It is believed that in the wardrobe of every self-respecting woman, she simply has to have a fur coat. And the most chic is when such a product is sewn just for you, on order.
In order for the fur coat to turn out to be solid and for many years to please its warmth, for its manufacture you need to choose high-quality, well-made skins. They are estimated based on two indicators - pile and mezdra. And if everything is more or less clear with the first criterion, then many questions arise for the second.
How to determine the quality?
Before dealing with the question of how to stretch the mezdra, you need to find out what it really is and why stretching is needed.
A layer is called a layer of subcutaneous tissue of the animal’s skin, this is the “leather part” of the coat, so to speak. The life of the product, its appearance will depend on the quality of its manufacture . The main parameters of the evaluation are the strength of the mezra, its thickness, color and elasticity, which depends on the amount of fat remaining after processing.
If in the process of preparation the skin was too greasy, then when crumpled, it will emit a characteristic rustle, like
parchment paper. You can fix this, but you need to know how to soften the mezra. And in the event that there is too much fat left, the leather part will look greasy, shiny, products made of such material run the risk of acquiring a sharp characteristic smell of old fat over time.
A high - quality skin has a leather cloth of a pleasant light beige color, quite flexible and more loose in structure than suede.
Common damage
Oddly enough, people trying to figure out what the “right fur” looks like do it from a photograph. One of the so-called standards in this matter is the mink of the mink, the photo of which can be found very often. However, the image is very difficult to judge the quality, for this you need to see the real color, smell, touch your hands, listen to your feelings.
The most common defects are the fluidity of the fur and the stitch. The first, for example, is due to the fact that the hair follicles in some animals are located not in the mezra, but much deeper. After the skin has been removed, the hair loses its base and begins to crumble. If you pulled the fur and left a couple of hairs in your hands, do it again - since the second or third time the “molt” has stopped, everything is in order. It is necessary to comb out a fur coat well, and the problem will disappear. But if every time there are more and more hairs in your hand, then the problem is quite serious, and it’s called a simplet. Here is the result of the work of a side-handed fur master, who cut off too much of the mezra along with the bulbs from which hair grows.
After such a shave, the hairs simply have nothing to hold on to, and the fur masses in bulk. It is almost impossible to stop this process, it can be safely stated that the age of such a product is very short-lived.
Recovery Methods
If you are still “lucky" to purchase fur of dubious quality, and there is no money left to contact a professional fur mechanic, you can try to reanimate the skin yourself. Of course, for this you need to know how to restore mezdra. If the leathery part of the skin has dried and roughened, 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 the cleansed dust and dirt of the mash and left for 30-40 minutes for impregnation. Next, repeat the procedure several times with a break of 2-3 hours, then dry the fur, gently knead with your hands and grease the leather layer with this composition:
- 1 liter of water at room temperature;
- 5-6 drops of ammonia;
- 100 g of soap and castor oil.
After that, fold the skin with mazra inside and leave it for 4–5 hours, and then dry it unfolded at room temperature.
Why stretch your skins?
If you decide to buy a fur coat, and the seller assures that it is sewn from whole unstretched skins, feel free to leave - you are being brazenly deceived.
To make the product beautiful and of high quality, there is no other way how to stretch the mezdra. Why? Imagine any animal - it is unlikely in nature to meet such an individual in which the head has the same dimensions as the back. Therefore, any natural skin has the shape of a trapezoid, moreover, uneven at the edges. It is not possible to sew such skins together, and even more so to make a fur product from them. In addition, the raw skin easily stretches in all directions, and even if you manage to sew a fur coat, then after the first wear in all “strategic” places: shoulders, elbows, chest and, excuse me, lower back, there will be bubbles and stretch marks, as on old "training". It is unlikely that someone will like to wear such a fur.
The essence of the process
Before stretching the mezdra, it is gently moistened so as not to soak the fur. Then the skin is straightened and stretched by hand until it stops deforming, fixed on a hard surface with furniture clips or small cloves and left in this state for drying. If necessary, this procedure is repeated several times until the desired result is achieved.
Well, we’ve figured out how to stretch the mezdra, and now we will get acquainted with the most common solutions for wetting, since it is extremely undesirable to use water. It is also 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 “cook”. So, one of the solutions will help soften the Mezdra at home:
- dilute 50 g of alcohol in one liter of water, 1 tsp each. glycerin and table salt;
- dissolve 20 g of salt and glycerin in a liter of water and add 3 g of alum-potassium alum (this solution is suitable for any skin except squirrel).
Some more recipes
If you nevertheless decided to stretch the mezra yourself, then you can use this solution:
- 100 g of salt + 70 g of egg yolk + 25 g of glycerin. All this should be dissolved in one liter of water, carefully applied to the mezra and left for impregnation.
For squirrels, you can use this solution:
- 1 liter of water with a temperature of 40˚C (carefully, not higher);
- 75 g of 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 mezdra is very overdried as a result of improper dressing and storage, it is hardly possible to return its absolute softness. But it's worth a try, right?