How to stretch the skin? Mezdra: everything that fur lovers need to know

It is believed that in the wardrobe of every self-respecting woman, there simply must be a fur coat. And the most chic - when such a product is sewn for you, under the order. To make the fur coat come out soundly and for many years rejoice with its warmth, it is necessary to choose high-quality, well-made skins for its production. Evaluate them based on two indicators - nap and mezdra. And if the first criterion is more or less clear, then the second one raises many questions.

How to determine the quality?

Before you deal with the issue of how to stretch the skin, you need to find out what it is all about and why stretching is necessary.

Mezdra is called the layer of subcutaneous tissue of animal skin, this is, so to speak, the "leather part" of the fur coat. The quality of its manufacture will depend on the life of the product, its appearance. The main parameters of the evaluation are the strength of the mezdra, its thickness, color and elasticity, which depends on the amount of fat left after treatment. If in the preparation process the skins were too fat-free, then when crushed, it will emit a characteristic rustle, like parchment paper. You can fix this, but you need to know how to soften the skin. And in the event that the fat is too much, the leather part will look greasy, shiny, the products from such material risk to acquire in time a sharp characteristic smell of old fat.

Quality leather has a tanning canvas of pleasant light beige color, quite flexible and structurally looser than suede.

Common Damage

Strangely enough, people trying to figure out what the "correct fur" looks like, do it in a photo. One of the so-called standards in this matter is the mink of mink, a photo of which can be found very often. However, the image is very difficult to judge the quality, you need to see the real color, smell, touch your hands, listen to your feelings.

The most common defects are fecal fur and prosthetic. The first, for example, is due to the fact that hair bulbs in some animals are not located in the mezdra, but much deeper. After the skin was removed, the hair loses its base and begins to crumble. If you pulled the fur, and left a pair of hairs, do so again - if the second or third time, "molting" stopped, everything is in order. It is necessary to carefully comb out the fur coat, and the problem will disappear. But if every time there are more hairs in your hand, the problem is serious enough, and it is called a stitch. Before you is the result of the activity of a horsewhip fur master who cut off too much of the mezdra along with onions, of which hair grows. After such a shave, the hairs simply do not have anything to hold on, and the fur falls off massively. It is almost impossible to stop this process, we can safely say that the age of such a product is very short.

Ways to restore

If you are still "lucky" to buy a fur of dubious quality, but there is no longer any money left to appeal to a professional furrier, you can try to revive the skin yourself. Of course, for this you need to know how to restore the skin. If the leather part of the skin has dried and become hard, try lubricating it with the following composition:

• 1 liter of warm water;
• 1 g of ammonia;
• 50 g of pork fat.

All ingredients should be thoroughly mixed, applied to cleaned from dust and dirt, and leave for 30-40 minutes for impregnation. Then repeat the procedure several times with a break of 2-3 hours, then dry the fur, gently wring your hands and lubricate the leather layer with such a composition:

• 1 liter of water at room temperature;
• 5-6 drops of ammonia;
• 100 g of soap and castor oil.

After this, fold the skin into the skin and leave it for 4-5 hours, and then dry it in the unfolded form at room temperature.

Why stretch the skins?

If you decide to buy a fur coat, and the seller assures that it is made of unbroken whole skins, go bravely away - you are brazenly deceived. To make the product beautiful and quality, there is no other way to stretch the skin. Why? Imagine any animal - it is unlikely in nature you can find a specimen whose head is the same size as the back. Therefore, any natural skin has the form of a trapezoid, which is also uneven at the edges. It is not possible to sew such skins together, and even more so to make a fur product out of them. In addition, the untreated skin easily stretches in all directions, and even if you manage to sew a fur coat, then after the first socks in all the "strategic" places: shoulders, elbows, chest and, sorry, lower back, there will be bubbles and stretch marks, like on Old "training". Hardly anyone would like to wear such a fur.

The essence of the process

Before stretching it, carefully moisten it so that the fur is not soaked. Then the skin is straightened and stretched by hand until it stops deforming, fixed on a hard surface with furniture clips or small studs and left in such a state for drying. If necessary, repeat this procedure several times until the desired result is achieved.

Well, how to stretch the skin, a little figured out, and now get acquainted with the most common solutions for wetting, since water use is highly undesirable. Also it is necessary to strictly observe the temperature of the solution, if it is less than 35˚C, then the solution will be absorbed too slowly, at t ˚C more than 40 degrees the skin can be "welded". So, to soften the fur in your home will help one of the solutions:

• In one liter of water dilute 50 g of alcohol, 1 tsp. Glycerol and table salt;
• In a liter of water, dissolve 20 grams of salt and glycerin and add 3 g of alum-kali alum (this solution is suitable for any skin except squirrel).

A few more recipes

If you still decided to stretch the mezdra yourself, then you can use this solution:

• 100 g salt + 70 g egg yolk + 25 g glycerin. All this should be dissolved in one liter of water, carefully applied to the masdra and left to impregnate.

For a squirrel, you can use this solution:

• 1 liter of water with a temperature of 40 ° C (cautiously, not higher);
• 75 g of wholemeal oatmeal ;
• Stir and stand for 24 hours, then add 30 g of table salt.

The smell of such a solution, of course, is not very, but the result is worth it. As you can see, this procedure is not too complicated, but rather troublesome. Unfortunately, if the skin is very over-dried as a result of improper dressing and storage, it is unlikely to restore its absolute softness. But it's worth a try, right?