On Fri, 15 Apr 2005 20:56:44 -0400, Ph. D. <phild@...> wrote:

> I believe it's called "vellum" because the surface of the paper is
> designed to be similar in texture to the surface of vellum.

After Googling, I finally found a page that refreshed my memory. "Vellum"
is/was semi-slang in engineering offices for tracing paper, which contains
cloth fibers. Indeed, its surface quality and texture are critical,
because (I'm almost certain) it has to accept both ink and pencil, and
create good, durable marks with both.

--
Nicholas Bodley /*|*\ Waltham, Mass. (Not "MA")
The curious hermit -- autodidact and polymath
whose mother made work shirts for his engineer father out of
reclaimed tracing cloth. Its coating was water-soluble.