Natural Leather Markings
About Leathers
Animals have individual features on their hides and skin which have occurred during their time living on a pasture. These are common and occur during an animals life.
Neck Grain
Majority of animals used to make leather will naturally graze on grass. This involves bending and stretching their neck daily to feed. This constant moving creates creases and growth marks on the back of their necks. As the age of the animal increases the number and size of the neck grain will increase. On finished leather these grains will appear as textured lines.
Veins
Just as you see the veins on your skin, vain lines can appear on finished leather. This occurs when bacteria is attracted to any remaining nutrient rich blood. In the original pathways of the blood vessels before leather manufacturing begins. Skin is worn away and degraded into the pattern of the original pathways.
Stretch Marks
In the same way in which humans develop stretch marks whilst growing animals used for leather also have these identifiable marks. Although this arguably more common in the female hide and skins with the obvious factor of child birth. And also the differing amounts of fats present in the skin.
Scars
Animals may come in contact with various objects in their lifetime that can cut their skin such as barbed wire and other animals horns which may scare skin. Which may result in the scaring of the skin. Human intervention such as branding which is done for ownership purposes and any medical surgery can also leave a permanent scar. Once these scars are healed the tissue is slightly raised however it keeps intact its structural integrity.
Shade Differentiation
Each individual person has an individual skin tone to the person next to them. This is also the case in animal hides. Factors such as age weight and size can effect the penetration of the dye stuffs. However strict controls are applied to the chemical conditions to try and ensure an even take up. In a full grain hide you may find that there are different tonal hues. This is quite normal and down to the dying process. Emphasising the natural transparency of the hide. These natural characteristics may not happen on every hide or may occur more on some than others. That is the nature of a natural product. Commonly seen as defects these traits should instead be seen as a authentic marks of an individual martial. If you have any questions regarding the content of this post or any other question surrounding our Chesterfield sofa leathers, comment on the post on get in touch. We offer a wide verity of leathers where we offer free leather swatch samples.
