The Leather Process:
In the old times, three-floored buildings had round headed archs while stairs and architectonic ornaments were made of stone.The basement had a stone floor and a brick arched ceiling.That was where the first part of the processing took place. Raw leathers were washed and softened in large basins full of water.This process took up at least five days.
Pure water was,and still it is,fundamental to the process. Not enough pure water could seriously damage the leather, in fact, large dark-blue spots over the leather's surface were due to the use of hard water.
The next step was the quicklime treatment in which, derm and hair were removed from the leather. After that fleshing took place. It was carried out by workers who placed the leather over stands called "cavalletes".
After fleshing the leather was left for several months in stone basins containing water and bark .
The ground floor had a red brick pavement and a ceiling built of chestnut wood. That was where the leather ,after being greased,was given the finishing touch.On the top floor, wooden frames were put crosswise. The leather was hung on the frames for drying. The large windows were without glass, but it was possible to close them with large wooden doors. At first the doors were kept closed in order to let the leather dry slowly but after a few weeks they were opened wide to complete the drying process....
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