SC - bladder tanning (long)

[Stefan li Rous]

Beatrix asked:

>Ok, A friend and I are embarking on a grand (our husbands are calling it
>bizarre)adventure for next Queen's Prize Tourney, that is, the making and
>playing of a couple of bladder pipes. The question I have for all of you
>(since I don't know where else to ask) is how does one tan/cure a pig's
>bladder? Getting the bladders shouldn't be a problem since our shire
>seems to be in a pig roast mood lately.

Interesting. This same question just came up on the Rialto (rec.org.sca)
a few weeks ago. As I haven’t created a file for this yet (I haven’t
figured out how to categorize it), I can’t just refer you to it. I have
pasted two of the messages below. You might try a Deja-news search and
see if you can get more of this thread in case I missed some.

I appologize to anyone who thinks this is too long or too off-topic.

Could these tanned bladders be used as cooking pots? Was this done in
medieval times?

Stefan li Rous
stefan at texas.net

- -----------
From: mclean1382 at aol.com (McLean1382)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Using Cow's Bladder
Date: 14 May 1998 22:37:34 GMT

I don't think the lime method is right for a bladder.  Lye or lime are used to
get the hair to come off of a skin.  This is not necessary for a bladder.
I think a buckskin recipe would probably be better since buckskin comes out
softer and more pliable that other treated hides.

First, get all of the little veins and other icky bits removed without tearing
the bladder.

My source says to use the animal's brain to treat the buckskin.  I assume it
didn't occur to you to grab a few brains while you were there, so you could use
"soft soap" instead.  If you don't happen to be an avid soap maker, you can
make do with a bar of yellow laundry soap shaved into bits and dissolved in
water.  My source says to use 1 bar of laundry soap to 2.5 - 3 gallons of hot
water.  Soak the skin for 4 or 5 days.  I suppose a bladder would need less
time.  Rinse well.

If you _are_ using brains, you make a paste of brains and warm water.   Slather
the bladder on both sides with the paste. Roll it up and store in a cool place
for two days.  Rinse well and wring as dry as possible.

Next, you have to work the bladder continuously while it is drying.  The idea
is "somehow to pull, twist and strtch that hide in every possible direction to
loosen the fibers of the grain".  Some suggestions are to pull it back and
forth other a beam or stump, scrape with shells or stones, or it it is small,
work it by hand.

If you used the soap method, grease it with animal fat, dunk it in soap
solution, rinse again, work again. "By now it should be possible to squeeze
water easily right through the skin.  If it isn't sof or if you have hard spots
moisten and work while drying agin until you are satisfied."

Buckskin is then smoked to improve its durability and appearance.  Green
hardwood is the preferred smoking source.  A buckskin takes 1 or 2 days to
smoke.  I am not sure that it would be necessary or desirable to smoke the
bladder if the point is for it to be elastic.  Since you have 6, you could try
different recipes to see if any of them work.

My source for this is "Carla Emory's Old Fashioned Recipe Book".  Obviously not
medieval, but the best I could do.  Good luck.

Wendy McLean


From: shawnjoh at uoguelph.ca (Shawn Johnson)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Using Cow's Bladder
Date: 18 May 1998 01:15:22 GMT
Organization: University of Guelph

Here's an update on my dealings with cow bladders:

I took one of the bladders, which was very fleshy, over to the laundry 
utility sink, and started to play with it (having donned rubber gloves) 
to see what I could do.  I could feel a membrane with a little more 
solidity deeper inside the mass, so I figured this was the bladder.  
Having located the orifice, I stretched it over the mouth of the tap and 
filled it with water.  It got to be about the size of a balloon but 
certainly no bigger.  It was much easier to separate the fatty connective 
tissue and blood vessels from the bladder within this way.  I began using 
a cheap exacto style knife, much like a scalpel in dissection class, and 
it worked quite well to separate the connective tissue, until i tore the 
bladder.  The whole operation was much like separating the skin from a 
chicken breast.  Eventually I was able to separate most of it from the 
damaged bladder.

Despite the damage, it was still useful in size to make rommelpots (a 
type of friction drum ... clay or wooden vessel, with a bladder or skin 
head into which is affixed a stick.  Rubbing the stick causes the 
membrane to vibrate and get delightful sounds (snicker) as well as peals 
of laughter from the crowd.

Unfortunately my experiments with the bladders so far have no been 
entirely successful.  The bladder becomes quite dry, and very much like a 
thin celophane in appearance and texture.  First glance and touch it's 
hard to think it's anything but synthetic.  I affixed the bladder in two 
pieces to two different pots when it was still wet, and the pieces dried 
on the pots.  The interesting thing is that the bladders stuck like glue 
to the pots, and while I tied them onto the rims, this wasn't necessary 
when everything was dry.  THe bladder became quite fragile .. and with 
some use throughout the next day, both split.  Perhaps some oily before 
or after drying is necessary.  It could be that rommelpots made with 
bladders were only a temporary carnival instrument, and those made with 
skins were more permanent.

Because of this exiperiemnt, I find it hard to understand how bladders 
were used on bladder pipes.  I would think they constructed like many 
folk bagpipes, by using leather ... but perhaps the inner membrane was 
bladder for waterproofing.  They are extremely water and air tight.  And, 
they are quite strong when wet.

For my next project (not a bladder pipe), I will need to inflate the 
bladder to make what is called a "bladder bow".  Basically it's a kind of 
spike violin, whereby the bladder acts as a resonator wedged between a 
stick and the string.

I have only one period (before 1600) picture at my disposal .. I have 
seen quite a few 17th and 18th century examples recently.  I'm sure, 
however, in my more distant pictorial wanderings, I've seen bladder bows 
pre-1600.  Any help on this, or the whole process would be appreciated :)

- -Robyn Whystler
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