Vellum and Parchment
All of the writings on this website at present are written on Calf Vellum. Goat vellum and sheepskin parchment are also available, and are slightly cheaper as they tend to be darker, and not quite as high quality.
Calf Vellum
Although the most expensive option, this is also the highest quality. Quite thick, almost card-like, and creamy white, it produces “cleaner” writing, and makes mistakes easier to erase, as well as being more pleasant to handle. This ease of erasure means that Calf Vellum was the preferred material for palimpsests, erased and over-written sheets sometimes found inserted in manuscripts.
To make vellum, skins are first soaked in lime to clean them, removing hair, dirt and grease, and then stretched on wooden frames. They are kept damp and under tension, which can be increased, while the skin is scraped thin and smooth. If neccessary, the skin may be bleached during the process. Once the desired thickness is reached, the parchment can be allowed to dry and finally cut down, ready to be turned into smaller sheets for use by the scribe.
Goat and Sheepskin parchment
Made by the same process, goat and sheep based parchments are often very slightly thinner, and are greasier due to the fatty composition of the skin they are made from. This makes them harder to prepare for writing, hence the slightly lower quality of final product. However, they were used in the mediæval period without especial prejudice. In fact, they were favoured at times as the greater difficulty in alteringthem (whereas a high quality Calf Vellum palimpsest can leave the original almost undetectable) meant that they might better guarantee the reliability of a document – which was desirable in legal documents such as wills and charters.
The difference in quality is often smaller than the difference in price, and I would not normally hesitate to use goat or sheep over calf for any of my simple scribal efforts (an elaborate enchiridion or Gospel Book would be another matter!)
