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Parchment preparation?

Hello wood comrades! I'm building my first baroque guitar and I'm somewhat stuck with the parchment rosette. I've bought some parchment but I'm fearing it's not of the apropiate kind or quality because all the back has plenty of soft tissue, and is very rough. I've scraped'em with decent results but the process is messy and the surface is less than ideal for a proper glueing. I'm determined to make a use of it nonetheless. Do anyone have any advice on the matter or in the buying of proper material? Thanks a lot

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Permalink Reply by Peter Forrester on January 26, 2016 at 9:26

It sounds as though you have skin suitable for drums? Much will depend on the glue you are going to use, and although I've made a lot of roses, I've never found the ideal glue. You could experiment with any scrap areas. Glue size made from very diluted hot animal glue should lay the roughness, perhaps both before and after scraping. But it may make the parchment patchily transparent. Stretch the parchment with pins or nails before sizing it, and allow the first side to dry before turning it over for the second. The only vellum manufacturer left, as far as I know, in the UK is William Cowley of Newport Pagnell. Their parchment is excellent but of course expensive. A lady in Italy whose name escapes me for the moment (age!) but look for 'parchmentroses' makes a wide selection at very reasonable prices. Many original roses were gilded, which suits me as it hides glue and construction marks, slightly strengthens joints......

Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by Antonio Hernández on January 26, 2016 at 22:47

Many thanks for your advice!

The parchment I've bought comes already rounded and conveniently cut to size (9 cm), for what I think you're right and it's used in toy drums perhaps.
I've bought it from a small company who sells parchment for diplomas and such, and they have this A4 size, 'printer ready' which for the pictures it looked very nice and consistent. I was thinking in buying some of these, but then I notice these circles, perfect in size and cheap as hell (I get 100 pcs for the price of a single sheet)
The circles aren't that bad, in spite of some color inconsistencies and some tissue tension in some parts, perhaps they where cutted from the periphery where the skin were less stretched. I will follow your advice of the pins, and I think I can get the best of most of them (I better do because I went crazy and now I have literally hundred of them haha)
Elena Dal Cortivo is the lady isn't she? yeah she has very competitive prices and a nice variety of designs; maybe later I'll buy one from hers to get a physical reference.