Polar Bear

[Traditionalist]

Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus), well known enough, and there are plenty of pictures on the web. Mainly used for various streamers. Dyes very well. Protected and difficult to obtain, but some fur is available occasionally. Substitute synthetics, or various goat etc.. I will put a picture up later. If you wish to identify Polar bear hair on the skin, it is quite easy, because the skin under the hair is black. If it is not black, then the hide is not from a Polar bear.

Occasionally Wolf,and some other furs, are mistaken for Polar bear. The back of the hide, the skin side, is white or light buff, depending on how the skin was treated. Usually it will have been tanned. Of course, if the hide has been dyed, the back of the skin will be the same colour as the dye used, and the skin beneath the hair will be very dark, Although this can vary somewhat, depending where the skin patch came from, and whether any other treatments were used. The tips of the hair are very sensitive, and may break or be damaged easily, especially when dyeing. Some broken tips can be seen on this piece at the top right of the patch. Premium hair will have no broken tips, but is extremely difficult to acquire. Hair from rugs etc is often badly damaged.

This piece is natural Polar bear from the back of the animal, and the skin is quite light but still noticeably darker than other skins.



This is a piece of dyed Polar bear, which has been dyed using a special cold dye technique, and the tips are intact; If you look closely, you will see the dark skin below the hair, on the bottom edge of the patch. The underfur makes perfect dubbing for a whole range of things, being very similar to soft seal fur, but even more translucent.



TL
MC