The Man Who Writes On Goats

There are just a few of us who write on goats.


Whether the movie currently out, "Men Who Stare At Goats", is a success or not, makes no never mind. George Clooney can bust a blood vessel just thinking about making a goat pass out - but he won't approach the anxiety and joy of beginning a writing project on a nice piece of parchment or vellum.
The skins are two different animals. Parchment comes from goats and vellum is calfskin.
Many centuries ago, other writing materials existed, but were unavailable. 
Papyrus was invented in Egypt, but was prohibited from export or even ownership by non-Egyptian holy folk. That cartel was busted up with the demise of the Egyptian empire, but writing on papyrus remains a challenge (fun) to this day. Papyrus is thinly split slices of the papyrus reed interlaced at perpendicular angles and sanded smooth (sort-of). We can do our own pumicing and sandaracing and then be very careful with our lettering. The problem comes when we try to use a too sharp broad-edge writing tool with too much pressure. I love writing on papyrus - there is something about working with such an ancient material - just like I did when playing with little Moses before his Momma made the little boat out of the papyrus and pitch and you know the rest of the story.
In Pergamos (from which the word parchment is derived), a city in Asia Minor, the art of splitting and curing goat hides as a writing material was truly clever. Cured hides could be bound into scrolls and they have lasted through the centuries.
Vellum, made from calfskin (veal-skin), is another science, makes a less oily writing material. It is the favorite of most serious scribes.
As you can imagine, the skin of an animal is not cheap and this is before the art is applied.
NOTE: at this point please do not confuse vegetable parchment or vegetable vellum or vellum surfaced papers with the real thing.
When a skin arrives, it is not ready for writing. It needs to be flattened, pumiced (true volcanic ash) and thoroughly smoothed.
If there is a STARING at the goat or calfskin, this is the time. The art or commission will find its place and the general outline will be made. Then the work begins.
I use only 7-9H pencils or my hard silverpoint pen or a steel stylus to make marks on the precious skins. I do not want carbon residue on my skins.
The lettering is applied and the the versals and then the illustration and finally, the gilding.
I stare at the goat or calf at every level of work. The goat or calf stares back.
We are in this together. The animal gave themselves and I have put myself into the project. The finished goatskin or calfskin will be around a lot longer than me.
The goat who stares at Tim. 
The goat wins. © tim www.timjohnsonphoto.com