Has anyone used transparent/translucent leather?

[SUP]

Transparent/translucent leather is a thing! Has anyone used it?  

[Handstitched]

Never heard of it. Its not made of mushrooms by any chance? 

[SUP]

@Handstitched LOL. NO it is real leather, apparently.

Some store called DistrictLeathers.com  sells it in the US. They say it is horse hide or Kangaroo leather. 

Introduced in 2017, developed and introduced in his fashion collection by someone called Shruli Recht - in the Netherlands.

It looks a bit like vinyl. In fact the majority of the search results show vinyl.

Edited January 27, 2024 by SUP

[dikman]

Transparent kangaroo?

[Constabulary]

https://www.districtleathers.com/products/transparent-horse-hide

they have other fancy leather too I have never seen.

Edited January 27, 2024 by Constabulary

[fredk]

mmm, not sure if its 'new', or if they are using an ancient process

In the middle-ages, aka medieval period, before glass was re-invented, they used to scrape veal hides super thin and oil them which made them translucent and the used them to cover windows. Allegedly they were translucent enough to let in a lot of soft light, but they were expensive. Everything was expensive back then. I used to have a piece which had been re-purposed as book page. My dottir has it now

[SUP]

@fredk, that's interesting!  And that process should be easier to do now and the preservation as well.

Do you have a pic of the piece that you have and is with your daughter now?

[fredk]

No, I never took a photo of it

What was super-interesting in the process was the oil used. Not the usual candidates such as olive oil but volatile 'ground' oil. I guess it was some form of mineral oil that came to the surface of the ground and could be collected. The window makers were a secretive guild in as much as the process was only known to the members  

and I've just remembered; the translucent leather was used to glaze lanterns up to about the first third of the 19th century ( 1800s). Horn was mainly used but for high quality lanterns, eg.  on my lord's carriage 

[SUP]

@fredk, Ground oil - crude oil probably.

I wonder whether some of those lanterns are still around. You never know.

[fredk]

Some leather and horn lanterns might still be around. They were used in mines up to the first half of the 20th century (to about 1945)

10 minutes ago, SUP said:

. . . Ground oil - crude oil probably.

But, not crude as crude, almost refined, the Romans and Greeks used it. Its a constituent of 'Greek Fire'