Reindeer skin: Duodji: tools, materials etc.
{{Artikkeli |sivun nimi=Reindeer skin: Duodji: tools, materials etc. |kieli=englanti |id=1145
|artikkeliteksti=The making of clothes has been very important among the Saami. Many still master the old techniques connected to the making of clothing. It was absolutely necessary to be able to sew clothes from reindeer skin and other skin in order not to freeze to death. Those who kept warm survived up in the north. The seamstresses of today sew in order to practise their skill to be able to decorate themselves or to dress up others in their clothes. Saami traditional clothes function today as a label of the family and they are practical to use.
Duollji, the word for reindeer skin, tells that the Saami have used reindeer skin for their handicraft for a long time. The word is a proto Saami word that belongs to life as hunters, and thus the Saami have started to make clothing out of reindeer skin at an early stage. The reindeer skin is prepared, the hairs are removed and the skin is made soft by using a jiehkku, the characteristic circumpolar skin scraper, which isan S-shaped iron implement fastened in the middle of the wooden handle. The tanned hide is prepared the same way people have done for hundreds of years: the skin is left in water until the hairs loosen, the skin is tanned with bark, all sinews are removed with the scraper and the skin is finally made soft by rubbing it by hand. There are of course other ways of preparing skin, using machines.
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