Vellum is derived from the Latin word "vitulinum" meaning "made from calf", leading to Old French "vélin" ("calfskin"). The term often refers to a parchment made from calf skin, as opposed to that from other animals. It is prepared for writing or printing on, to produce single pages, scrolls, codices or books. The term is sometimes used with a more general meaning referring to finer-quality parchments made from a variety of animal skins.
Vellum is generally smooth and durable, although there are great variations depending on preparation and the quality of the skin. The manufacture involves the cleaning, bleaching, stretching on a frame (a "herse"), and scraping of the skin with a crescent shaped knife (a "lunarium" or "lunellum"). To create tension, scraping is alternated with wetting and drying. A final finish may be achieved by abrading the surface with pumice, and treating with a preparation of lime or chalk to make it accept writing or printing ink.
Modern "paper vellum" (vegetable vellum) is a quite different synthetic material, used for a variety of purposes, including plans, technical drawings, and blueprints.
Vellum: The Book of All Hours is a speculative fiction novel by Hal Duncan.
It is Duncan's first novel. It was first published in the United Kingdom by Pan Macmillan in August 2005 and then, in April 2006, in the USA by Del Rey, an imprint of Random House.
The Vellum is a reality of which Earth is only a small part. It can be reprogrammed using something called the Cant, and this is what some deities from ancient myths, called the Unkin, have done. One group of Unkin see themselves as Angels, and have set up a Covenant promising to reject any ancient deity looking to regain his or her past glory; they are at the time of the narration getting ready for a final war. A group of newly born Unkin (one can become an Unkin through certain unspecified events in his or her life) who refuse to take part in such war are the main characters: Seamus Finnan, an Irish angel hiding out in the desert; Phreedom Messenger, a trailer park biker trying to avoid conscription; Thomas Messenger, her gay brother who’s trying to disappear into the Vellum where he’ll never be found; Jack Carter, a Covenant spear-carrier sent to kill Thomas but in love with him. Next to them are Joey Pechorin and Don MacChuill (who will gain more importance in Ink, the sequel to Vellum).
Ashlar-Vellum, a dba of Ashlar Incorporated, is a developer of Computer-aided design (CAD) and 3D modeling software for both the Macintosh and Microsoft Windows platforms. Ashlar-Vellum’s interface, designed in 1988 by Dr. Martin Newell and Dan Fitzpatrick, featured an automated Drafting Assistant that found useful points in the geometry and allowed the artist to quickly connect to locations like the "midpoint" or "tangent".
Their original 2D product, Vellum, underwent numerous upgrades and gained 3D surface modelling capabilities over time. This product is now known as Graphite. In 1998 Vellum was joined by Solids, which added full solid modelling support. This product is now known as Cobalt, and is also offered in several sub-versions with different feature sets and price points.
Originally founded in Sunnyvale, California, Ashlar Incorporated is now headquartered in Austin, Texas with additional offices in Kiev, Ukraine.
The Ashlar-Vellum product family features the Designer Elements including Graphite, Cobalt, Xenon and Argon.