Spew

The substance deposited on the surface of leather. Spew is usually waxy and white or brown and oily.

File:Strap with spue.JPG

Leather strap with crystals of spew seen across the surface

File:Yaqui sandals with spue.JPG

White spew seen on untanned skin sandal strap

File:Gourd with spue.jpg

Spew on exterior surface of gourd artifact

Related Terms

Synonyms in English

fatty bloom, fat bloom, fatty spew, spue

Translation

English	spew
French
Spanish	fluido oleoso
Portuguese
Italian
German
Arabic
Chinese (Traditional)	白霜 (皮革)

Discussion

The substance often found on leather goods is commonly referred to as spew. It is also known as “fatty bloom”, “fat bloom”, or “fatty spew” and can be either waxy or oil. The most common colors are white and brown. Spew is the result from fats and oils on the surface of the leather that solidify when exposed to air.

References

"Leather and Skin." 2011. What's That White Stuff?. https://alaskawhitestuffid.wordpress.com/2011/08/09/leather-and-skin/

Roberts, Matt T., and Don Etheringon. 1982. Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books. A Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology. http://cool.conservation-us.org/don/don.html.

“Spew ID: 300251466.” 2000. Art and Architecture Thesaurus Online. Los Angeles, CA: J. Paul Getty Trust. http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/aat/.

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