"The Sheepskin People"
The Sheepskin People at Sheepskin.com create our own original and exclusive designs in sheepskin rugs, sheepskin pillows and sheepskin toys. We get our inspiration from many sources in the world around us and in our daily lives, from the natural beauty of Puget Sound in the Pacific Northwest to our travels in other parts of the world.

Our Designs are a Unique Portrait in Fur
The beauty of sheepskin is that it is a natural product and every pelt is different. Each and every design we make using natural pelts will end up to be an individual work of art. As hard as we try to make each product look precisely the same as our original drawings, no two finished items end up looking exactly alike. Each line and the size of each feature will vary slightly.

The Planning Stage
Our company has been very successful designing sheepskin products that portray the wildlife that surrounds us in its many forms. In spite of the design success we have had, some of our creations never make it into production, because the design itself was too difficult for the artisans to properly make, or the finished item just didn't look good enough for our standards. One example: we drew a beautiful domestic Himalayan Cat design. When it was finally rendered in sheepskin, the cat's fluffy fur and exotic oval eyes were lost in the final product, and it lacked character. That design went into the back drawer. Maybe someday we'll think of some simple changes to make it usable. Sometimes we put aside a design because the time to make it isn't right or it needs some small corrections to really come alive. We will only sell finished products that pass the following test: After our own approval, we show the new item to several customers, and their reactions must be something to the effect of: "Wow! I have to have that one. Please take my name and number, and call me when it comes in." We look for sincere enthusiasm, not just polite reactions or we won't produce the item. It is you, our customers who give us the feedback that we have a winning design.

Hand-Cutting


The Construction Stage
Our design rug and pillow construction is a careful process of cutting and securely sewing each individual piece of the design together to create a finished picture. Sometimes the craftsmen must fit more than 100 parts together to create the final product, with a high degree of precision so that it will look right and meet our high standards. It is very difficult for the to craftsmen to handle, cut, and sew so many pieces of sheepskin, some of which are as small as a half inch, to get a consistent portrait every time. First, the patterns are hand cut and assembled with all the pieces in the right place. Then the seams must be sewn flat on all sides, using perfect tension on the thread, in exactly the correct line with all the other pieces, and in the right order. This skill takes years of experience to learn. If one piece is off even one-quarter inch, it can look wrong on the finished design. They must concentrate very hard to avoid making any mistakes. After all the pieces are sewn together, the pillow or rug is brushed out and the fur is clipped to the correct length. Next, the artisan must look at the overall design, and shave around some of the outlines to give the finished product beauty and three-dimensional depth. The result is a well-crafted finished piece fit to offer to you, our customer.