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gold-beater’s skin

gold-beater’s skin
 n.— «As a conservator, if we saw a tear like this, we’d look to parchment repair, a very similar organic material.…They use something called gold-beater’s skin—the lining of a cow’s stomach—very, very thin membrane, very strong.» —“A Strong Stomach For Art Conservation” by Kenneth Baker San Francisco Chronicle (California) Mar. 2, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)

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  • This is standard English, and can be found in the American Heritage dictionary.

    Gold-beater’s skin is used in the manufacture of gold leaf — you place a thin sheet of gold between two layers of this membrane, then hammer it until it’s thinner than paper.

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