This goatskin is about to be turned
into parchment,
an old kind of paper made from animal skin.
It goes through a laborious process
of having every last hair scraped off.
The craft dates back to 2500 BC,
and this is the last place in the US
that still makes it.
Every piece takes at least two weeks to make,
and only a handful of people
in the entire world know how.
Parchment as a product
almost hasn't survived.
There was almost no need for it as a material.
But it was this centuries-old work
that helped Jesse Meyer save his family tannery.
We visited their facility in Montgomery, New York,
to see how it's still standing.
Making parchment is a messy craft.
It's cold and wet around the workshop,
but the lingering smell is something Jesse's gotten used to.
It all starts with the skin.
Deer, goat, calf, and sheepskin are sent by slaughterhouses
or local hunters.
Jesse soaks it in a mixture of water
and calcium hydroxide to break down the fibers,
loosen the hair, and clean it.
This is the longest part of the process,
taking at least two weeks.
Then it's time for dehairing.
Jesse scrapes at the skin,
pushing the hair off.
He uses a makeshift tool,
a 100-year-old piece of wood
that has the perfect shape for the job.
Even the hand tools that we use,
most people have never seen before.
And in some cases, they don't exist,
and I've had to recreate these tools myself.
After dehairing, he removes the extra meat layers
on the other side.
They've installed machines to help speed this along,
but sometimes, Jesse prefers the traditional way.
The more involved you can be with your own hands,
the better and more control you have over the end product.
But there is a point where, if you're doing this
on a commercial scale to try to be efficient and
more economical, you don't really have the ability
to handle each one by hand.
The hides then go through a thorough rinse.
That adjusts the pH level after weeks
of intense chemical treatment.
Jesse selects some of the clean skins to be dyed
in a large drum.
He uses plant-based pigments and water
to create a range of colors.
As the skins tumble,
they soak up the dye until they're saturated.
He hangs the skins to dry overnight
so that the color spreads evenly throughout.
But most of the rinsed skins
are left their natural white color and sent up
to the dry room.
Jesse stretches the skin
to keep it flat while it dries.
First, he scrapes the hide while it's wet
to remove excess moisture.
Then when it's dry,
he shaves it to clear away tissue.
He made this medieval knife with a saw blade,
a threaded rod, and leather.
Its proper Latin name is lunellum,
for its crescent-moon shape.
Sanding is the very last step.
Jesse refines the surface,
smoothing it out until almost every blemish is undetectable.
Finally, the skin is now parchment.
The first record of parchment dates back to 2450 BC.
Famous ancient documents like the Dead Sea Scrolls
and the Magna Carta were all written
on it for its durability.
The use of parchment peaked
in the Middle Ages in Europe, when it was mostly used
for illuminated manuscripts and book bindings.
Paper made from wood pulp or plant fibers was invented
in China around 105 AD.
It made its way across Asia, the Middle East,
and Europe through the centuries with the rise of literacy
and the printed word.
It was faster and cheaper to make.
It quickly industrialized
and rendered parchment virtually irrelevant
by the 16th century.
Early in the 20th century,
designers incorporated parchment
into high-end furniture and decor,
and it is still used for that today.
Preserving history is what saved parchment
in this business.
Conservators use the material to mend old manuscripts,
make copies, and restore missing pages.
It's been a very niche product. It is something
that happens alongside of leather production.
And that's how I kind of rediscovered
and have been trying to sort of reapply it since then.
The rare craft saved his family's centuries-old
tannery business,
which has been in the country
since his ancestors moved here in 1820.
By the time Jesse took over,
demand for leather was on the decline,
and by 2005,
keeping the business going was getting more difficult.
That's when Jesse introduced parchment making.
But he struggled to find out about the process.
There are a handful of other companies around the world
that do this sort of thing,
and they're far, far away.
And they've never told me
how they do what they're doing.
So I've had to try to figure this out in a vacuum.
So it's me, figuring it out as I go,
and what seems to work best for me.
Because it's such an old medieval craft,
anytime I would try to go look up information,
a lot of times, it was from medieval recipes
that was written in Latin from 1300, 1400.
Eventually parchment became such an important part
of the business,
Jesse changed the name from Meyer and Sons
to Pergamena, which means parchment in Latin.
And he found a niche of customers:
conservators and designers who use the material
in lampshades, upholstery, headboards,
and even as wallpaper.
No two pieces of parchment look the same,
which is a blessing and a curse.
It's part of the artistry.
A single sheet starts at $100.
What started out feeling like an albatross around my neck
ended up becoming a way to help revitalize
the family industry.
I want to be proud of this
and to be able to pass it on to my family,
and for people to know that skilled work like this
is still being done in the world.
It's being made right here in the United States
by a family that's been doing it for 450 years.