Historically, calfskin has been the finest parchment, so people have long referred to refined parchment as vellum. Meanwhile, vellum comes from the Old French word Velin, which means calfskin. These days, parchment generally refers to any animal skin turned into a paper-like material from physical action, including removing extraneous flesh, fat, and hair. We can reach back even further to the word Pergamon, from antiquity, which referred to the city in Asia Minor where the first records of parchment mass production occurred. Parchment arrived in the English language from the German Perkament, which in turn came from Pergamena in Italian (and before that, Pergamena in Latin). The roots of the words come from different sources. What is the difference between parchment, vellum, and leather?Īs far as parchment and vellum go, the difference is pretty much semantic at this point in history. Color ranges from light to dark cream, with a lot of character from hair and scars. Hides are procured from local hunters, meaning the skins often have pronounced slices or holes around the edges of the parchment due to poor butchering. It almost always has some sort of natural markings, like bites, scratches, scars, etc. > Deer: Deer parchment has a very smooth, fine-haired grain, but lacks the fat wrinkles of calf. These hides cannot be bleached to impact their color. Most skins come out in a gray/brown “antique” color, though some can be a light cream. Because sheep have more natural oils and grease in their skins than goat, their parchment tends to be much softer and rounder to the touch (meaning that it is easier to curve or roll than goat). The hide also usually has pronounced wrinkles located around the neck and spine, due to the much more pliable grain. >Sheep: Sheep parchment is very similar to goat, but has a slightly finer grain pattern.
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