Wrong venue, probably, but is there a market for parchment?

Russ Mitchell · Post by **Russ Mitchell** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 11:42 am

With as many scrolls and charters, etcetera, as the SCA cranks out, is there any market for actual pieces of real parchment, rather than nice paper or the faux stuff? I'm curious, since I'm oil-tanning a horsehide at the moment.

Captain Jamie · Post by **Captain Jamie** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 1:02 pm

Yes. There are people that want to do it on the real thing and some have actually made some of there own parchement. It helps that they were raising sheep at the time!

How were you thinking of ridding yourself of it? Sale, auction, donation etc?

What are the parameters of parchement? IE no thicker than x, no less than y, whiteness, size etc. Are you at a stage where you could still tailor it to suit a particular scribe's tastes?

Captain Jamie

Russ Mitchell · Post by **Russ Mitchell** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 1:26 pm

I could do most of that -- I should finish pretty much all of the production on Sunday or so. I can tailor to a certain extent, but I'm no master tanner. Whiteness is what it is -- quite white -- but I won't add anything artificial to the skin to modify that. Right now, it's also single-side white, which is a problem for some applications (but the horsehide is an exceptionally tight grain on a very thin hide, and I'm leery of thinning it much further, and won't unless somebody's interested in horsehide in particular).

As to sale, auction, etcetera, I hadn't even really thought that far yet.

Thomas Powers · Post by **Thomas Powers** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 2:15 pm

Isn't parchment more of a rawhide based product than a tanned product?

Thomas

Karen Larsdatter · Post by **Karen Larsdatter** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 2:49 pm

Thomas Powers wrote:Isn't parchment more of a rawhide based product than a tanned product?

You might want to check out http://moas.atlantia.sca.org/wsnlinks/i ... t&catid=83 for some links describing the parchment-making process.

Russ Mitchell · Post by **Russ Mitchell** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 3:08 pm

Yep, that's the stuff. What I've got coming is a supersoft vellum-like white, and a pretty soft, creamy yellow grain side (I could already turn it into a bra for the wife if I didn't mind getting smacked around a lot, it's that soft, but I could hit both sides with a pumice stone if folks really wanted it). It's just a touch stretchy, as well.

Captain Jamie · Post by **Captain Jamie** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 3:44 pm

And just what are you doing with it anyway? How did you come by this?

Captain Jamie (always curious about what other people are doing!)

Russ Mitchell · Post by **Russ Mitchell** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 3:51 pm

I had it for craft purposes. I had two other horsehides custom-tanned, and I'm either going to make this into parchment, or else take it further and turn it into a pair of really nice summer pants. (leather that breathes and can be thrown in the washing machine. Hard to beat.)

Captain Jamie · Post by **Captain Jamie** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 6:46 pm

No way! You're joking right? It will do that?

Captain Jamie

Cet · Post by **Cet** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 8:24 pm

Russ. I want oil tanned buffalo Would you do that?

Also PM me I still need the measurements for the second quiver. I expect to be back on your stuff next week.

Cet

Russ Mitchell · Post by **Russ Mitchell** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 9:40 am

No, not joking at all.
EDIT: And they're durable. When I was in Krakow once, a few grad students and I got shown upstairs by the Cistercian monks, and actually got to handle one of the earliest charters of the Polish kingdom. Here it is, a thousand years old, and the monk just puts it right out on the desk and lets people futz with it while they spot-translate. Pity it's so freaking hard to produce and work with compared to paper, b/c in terms of longevity, it makes paper look like a bad joke.

Cet, that a big job. Let me PM you tonight when I can take those measurements.

Roibeard MacNeill · Post by **Roibeard MacNeill** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 3:03 pm

I am definitely interested in some parchment. Let me know what you are looking for cost and so forth....and thank you for the opportunity!

Russ Mitchell · Post by **Russ Mitchell** » Sat Jun 03, 2006 12:55 pm

pm sent!

Jon Barber · Post by **Jon Barber** » Sat Jun 03, 2006 3:27 pm

I told a friend about this and she said she was interested - send details, please!