How to hang animal skin

An animal skin hanging on a wall can add a comfortable, rustic note to your home. Besides being a warm and inviting item on your wall, a hanging animal skin shows your respect for animals and your unwillingness to waste parts of another living creature. Animal skins can be fragile, so they shouldn't be hung using nails or screws. Use lightweight carpet tacks instead to ensure that your animal skin looks good on your wall for years.

Check your animal skin to be sure it's been properly tanned and treated. Poorly tanned animal skins will contain bacteria that can loosen hair on the skin, causing it to fall off and spoil the effect of your new wall hanging.

Find the best location for hanging your animal skin. Look for a place where it will get enough light to make a nice display, but not so much light that the colours will fade quickly. Hold the skin up to the wall and place small chalk marks at the corners where you'll hang it, as well as a longer, vertical line in the middle of the skin.

Cut the carpet tack strips to the appropriate lengths for your skin. The strips are made of thin boards, with nails used on one side to connect the fibre to the floor and angled tacks on the other side to keep the fabric from shifting.

Nail the carpet tack strips into the wall, approximating a rough outline of the animal skin. Use a ladder if necessary. Make sure the angled tacks are facing toward you. The longest strip should be in the middle and near the top to support the weight of the skin.

Hang the animal skin on the tacks, starting at the top. If the skin isn't smoothly attached to the wall, gently remove the wrinkled part and smooth the skin over the carpet tack strips until it appears to adhere to the wall.