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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Shangas, post: 9536286, member: 360&quot;]The skiver was often very thin leather (think bookbinding leather) or yes, a variant of velvet or felt. It was there to provide a cushioned, comfortable, padded writing surface. </p><p><br /></p><p>You would&#039;ve been writing on something like this with a sharp, steel-point pen - and those things can gouge out the wood if your nib slips while writing. To stop the point scratching into the wood under the paper, the skiver provided protection. </p><p><br /></p><p>Yes, ribbon can be used as well, instead of leather, and yes, the borders of the skivers were often decoratively tooled and/or inlaid with gold-leaf. </p><p><br /></p><p>Again, this was largely up to style, personal taste, and decoration. Some skivers were VERY plain, others were decorated so intensely, you&#039;d be scared to write on them.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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