The making of parchment:

'Then take them out, attach the cords and tie them to the circular frame.'

The ropes and cords were tied to the skin and kept streched with stones, balls of parchment, sticks or with string, today rustfree metal clamps are also used. The generally square, wooden frames also contain holes to contain wooden pegs, the backs of which have a groove where a looped cord can be held in position. By turning the peg, the tension can be increased to the required amount. It is essential for the further preparation of the parchment that this tensioning takes place, otherwise the skin becomes extremely hard. One can see strips of semitransparent parchment in petshops sold for dogs to chew on. By tensioning the skin the characteristic layered translucency appears. The skin fibres are drawn into a two dimensional layer, held together by the remaining underlying material. This gives parchment its inherent strength. This in opposition of leather, which is not streched and where the fibres remain three dimensional. The space between the fibres which exist trough the acid curing process gives leather a certain suppleness. In addition the stretching makes the parchment less transparent whilst retaining a yellow-white colour. This gives rise to the term drawn-white parchment. In contrast, when parchment is prepared for drums then the wet skin is laid on a curved metal plate, sometimes overlaid with a plastic sheet. The skin then dries naturally without any tension and is then completely transparent. This transparency can also be seen in the pieces used for dogs to chew on. Kettle drums are made in this manner for example. In the middle ages this transparent parchment was sometimes used for windows. In the countryside in the eastern part of The Netherlands one can still sometimes see small panes of parchment. The hairside which is laid against the plastic or metal during the drying out stage is completely smooth and transparent. This characterisic is very much appreciated by the drummers when using hands and fingertips.