#bc that's the thinnest and stretchiest of all

[oidheadh-con-culainn]

Question from a tanner re: parchment: do you know why it's bendy enough to make into books? Because rawhide tends to break rather than bend (see: drums with which break), and parchment should just be rawhide with the top layer of skin scraped / sanded off. Is it that top layer that makes rawhide stiffer? Or do parchment makers somehow work on it to make it more pliant?

i don't know much about rawhide so it's a little hard for me to compare the processes but i would say it's probably a mixture of materials and processing! firstly materials: it depends what type of skin you used in the first place. the reason they use calfskin for parchment/vellum is that it's much more supple than adult cowskin, which becomes leather instead; goats and sheep are also common for parchment. since rawhide is a byproduct of the leather industry i would expect it's made of the much tougher materials to start with. also, since it's a byproduct, it may be that they've split off the layers that would be used for parchment etc anyway? not sure, this is where not knowing a huge amount about rawhide lets me down

secondly there's the processing and specifically there's a lot of stretching: you stretch parchment over a frame to make it thinner (and larger) and this probably also makes it a lot more pliant, and then you scrape it more at that point, having already got rid of a lot of the gunk before that stage. my cursory googling suggests that rawhide doesn't involve a lot of stretching, so this might also be part of the process of making it bendier, along with how much they scrape off and what they soak the skin in to loosen hair etc in the first place!

[moodywyrm]

i am so sad and tired right now and i want literally nothing more than to be Held and reassured by Abby so here are some thoughts ig

Abby would be so attuned to how ur feeling, especially if u go through these moods a lot, she’s always looking for that little frown or blank look u get when ur starting to slip. she always keeps on eye on you when school starts to get really hard, always working with you if you need her to. she watches for that frustrated little twitch and whine and the palpable frustration building up in ur limbs that make u flap ur hands or hit ur leg. tahts when she knows u need a break, even if u don’t want to, she makes sure to tell u it’s okay to take breaks, the work will get done when it gets done.

has u shower with her. takes care of u so well, washing ur hair and ur face and scrubbing ur body n she’s being so kind and gentle with u that u almost start crying. drys u off with her super soft towels n wraps u up in her sweaters that she purposely gets so they fit big on her and big on u (if ur plus size yk) n she gives u her comfiest, stretchiest boxers, gets u ur favorite food n snacks n special lil drinks n insists that u don’t worry about the money bc she can already see the protests forming on ur tongue. pulls up ur favroite show or movie, sits u down between her legs n feeds u herself, keeping u cuddly and warm all the whole. n when she gets u fed and satiated, she tugs u into bed with her, wearing her softest, thinnest clothes so the texture doesn’t bother u, n lays ur head on her chest. she’s just rubbing up n down ur back, kneading ur ass, comforting u every way she knows how, letting u hold onto her and cry if u need to, kissing ur temple while ur burrow ur head into her neck and try to take in her scent bc she smells so so good. n she just holds her baby bc her baby needs her right now, n she is never gonna let you face it on ur own, not when she can hold ur hand and be with you, even when it gets tough

so n e wayz im gonna so be sad and alone but atleast we hve Abby thoughts <3