Gevil II
I just wanted to post a follow-up to R' Avi's recent post about gevil, particularly the link he posted to R' Yehuda Sherez website http://www.klaf1.com/. It really is a fascinating read. He does beautiful work and it's nice to see interest in gevil reviving somewhat. I think the art of making it very nearly went extinct. As I was looking through some of the images and information on his site, I was struck by the fact that there must exist a variety of traditions for making gevil. Although all the techniques center on the same process melach to slip the hair, kemach to bate the skin, and afeitzim to tan it, the end results are dramatically different. The technique I know results in a deep red gevil and glossy surface. This is a sample of some of my gevil that I sent to YK Sofer in the Netherlands. This is his ksav on a menorah shaped lamnatzeach. If you would like to see his whole post it's here http://www.lavlor.blogspot.com/2012/04/writing-on-