Kidskin or kid leather is a type of soft, thin

leather Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffalo, pigs and hogs, ...

that is traditionally used for gloves (hence the phrase ' kid gloves,' used since at least 1888 as a metaphor for careful handling). It is widely used for other fashion purposes such as footwear and clothing. Kidskin is traditionally made from goatskin - more specifically, the skin of young

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...

s (or 'kids'), although equivalent leathers such as lambskin and chickenskin (actually a form of

calfskin Calfskin or calf leather is a leather or membrane produced from the hide of a calf, or juvenile domestic cattle. Calfskin is particularly valuable because of its softness and fine grain, as well as durability. It is commonly used for high-quality ...

) give the same effect.

Usage

Kid leather is, and has been used for a number of purposes other than gloves and footwear. Early flexible

hair roller Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and f ...

s were sometimes made from kidskin, giving a very tight curl.

Papermaking

While

vellum Vellum is prepared animal skin or membrane, typically used as writing material. Parchment is another term for this material, from which vellum is sometimes distinguished, when it is made from calfskin, as opposed to that made from other anima ...

is often made using calfskin, kidskin can also be used and in some cases, was preferred.

David Laurent de Lara David Laurent de Lara (c.1806, Amsterdam - 1876) was a London-based, Dutch-born limner of Spanish descent. He has been described as a pioneer who helped illumination to become recognised as an artform in its own right at a time when very few had ...

, describing himself as illuminating artist to

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

, favoured Italian kid vellum for his work. A form of early medieval parchment, called ''carta lustra'', acting as

tracing paper Tracing paper is paper made to have low opacity, allowing light to pass through. It was originally developed for architects and design engineers to create drawings that could be copied precisely using the diazo copy process; it then found ma ...

was made using kidskin.

Dolls

Kid was particularly widely used in doll-making during the nineteenth and early twentieth century as a popular material for both French and German doll bodies, particularly

fashion doll Fashion dolls are dolls primarily designed to be dressed to reflect fashion trends. They are manufactured both as toys for children to play with and as collectibles for adults. The dolls are usually modeled after teen girls or adult women, thou ...

Musical instruments

Kid-leather is often used in the construction of musical instruments such as the bag of the

tsampouna The tsampouna (or tsambouna; el, τσαμπούνα) is a Greek musical instrument and part of the bagpipe family. It is a double- chantered bagpipe, with no drone, and is inflated by blowing by mouth into a goatskin bag. The instrument is wides ...

, a form of Greek

bagpipes Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, No ...

. It was also an option for

drumhead A drumhead or drum skin is a membrane stretched over one or both of the open ends of a drum. The drumhead is struck with sticks, mallets, or hands, so that it vibrates and the sound resonates through the drum. Additionally outside of percus ...

s such as those on

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...

s, and specifically, on the Bulgarian daire.

Industrial uses

The

Dalén light A Dalén light is a light produced from burning of carbide gas (acetylene), combined with a solar sensor which automatically operates the light only during darkness. Overview The technology was the predominant form of light source in lighthouse ...

, used in lighthouses, uses a paraffin-wax saturated kidskin diaphragm in its construction.

Types

In 1916 it was noted that there were over sixty types of goatskin, distinguished by the

tanning Tanning may refer to: *Tanning (leather), treating animal skins to produce leather *Sun tanning, using the sun to darken pale skin **Indoor tanning, the use of artificial light in place of the sun **Sunless tanning, application of a stain or dye t ...

and finishing processes used. Some of these types are: * ''Bronze kid'' -

Cochineal The cochineal ( , ; ''Dactylopius coccus'') is a scale insect in the suborder Sternorrhyncha, from which the natural dye carmine is derived. A primarily sessile parasite native to tropical and subtropical South America through North Americ ...

-dyed for a

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

d finish. * ''Cadet kid'' * ''Cheveril'' - A very flexible kid leather used in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. * ''Diphera'' - Mid-19th century type of fine kid used for bonnets. * ''Dongola'' - Skin from the sheep, kangaroo or goat. * ''French kid'' - A high quality kidskin. * ''Glacé (or glazed) kid'' - Extremely glossy, shiny finish, often made in more readily available sheepskin, although true kidskin makes better quality glacé kid. * ''Gold (or silver) kid'' - Kidskin gilded for a metallic finish. * ''Kangaroo kid'' - Kidskin finished to emulate

kangaroo Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...

leather. * ''Mat kid'' - Beeswax and olive-oil treated kidskin with a dull, soft matte finish. * ''

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

'' * ''

Patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

kid'' -

japanned Japanning is a type of finish that originated as a European imitation of East Asian lacquerwork. It was first used on furniture, but was later much used on small items in metal. The word originated in the 17th century. American work, with the ...

leather. * ''Pebbled'' * ''Royal kid'' * ''

Suede Suede (pronounced ) is a type of leather with a fuzzy, napped finish, commonly used for jackets, shoes, fabrics, purses, furniture, and other items. The term comes from the French , which literally means "gloves from Sweden". The term was fir ...

kid'' - Kidskin with a suede finish. * ''Vici kid'' - A trademark for high quality chrome-tanned kidskin with a soap and oil finish, developed by

Robert H. Foerderer Robert Hermann Foerderer (May 16, 1860July 26, 1903) was an American businessman and politician who served as a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Pennsylvania's at-large congressional district from 1901 to 1903 and Penn ...

in Philadelphia in the mid-1880s.

References

{{Leather Leather crafting Gloves Hides (skin)