Making Parchment
Parchment is made from the skin of an animal – sheep, calves, and goats. The process of transforming a skin to a surface suitable for writing is slow and complicated as this wonderful video from BBC shows. The selection of good skins is crucial because they have to be free of blemishes. The skins are then soaked in a solution of lime and water. The hair is removed and the flesh side scraped with a knife. The skins are then rinsed to remove the lime and dried.
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