17.418 --> 00:06:28.304 Once you've completed that, you smoke it inside it, turn it inside out and continue smoking it. 00:06:30.473 --> 00:06:32.392 That's how you work with a moose hide. 00:06:32.892 --> 00:06:38.189 Once you've completed smoking it, it will look like this. 00:06:40.191 --> 00:06:45.154 You first smoke it on this side over here, then lastly over on this side. 00:06:46.906 --> 00:06:50.451 If you smoked it well, you complete it sooner. 00:06:50.451 --> 00:06:56.332 And if your fire isn't proper, it will take you longer to smoke it. 00:06:57.041 --> 00:07:03.756 I use white spruce or dry rotted wood. 00:07:05.466 --> 00:07:10.972 You'll need to dry the rotten wood first. 00:07:11.973 --> 00:07:16.769 Then you finally place it on the pail. 00:07:18.438 --> 00:07:26.487 I will hang it out there for a short time, not directly exposed to the sun, but where there is shade. 00:07:27.488 --> 00:07:29.323 I'll hang it there for one day. 00:07:29.323 --> 00:07:33.995 Then place it inside the pail and bring it inside. 00:07:36.372 --> 00:07:45.089 I fold it and place it inside a pillowcase and store it. 00:07:45.423 --> 00:07:51.304 When I do scraping in the winter, I use this to scrape the moose hide. 00:07:52.722 --> 00:07:54.182 It's sharp. 00:07:54.724 --> 00:07:57.143 You'll need to file it every time. 00:07:57.143 --> 00:08:02.773 You use this to file with if it isn't sharp. 00:08:03.357 --> 00:08:07.445 You file it like this. 00:08:11.491 --> 00:08:15.995 And in the summer, you pound using these. 00:08:17.038 --> 00:08:20.082 You pound it with this. 00:08:21.209 --> 00:08:28.799 All of these tools used by people are different. 00:08:28.799 --> 00:08:34.805 In the summer, I use this to complete stretching. 00:08:36.390 --> 00:08:40.603 Whenever I finish working on the moose hide, people ask me for it. 00:08:40.603 --> 00:08:47.985 I sell some of the moose hides and keep some for myself to use for sowing.