Ungar update

[Guest]

Just got back from Portland this afternoon and had a wonderful time with Horst.

 

Horst nor Ungar Furs is/are going anywhere soon or later assuming good health. Horst said he would fight if it came to that.

 

Right now he has several restraining orders and is applying for another. Mainly against the two ring leaders. tehy are down to teen aged girls now as lackeys. The main guy he has teo against now and he can't come within 150 feet of Horst. One of them is for harassing an elder citizen. He and I got a big laugh out of that one. If you know Horst you would know what I'm talking about. Horst laughs at them and asks the teen aged girls if their mothers know what they are doing. This is what came of that uTube video of Horst being pursued in front of his store. Talk about PR that back-fired

 

The city recently made them apologize for someone having tossed red paint in his building one night recently. It came off easily so they can't win now for loosing.

 

The two main guys are both from LA and fairly well to do parents who send them money to stay away from home. They are real skuzz bags.

 

What a well of valuable and important information on both this subject and furs of course. We focused on Seal Fur mainly this visit. Next visit ai'll actually get copies of the 2 inch thick Federal papers he has on the Federal laws governing furs. Seal fur IS NOT illegal!!!! Just hard to get your hands on or keep your hands on because of all the miss-information amongst those hired to uphold the law. It's just not worth the trouble having a Lawyer just for your Seal Furs.

 

He sold the wonderful Natural Quebec Beaver coat I love so much but it was still there. Some day I'll have my Beaver Spread

 

I went down there to get my Red Fox spread cleaned and fixed. It seems the center Cross Fox portion is made from pelts that were badly handled in their fabrication. They were dried too much, too quickly and are coming apart. The rest of the Red Fox pelts are in great shape so we discussed the various ways to make Lemon aid from the lemons. He will remove the Cross Fox and replace it/ reshape it with the fur from several Red Fox coats I got on eBay which are in great condition. Then put a border of White Fox on the two long sides. I'll have an all Red Fox with White Fox edges and it will be a lot bigger. I'd thought of the White Fox thing already and I'm sure I'll be quite happy with the results.

 

We talked about making fur spreads in general and if you are wanting/planning on a fur spread I would suggest you give him a call. If you can live with one from furs he has on hand I know you will get a great deal and a fabulous custom made spread for what you might pay for a 'stock' spread elsewhere. Any other fur for that matter.

 

OFF

[White Fox]

Great that he is still plodding along against those folks. Sounds like he is doing things exactly like he should! THey are harassing him endlessly. If he does the same to them, then he is simply getting them back. The more restrictions that he can pile on, the better it is for him. Just one step at a time. Cutting them off at every possible curve. Good part is that if he wins he might well be able to help others do the same.

 

W

[JGalanos]

Great update!

 

I'd like to report that the beaver coat had been sold to me ... But alas that is not the case.

[Guest]

Also got a Beaver lesson from Horst as well.

 

The coat I reported on was made from prime Quebec Beaver which is smaller, lighter hide and softer fur than most other Beaver. He has on hand a bunch of 'Clakamas' Beaver from Washington State. The Clakamas River Basin is a beautiful region in our area perfect for Beaver to prosper. It doesn't get nearly as cold as Quebec so the Beavers don't have to hibernate, as long at any rate. So they get to run around, eat all year round and grow much bigger with very thick fur and hides. Not quite as soft as the much smaller Quebec Beavers but quite super though. They are a richer brown to the red/yellow side of the brown spectrum where the Quebec Beaver is to the blue side of the brown spectrum with a more uniform coloring. The 'Clakamas' Beaver has a greater range from dark brown to the yellowish light brown around the belly. The 'Clakamas' Beavers are not trapped nearly as intensely so they get to grow much older, hence bigger.

 

The great Quebec Beaver coat was also "let out" as well which made for a very flexible and sensual feel when compared to the full pelts I saw of the 'Clakamas' Beavers. Also a big difference in price. Horst got these from the trapper and had them processed himself so the middle men are out of the price. An object lesson in buying local to go "Green". The Clakamas River is only about 40 miles from Portland, hence little transportation cost alone.

 

This just goes to show how weather, diet and a host of other factors play into the end results of any species of fur from animals which are in every other way the same species of animal.

 

OFF

[JGalanos]

I did not know this beaver lore ... Interesting.

 

[fur999]

Excuse my ignorance, but what does 'let out' mean? I have seen it on several adverts for coats for sale, and not really sure what it means. How does it make the pelts more supple and softer feeling?

 

Apologies if I am writing in the wrong place!

 

999xxx

[JGalanos]

The let-out process is a method for elongating and narrowing a pelt to allow for continuous, unbroken stripes in the construction of the garment. These stripes not only provide the structure but also are used to create a pattern, generally vertically, but also in other directions depending on what the designer has envisioned. The process is time consuming, but it is the way furs should be constructed for the best drape and fit.

[JGalanos]

I s'pose I shoulda mentioned that to my knowledge the two main methods of constructing furs are (1) the let out method and (2) the skin on skin method. The let out method is described above. The skin on skin method involves sewing together fur "plates" (relatively large pieces of fur cut from pelts) versus the let out method's sewing together fur "strips" (relatively narrow strips of fur cut from pelts).

 

The last time I was in New York, I was able to observe a furrier constructing (early stages) a let out golden sable coat. It appeared to be a very intricate, time-consuming, skilled process.

 

All of my furs are let out. In my opinion, as a general rule let out furs are more attractive and flattering than skin on skin furs, as they are more "fluid" and drape easily.

Edited July 14, 2009 by Guest

[fur999]

Thanks guys, question answered! I knew that someone would have the answer, and this time it's not Smarties!

[White Fox]

999...

 

Imagine cutting a pelt into strips about 1 cm in width. So you have hundreds of these. The reason for the angle is I think simply that it allows connecting many strips, and having the same nice lines going from top to bottom. Think of a nice mink. light, dark. light dark. light, dark. all the way round the coat.

 

By sewing these narrow striips together one at a time they gradually make a very large piece of fur again, from which to construct a coat. Just imagine sewing those hundreds of strips together one at a time. This is I think automated at least somewhat now, but still very, very time consuming as you can imagine. And, when they are sewn together, at that point all you really have is a large piece of fur (like cloth) from which to construct the coat.

 

In some cases, they are not trying to get a line from top to bottom. Like for instance black dyed sheared beaver. But, this though gets rid of the lines that show when you just sew skins together as JG described.

 

Why the name "Fully let out"? Wish I knew. Never made sense to me!

 

OK. Now let's see how far off I am when the experts here reply...

 

W

[AKcoyote]

In the case of mink, the let-out strips are more frequently 0.5 cm wide especially for a full length garment. The extra cuts are necessary to lengthen the pelt sufficiently for longer garments.

 

One of our resident furriers may correct me, but I believe skin-on-skin and let-out are not mutually exclusive terms. The opposite of skin-on-skin would be the use of strips of leather between pelts as is frequently done for fox garments to allow the hair to lay more naturally along the seams.

[JGalanos]

Why the name "Fully let out"? Wish I knew. Never made sense to me

 

I'm far from an expert, but I hypothesize the term "fully let out" came from an era when furs could be "partially let out". The letting out process is time consuming and expensive and I am thinking that there was a time when to control cost furs were let out in areas where fluidity/drape was important -- like sleeves -- and were not let out in areas where fluidity/drape was less important -- like the body of the coat. Along the same line, in the 70's and 80's furriers sometimes as a cost control measure would construct a mink coat using larger, less supple, less expensive male pelts in the body of the coat and smaller, more supple, more expensive female pelts in the sleeves. But only a hypothesis ... I could be out in far, far left field.

Edited July 14, 2009 by Guest

[AKcoyote]

This is just a guess, but "fully let-out" could mean that the entire garment is made from let-out pelts. Collars, lapels, cuffs, and possibly sleeves could potentially be made from non-let-out pelts.