From: joe@ea.ecn.purdue.edu (Joe Rogers)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Makeing Velium
Date: 8 Oct 92 22:51:29 GMT
Organization: Purdue University Engineering Computer Network


Greetings to the Rialto. I have been watching quietly for two years now
and only occasionally felt the urge to respond. However, I have copied
many articles for friends in my local barony and one of them has asked
me to please post her reply to a question asked on the net. If anyone
wishes to reply to her directly, I will be happy to accept mail and
relay it to her. Thank You All.
					Lord Josef

Please respond to   joe@ea.ecn.purdue.edu


>Greetings unto Martin di Mont Blanc and the Rialto from 
>Lady AElfhaelen of Rivenstar
>
>In response to Martin's question about making parchment:
>
>If I had to recommend a single book concerning the making of 
>parchment I'd suggest:
>
>Reed, R. (1972) Ancient Skins, Parchments and Leathers. 
>Seminar Press, London and New York
>ISBN : 0-12-903550-5
>Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 71-183472
>
>Child's book is very reliable, but I found it a bit vague.  Ancient 
>Skins, Parchments and Leathers has several documented recipes.
>I found that the making of parchemnt/vellum was more tedious 
>and time consuming than difficult, of course inadequate tools, vague 
>instructions (I found Reed's book AFTER I tried my first skin), and an 
>ice storm that caused a 15 day blackout in my part of the state were 
>no help!
>A reasonably detailed recipe for parchment follows: 1) Obtain a skin 
>that was bled out as soon after death as possible. If the skin and 
>blood remain in contact after death the blood begins to settle to the 
>lowest point and will cause a discoloration of the skin. So either the 
>animal should have been bled or skinned, shortly after death. I 
>acquired a lamb about 4 hours after its death and bled it then, I 
>skinned it about 6 hours later (10 hrs after death) and saw no 
>discoloration so there is some latitude. 2) The skin should be rinsed 
>in clean cold water until the water runs clear. 3) It should then be 
>soaked in a solution of Lime and agitated gently three times a day. 
>(Garden stores sell a usable lime powder, but be sure that is pure 
>lime). The directions given by Theophilus suggest a "Thick, cloudy 
>liquor", I guess I used about 2 lbs of lime powder to two gallons of 
>water. I had excess undissolved lime that settled out each night.  The 
>skin should remain in the lime solution until the hair can be easily 
>removed by scraping, I used the side of my thumb. It takes longer to 
>arrive at this state in the winter than it does in the summer, the 
>strength of the lime will also effect the timing. The exact timing will 
>have to be determined experimentally, so try to remove the hair 
>after about the 2d day, but don't expect to reach the right stage until 
>about day 5 (under freezing conditions my first try was not ready to 
>remove the hair for 2 weeks). 4) Remove the hair and scrape off the 
>more obvious layers of fat and or membrane left over from skinning. 
>5) Discard the used lime solution and make a fresh solution of the 
>same strength. 6) Soak the dehaired skin for 8 days in the new 
>solution agitating gently two or three times a day. (switching them 
>around with a broom handle works fine) 7) Remove and wash the 
>skin well (the object is to neutralize the lime), follow by soaking in 
>water for 2 days. 8) Take the skin out of the solution and attach it to 
>a frame, under tension, by cutting small slits in the perimeter of the 
>skin and using those to attach cord the tie the skin to the frame. The 
>tension must be equalized over the entire skin or it will dry with a 
>"bias". 9) Dry the skin 10) Scrape the skin with a sharp knife 
>(recommended is semi-circular since it is less likely to cut the skin) 
>11) let the skin rest in the sun for two days. 12) moisten with water 
>and rub the flesh side with powered pumice. 13) After two days wet 
>it again by sprinkling it with a little water and fully clean the flesh 
>side with pumice so as to make it quite wet again. Then tighten up 
>the cords, equalize the tension so that the sheet will become 
>permanent. 14) After the skin had dried you have a sheet of 
>parchment.  It is a very good idea never to wet parchment unless it 
>is under tension, since it contracts unevenly and "cockles" forming 
>ridges and uneven edges. From this point on Ms Child's book is very 
>good and contains very clear instructions concerning the final 
>preparation of fine parchment, but for course work the parchment 
>straight off the stretcher frame can be used.