Parchment

I've been working on more parchment since my initial foray into the sometimes stinky world of painting on stretched, dried and sanded critter skin.  David Bianco from the west coast helped me a great deal, and I've mostly been following his process.  Beau & crew from TX have been invaluable and I'm sending sheep hides for his workshop at Pennsic this summer. 

I've learned that deer is thick and yellow with hints of gray or brown, but it has a beautiful surface.  It is a beginner's best friend because it is thick enough that you aren't going to wreck it, and you can see the different layers of skin clearly.  If you mess up, just grab the sandpaper and start over.  However it is low grade parchment; meaning it is yellowed, crinkles, and has an uneven thickness no matter how much you sand away.  The surface is still lovely, and especially in North America it is the most readily available to the hobbyist as deer are usually processed at home vs. at a commercial processing plant. 
Goat is amazingly fine and delicate, and I'm not sure what color it would turn out, somewhere between translucent milky white and ivory.  It must be handled with care, but it is near-perfect as-is.  I don't have any of my own to play with, but will be on the lookout. The hide we fleshed here is heading to Pennsic, which I, unfortunately, am not.
Sheep is not as durable as deer, and it holds onto that inner membrane like its former life depends on it.  I'm looking forward to working it into parchment - it is much whiter than deer.  I can already see why it was heavily used in period.

I got 25 sheep/lamb hides from a friend who sells them for Passover & Easter.  Since there are 2 Easter celebrations, there were 3 rounds of sheep hides.  Some of these were for other people, and await delivery.  What we received in the bag were little sheep sleeves, mostly faces on, legs & tails still attached.  I'm not going to lie, I nearly cried.  But this kind of work also does great honor to the animal; they were well raised, they died for someone's high holy feast, and with luck, their skin, cut to shape and size, will survive for many years as high quality artwork, treasured by the people who own it. 

I will be donating 34 pieces of 5x7 deer parchment to the scribes of AEthelmearc to do with as they wish.  The color came out more yellow than I prefer, but the finish is excellent.  This is part of an overall goal to be both an artist and a patron, and to help our scribes experience the materials used in period manuscripts.