Season of Parchment

When I worked in Austin at Carrabba Conservation, we would always say that work comes in seasons. We had several seasons of maps. A couple seasons of posters. Favored seasons of art. And right now, I am coming out of a season of parchment.

An archive in town contacted me about several decrees and announcements that needed relaxing in anticipation of a exhibit opening, and I knew exactly what to expect. But when a private client contacted me about a modern artist’s proof printed on parchment, I thought that surely he must be mistaken. Sometimes people think “parchment” is just a type of paper. Though sure enough, when I examined the piece, it was parchment!

For those that may not be familiar, parchment and vellum are two materials made through the treatment and stretching of animal skin. This is typically a historic method and most people just use high quality paper these days, since parchment/vellum has a way of shrinking and stiffening over time. It’s just what skin does, after all. Flatten this material is significantly more complicated that flattening paper.

I actually haven’t treated parchment since I was in graduate school, and even then I was one of a team of hands on a single document. So I had a healthy fear going into these projects. After developing a solid method, though, they went smoothly and I was very satisfied with the results. Ultimately, I do believe that if these were on paper I could have gotten them pin-straight flat-as-a-board flat. There is still some rippling here and there, and I don’t mind it given the overall vast improvements. They have been tamed for now, but parchment was once an animal and remains a beast.