I figure someone here has got to know the answer to this. I have a tanned cobra skin that’s been tacked to the wall in my bathroom for many years. However, of late it has developed a noticeable curl to it, and I’d like to flatten it out.
How should I go about this? Can I iron it, or is there some other way to get it to lie flat again?
Strange…there don’t seem to be any Google hits for “ironing snakeskin”. At last–something that’s too esoteric for the Internet. 
Was it tanned, or is it simply a dried snakeskin? If it was tanned, then it’ll be flexible, like soft leather. If it’s just a dried snakeskin, I don’t think it’d be sturdy enough to stand up to ironing. I’d just press it flat between a couple of big heavy books.
If it was tanned, then it’s a kind of leather, and here’s how you iron leather.
http://www.leatherexporters.com/leathercare2.htm
Or you could just do the “Webster’s Unabridged” thing.
I’m not exactly clear on this anymore. It’s been awhile, but I once had a few rattlesnake skins and was told to soak them in antifreeze to soften them. Maybe I had my leg pulled, though.
With rattlesnake skins, when they would dry out we would rub baby oil. (very tiny amount), in them and press them under volumes of the encyclopedia, using waxpaper between skin and book. Seems like we would let them set for at least a week.
Antifreeze will preserve the skin too if you submerge the skin in a jar that can be sealed. Just took mine out to dry after being kept that way for 9 years!
Can you preserve them in whiskey?