Buckskin Book Reprint Update
by Tamara Wilder
Why has the Buckskin Book
been out of print for so long?
What have we been doing?
When is the re-print going to be available?
(See Recent Updates at Bottom - last update January 2023)
When we first started running low on our stock of the book
Buckskin: The Ancient Art of Braintanning,
we assumed that our biggest challenges in getting the third printing completed would be figuring out how to pay for it and where to store another 3,000 copies.
Little did we know that it would take almost six years to get it back in print!
When I called the printer in early 2017 to order a new printing I was shocked to discover that they no longer had our original “film flats” which we had left with them for safe storage. Instead, they informed me that they did not even have record of us having been customers as we had worked with them before they had “gone digital”. Important backstory here is that the entire printing industry had been going through some massive shifts in transitioning from the old school way of making printing plates using film into doing everything digitally, which is now the norm. Our printer had undergone this shift during the time that our second printing was being sold and because they destroyed our film originals, we were now faced with the enormous task of digitizing the entire thing… basically from scratch!
Fortunately, we had written the Buckskin book recently enough that the text had been done using a computer, albeit a very old Mac Plus, and I was able to move our now ancient Pagemaker files forward into InDesign easily enough, but the photos and drawings were a completely different story. They had never been digital in the first place and the film flats that had been destroyed were the only “print ready” version of them. This meant that I had to go back and find the originals of each and every one.
The original Wet-Scraped Braintanned Buckskin project in 1997 had been accomplished by being the sole focus of our lives for well over a year, with most every other aspect being put on hold.
It was during this time that Steven made this video showing a lot of the illustrations and talking about writing the book.
Life situations in 2018 were much different than in 1997 (when we had first written the book) and our days were already very full, with little time available to put aside for such an unexpected and huge endeavor. At this time, Steven and I had already been divorced for several years and our lives were still in a state of flux and adjustment, but my priority was finding steady enough work to be able to pay the mortgage on a parcel of remote mountain property.
Steven was focusing on his Skillcult YouTube channel and my Ancient Skills Experiential School Programs had increased in popularity so that they consumed all of my time and energy during the fall and spring seasons. Preparation also took up much of my winters.
I was attending numerous skills gatherings in the summer and was living my life almost completely on the road moving from event to event and staying with friends or house-sitting in periodic down times. In 2018 and 2019 I spent more than 150 nights in my beloved tent abode, either while attending gatherings and events or en route to them; so visits to my unfinished cabin / storage area were few and far between, with just enough time to unload and reload the essentials needed for the next month or two of programs, workshops or events.
It took some time and numerous visits home, but most of the photos were eventually located in boxes deep in storage, others were found scattered about in old photo albums and a few have yet to be located. Most are of decent quality but some have been damaged or have faded with age and a number needed be retaken or replaced.
Scanning the photos that were found to digitize them was easy enough, but since the original film halftones had been created by my uncle who was a specialist in that art form and whose incredible skill had made the old photos “pop”, they really needed to be worked with in Photoshop to make them printable. While I don’t think we can ever get them to look like the originals, I left them with Steven, who was more proficient with Photoshop, to make them look at least OK while I was traveling and teaching with a very full schedule.
Moving Back to Move Forward
In mid-2019, my partner and I decided it was time to transition from a life on the road to one that is more land based and move back full-time to my remote property to work on making it into a living space instead of just a storage space. After an incredibly busy fall of simultaneously doing school programs, moving and getting some sort of minimal living space together, we were just settling into living on the land when we started hearing about this Covid-19 virus going around…..
Our intention for 2020 had already been to stay home and travel less. With no running water, no real kitchen space and a small cabin that needed a coat of plaster to seal up the inch wide gaps in the walls to keep out the wasps, mice and bats as well as seasonal heat, cold and suffocating wildfire smoke, we had our work cut out for us and focusing on those projects was essential. With all of our programs and events being suddenly cancelled due to Covid restrictions, I also seized the opportunity to dedicate time to the two big computer based projects that were screaming for my attention, namely the Paleotechnics website and the Buckskin Book.
The first step was getting a new computer as I had been clunking along with an outdated laptop which could barely connect with the internet anymore. This was the main reason that the Paleotechnics website had not been updated in several years.
I had chosen Squarespace as the platform and was already trying to use it for the IUD Awareness Website but was running into issues with getting it to work properly. When I finally called tech support they informed me that they did not support “archaic” technology and that I needed to get a new computer.
With this major upgrade, I was flung into a new world of interactive and web-based computing and immersed myself into the Paleotechnics website. Fortunately, I have always picked up technologies quickly and computer programs have also been easy enough to figure out, so I had a lot of fun creating the new Paleotechnics.com space, which now includes an extensive online store with background and insights on each book and their authors.
The website is still not completely finished and will be expanded a lot more once the book reprint is done, but for now is serving very well with regular orders helping keep our inventory of books moving and a small number of blog posts to keep everyone updated on what we are doing.
Learning Layout……. Again
I also had to re-learn how to use the latest and very different version of the page layout program that I thought I knew how to use. I already understood that web-based programs would be necessary to both output the digital version of the Buckskin Book as well as have the proper file for the printer; so I set about learning how to use them by designing several new Paleotechnics Handbooks called “Nutty About Bay” and “Knotted Net Water Bottle Bags”. All of the handbooks and Buckskin Book will eventually be on the website for digital download, but the first is the ever popular “So You Have a Dead Animal”.
Feeling inspired at finally being able to easily do page layout in an efficient way, I set to work on getting all the text for the Buckskin Book into one document. The original project had been done on such an old computer that it was broken into four different files and even though I had steadily moved them over the years from the old Pagemaker files into each new version of InDesign, they still needed to be gone through for lots of formatting updates. The flow of the fonts had shifted many of the page breaks and many of the bolds and italics had not transferred properly.
Another important aspect of my life during this time has been reclaiming my health following it being shattered by a contraceptive choice that I made back in 2016. Some of each day still needs to be devoted to essential health maintenance practices and my health definitely suffers when I spend too much time on the computer.
A big part of that recovery emotionally has been an endeavor called IUD Awareness, which consists of developing and maintaining the website and Facebook page and also being an admin of our IUD Side Effects Support Group.
These efforts require quite a lot of time and energy, but the importance of this work is immense and it is helping thousands and thousands of people reclaim their lives and health each and every week!
If you want to learn more about my story, have your own story to share or if you know someone in your life who has been experiencing strange and apparently random changes to their physical, mental and emotional health since getting an IUD, please visit the website and/or join the support group.
My Patreon Account was created during this time and has provided a small monthly stipend from subscribers which have helped cover the basic costs of things like running this website:)
Please consider pledging even just $1-2 per month.
It was tedious work but also very inspiring to get the text flowing well enough to finally insert the first digital photos and really start to see the new version of the Buckskin book taking form!
Going Virtual with Programs
Splitting our energy between home projects and computer projects, time passed incredibly quickly and by mid-summer of 2020 it had become apparent that we would need to figure out some sort of remote version of the school program for that fall as schools were not going to be in session. For this reason, I had to reluctantly set the book project aside and put all of my focus into getting things prepared to teach hands-on experiential education via Zoom. It took a lot of adaptation, creativity and patience, but the end result worked well and we were able to create a number of videos for the students to watch beforehand and supply the schools with “Program Kits” to distribute to their students to be opened in their homes on our “Zoom Day”, when we would join them online as they worked with their hands on their necklace-making projects.
The students are always delighted to be drilling holes in stone, making beads and string and putting all of it together into one creation, but in 2020 it was especially appreciated since they were already spending so much time on the computer doing remote learning.
The incredibly positive feedback we are receiving from teachers, parents and students about how much they have enjoyed these virtual programs has been inspiring.
The online program is supported by videos and an Ancient Skills Handbook which comes with the kit and all of the resources that we developed during that time are now being incorporated into our in-person programs to make them even stronger than before.
We are regularly told that our program is
“The best day of school ever!”,
but were also recently told by several 3rd graders that it was
“The best day of my entire life!”.
Catch a glimpse of what the Ancient Skills Program is all about. Once the Buckskin Book is finished, I plan on creating more of these films.
An example of one of the original scans which looks fine when small but whose quality degrades when enlarged.
Laying out the Ancient Skills Handbook forced me to learn how to use Photoshop and pushed my proficiency with InDesign. We developed a relationship with a new printer who will also be printing the Buckskin Book very soon. Doing our first digital printing with a small book was a really good choice as there was a big learning curve with some minor glitches and communication issues which would have been financially devastating had they happened with such a large book as Buckskin.
Illustrations & Updating the Content
The illustrations were the next step in the Buckskin Book project and I really started focusing on them in the beginning of 2021. Fortunately, the box of original ink illustrations on vellum were safely stored in a nice box deep in storage and are still in good condition even after all these years; however, the process of scanning and digitizing them has been both an important learning experience as well as a frustrating challenge, with lots of ups and downs.
The majority of the originals are larger than the standard scanner can handle and it took two different attempts and almost a month of processing time giving those precious one of a kind creations to graphic shops to finally get a product that was usable.
Besides having the book printed at a facility, this is the only other step in this process that has been outsourced and the shoddy quality of the first attempt only reinforced our desire to keep it in house. For anyone who already knows us or has followed our work, the theme of doing things ourselves is prevalent and applies to all technologies, whether they be from the stone age, metal age or silicon age. We would have been able to get this project back in print much sooner if we had simply hired someone else to do it, but the cost in both financial and loss of creative control terms has always been deemed too high.
I have now finally learned how to use Photoshop well enough to be working with the illustration scans, but most have so much handwritten text in and around the illustrations themselves that getting them to look good has taken a lot of extra attention, with many days spent experimenting on how to best accomplish the task. At this point, the illustrations are the bulk of what that still needs to be done. Finding the time to focus on them is the main challenge but they should go quickly when that happens.
We had originally intended to simply reprint the book in the same form as the second printing, but in the process of getting everything digitized it has become more and more apparent that this is also the time to do some re-writes and updates; so for the past few years both Steven and I have been poring over the text of the entire book, changing and updating as needed.
Family Obligations
With these last two major pieces being chipped away at on a regular basis, we were very much on track to have the reprint out by August of 2021, just in time for hunting season here in Northern California. Unfortunately, the universe had other plans and 2021 turned out to instead be a year dedicated to family obligations resulting from health issues and a number of passings which took priority over personal plans and creative output. Some were expected and others were a shock. Losing loved ones is a difficult experience in and of itself that takes its own path and follows its own timeline, but fully comprehending the amount of energy and space that it can take to subsequently clean up the physical reality that they were occupying in this world is another story altogether, especially when all of the other members in that branch of the family are elderly and facing their own challenges. There has been quite a lot to deal with both emotionally and physically. Ultimately, I have only been able to periodically work on one or two illustrations here and there and progress has been very slow for the past year.
Feeling the patience of our supporters wearing thin and the weight of this project getting heavier and heavier on my shoulders, I very intentionally set aside the first 3 months of 2022 to getting it finished! As life would have it, more health issues and major life transitions for other close family members have demanded my presence, time and attention and those months have now flown by without any opportunity to make major progress on the book.
Plans for the Future
Things are now appearing to be more stable in the world around me and I am writing this history in hopes that all of you who have placed backorders, who regularly inquire about the re-print, who have stores who are waiting to have the title once again available and who might just be checking in about the status can gain some insight into where we are at and what is going on.
Listen to this recent interview with my friend Mori Natura of The Positive Fantastic Podcast
While the rest of the world appears to be “getting back to normal” and events are opening up again, I am turning down offers to attend and my plan is to stay home as much as possible and spend the spring working on the book with very realistic hopes of getting it out sometime this summer.
SEPTEMBER 2022 UPDATE!
We’ve been working hard and are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel! All of the illustrations and 99% of the photos are DONE and we are moving though updating the text and finalizing the new cover.
My fall school programs will be starting next week; but am planning on keeping the process moving forward!
DECEMBER 2022 UPDATE!
Over this past summer, we made tremendous progress and it is now at least 80% complete; but the project was put on hold in September by a full schedule of Ancient Skills School Programs combined with several unexpected health issues.
The school program season has now come to a close and we are getting on the other side of recovering from emergency dental surgery and will be focusing on the reprint again starting this coming week.
Thanks to everyone for your support and patience.
We are doing our best to get if finished!
JANUARY 2023 UPDATE!
After a really busy fall season during which I was unable to move the Buckskin Book Project forward, I have kept my 2023 work schedule through late March open in order to dedicate all available time to the project.
The bad news is that I am currently struggling with a partially torn Achilles tendon and currently doing research and preparations in order to make the choice between surgery or therapy.
The good news is that either scenario will require 6-12 months of healing which will help me focus on finishing the project.
Read the long version of this story on Patreon.
Thanks to all of your for your exceptional patience and hopefully the next update will be news of major steps forward!
Thanks for all the Support!
We know that it has been a long process, but are excited about the new version that is taking form and hope that it will ultimately be worth the wait.
As a big “Thank You!” to those of you with outstanding backorders, all backorder holders will receive complimentary printed copies of our handbooks with the book when it is finally shipped. They will also receive the online version of the Buckskin book as well as the online versions of all of our handbooks, as they become available.
Anyone who places a backorder between now and when it is re-printed will receive both the printed and online versions of the Buckskin Book for the old $19.95 price.
With the costs of the entire printing industry skyrocketing right now, we will not know what the cost of the new re-print will be until we get there, but it will un-doubtably go up.
The online version will also be available to purchase separately for a lower price which is yet to be determined.
All of the contacts for backorders were in several different places made it challenging to send out regular updates on our progress,
but the info has all been compiled and a link to this blog post should have been sent to each and every one of you.
If you have an outstanding backorder and are not receiving update emails from us,
please let us know so we can update your email and get all the records straight.
If you wish to be added to the Buckskin Book Notification list, please sign with this form.
Meanwhile
Please enjoy this video content posted on Skillcult by Steven over the years.
The intention is to eventually create video support for each step in the Buckskin Book.
Recommended Tanning Resources
