Leather

Leather was the processed hide or skin of an animal, widely used in Faerûn and beyond for various crafts. It was produced by tanners through the process of tanning.
==Description==
Leather could be made from the skin of practically any animal, though each had their advantages and disadvantages. Some of the most common hides used came from cows, oxen, rothé, horses, and donkeys, which had large and durable skins. The hides of deer, wolves, bears, lions, manticores, and other beasts were also desirable, though harder to obtain. Scaly hides such as from bulettes, lizards and dragons could also be used like leather, but the product was quite different.
==Production==
In some areas, the professions of skinners, tanners, and leatherworkers were controlled or regulated by trade guilds, like the League of Skinners and Tanners in Waterdeep, which supplied the bulk of leather used by artisans of other guilds such as the Saddlers' and Harness-makers' Guild, Order of Cobblers and Corvisers, and Order of Master Tailors, Glovers, and Mercers.
Tools used in leatherworking included the round knife, the swivel knife, and the awl, which were each highly specialized tools adapted for carefully cutting leather.
==Usage==
Leather was broadly used for all sorts of durable and flexible goods, ranging from practical heavy-duty waterproof gear to luxurious accoutrements. This included belts, shoes, boots, gloves, hats, bracers, breeches, cloaks, aprons, riding tack, saddles, armor, scabbards, pouchs and bags, shields, waterskins, balls, strops, baldrics, whips, and more. Even when not the main material, leather was used as a flexible connective material or underlay for other materials like suits of plate armor.
Smooth scaly hides from creatures like lizards or dragons were often brittle or slippery, making them inappropriate for items that required a firm grip like weapon handles.
Parchment was a writing surface made from thin sections of hide, carefully prepared. Vellum was a particularly thin and delicate high-quality surface made from calfskin.
===Spell Components===
* Bigby's hand and its variants used a leather glove as a component.
* Displacement used a strip of displacer beast leather.
* Freedom of movement used a leather thong.
* Levitate could use a leather loop.
* Mage armor used a piece of cured leather.
* Suspension used a small leather loop hanging from a gold wire.
==Notable Leatherworkers==
* Anaster's Leatherworks, a leather shop famed for its leather balls.
* Eagleshield Fine Horse Leathers, a luxury leathergoods shop in Waterdeep.
* The Leatherworkers' Conglomerate in Daggerford was a guildhall and shop for leatherworkers.
* Lhuin's Fine Leathers, a tannery and leatherwork shop in Ashabenford.
* Old Dulwar's Leatherworks, a tannery and leatherwork shop outside of Dagger Falls.
* Sorkryn's Soft Hides of Scornubel, a trader in hides and animals in Scornubel.
* Telethar Leatherworks was a prominent Waterdhavian leathergoods shop.
* Torpus's Tannery, in the Dock Ward of Waterdeep.
* Whelanxdryn's of Elturel, a tannery, leatherworking, and metalworking shop that specialized in scabbards.
==Appendix==
===Appearances===
===External Links===
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===References===
Category:Substances
Category:Spell components