The pages of a manuscripts are made of parchment. Parchment is the skin of an animal, usually of sheep, goats or cows. Making parchment is quite an elaborate process. First the hair is removed from the hide, then the hide is scraped clean, soaked in chalk water, scoured with pumice and tightened in a wooden frame in order to flatten it. When it is thin, smooth and flat enough, the hide is finally cut into pages. Next, the space for text, initials, miniatures and border illuminations is planned and subsequently indicated by cutting minute holes into the parchment. This is done because miniatures, initials and borders are all made by different individuals. The text is written with a quill and black ink. This ink is a mixture of water, sooth, oak gall, gum Arabic, sulphuric acid and wine. Emphasis in the texts is indicated with red paint. Illuminations are made with paint that is concocted out of egg yolk and pigment. First or sometimes last, leaf gold is applied, bonded with garlic or egg white and polished with a smooth semiprecious stone. Finally, the pages are folded into the cover and sown together. The cover, consisting of two wooden planks, is attached to the pages and then covered with leather. Sometimes the band is subsequently adorned with fittings, stamping or even leaf gold.
For more information on the making of manuscripts, press A.