Elkhide parchment

 Elk Parchment

WARNING: some potentially disturbing photos of fleshing the hide

Last year I was given this elkhide by HL Mergret Dyer who had received it from one of her friends.  It stayed in my freezer until I was able to work it.  In the early spring, I thawed it and cut back several pounds of muscle, adipose, and connective tissue.  At this point I decided that I wanted to portion out the hide as I was working solo and struggled to manage the entire hide (I estimate it weighed over 50 lbs while I was working with it wet).  I cut about a sixth of it to fit my 3x4’ parchment frame and the rest went to leather.  From the beginning, there were several rough cuts (gouging into the skin) and holes found in the hide - the butchers were simply removing to harvest the meat and not with the intention of parchment.

I mixed up a lime bath (5 gallons of water to 5 pounds of hydrated lime) and allowed the hide to soak for a month in cooler temperatures.  At this point I pulled out portions and began to scrape the hair off and further clean up the flesh side, scraping away any remaining tissues.   For this I spread the hide on a core post given to me by Arcos John Wayland and scraped with a fleshing blade given to me by Magistra Raven Qara ton. After the scraping was completed, I allowed they hide to soak in a rinse bath for a few days.

My next step was to stretch the hide on the frame.  Twice I stretched it out, pulling it taut under the pegs around the frame.  Twice the thick hide snapped the twine and popped the pegs from their holes as it dried  And after each I had to resoak the hide and start over.* By the third try I had learned to double my twine and thread each pass through the holes of my frame rather than depending on the pegs to hold.  The pegs are nice because they are adjustable as the hide dries and they also add a little more stretch as they’re hammered in place.  But this hide required adjustment in order to make it work.

Finally, the hide was stretched and dried, although there were much more noticeable variations in the tautness depending on the humidity of the weather.  Now it was time to cut it off the frame and trim it into the desired sizes.  This parchment was expected to be quite thick but it was a challenge that I didn’t know if I could make work at all and I’m quite pleased with the results.  I chose not to lime pounce this one as I knew I would be doing inkwork and highlight contrast on some of the pieces.  However, I plan to apply a light lime gesso to some of the portions before working them further.

For my first piece from this hide I was honored to be asked to create a passport of sorts from their Excellencies Summits to their Excellencies Tir Righ. I used some of my oak gall ink (see previous post) and eggshell paint I had made from leaching the calcium from chicken eggs last Egils in the style requested. It was such a joy it see it delivered!  

*During one of the resoakings, I was startled to pull out the hide with vibrant purple staining!  After some research, I found that this was found in medieval manuscripts as well!  It is caused by a salt loving (halophillic) bacteria (we have a salt water filter in our wellhouse) and causes the parchment to become slightly less stable.   (Perini, et al; Pinar et

 de Rosier-Blanc D (2024) Parchment’s Corner 1.  Self published, last viewed 7-16-26 from https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WjjvUtdO86a6CcmhcJFQHj01R8uM9f--/view

Bianco, D (2024) Making parchment.   Self published, last viewed 7-16-26 from https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7iOPhLWjIesZzhFdFN3eVVSMms/view?usp=drivesdk&resourcekey=0-27-iqMdxrJaUl5imhOadkg

 

Perini N, Mercuri F, Thaller MC, Orlanducci S, Castiello D, Talarico V and Migliore L (2019) The Stain of the Original Salt: Red Heats on Chrome Tanned Leathers and Purple Spots on Ancient Parchments Are Two Sides of the Same Ecological Coin. Front. Microbiol. 10:2459. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2019.02459

Pinar, Guadalupe & Sterflinger, Katja & Pinzari, Flavia. (2014). Unmasking the measles‐like parchment discoloration: molecular and microanalytical approach. Environmental Microbiology. 17. 427-443. 10.1111/1462-2920.12471.