THE PREPARATION
First of all, you must sand the wood with very fine sandpaper, starting with 180, then 220, then 320 grain. A good thing to do is to moisten the wood with lukewarm water, to raise its surface and then, when it is dry, sand it down with a 400-grain sandpaper. Moistening the wood allows you to spot defects and little scratches that would be barely visible to the naked eye.
Then, close the wood’s pores with water-based plaster, with pumice, with glue or any other material you want. Someone prefers to lubricate the sanded surface to give more depth to the paint. That surely that enhances the wood’s grain and flamed patterns and it also makes the final appearance of the paint more pleasing to the eye, but I personally believe that this passage is to be avoided, especially for beginners, since a poorly cooked or impure oil may dry unevenly or create spots that could ruin all the work. Anyway, the amount of oil should be very limited. After a few minutes of drying you are then ready to begin to rub in the shellac.
The shellac must be dissolved in alcohol in order to be applied. Typically the ratio is one part of shellac for ten parts of alcohol but is not a fixed rule, because other pros use different proportions. Pour the alcohol and shellac in a glass jar, close tightly and shake it vigorously. Continue to stir for about ten minutes, then place the jar near a heat source (a stove, or under the sun). Remember to shake the jar every now and then, and if you have followed the procedure correctly, you’ll find that the shellac will be almost completely dissolved, on the following day. Filter it through a cloth and you’re ready to begin.
…and here it is, as promised, the first post by luthier Luca Milani, dedicated to shellac coating.
I hope you enjoy reading it, and don’t forget to follow the next posts
The Shellac (Luca Milani)
The use of shellac as a coating paint was only introduced in the early nineteenth century; early on, the wooden furniture was usually coated with wax. Various layers of wax were applied by hand and rubbed off until the surface was shiny enough. This kind of coating, though, had some disadvantages. It wasn’t strong enough against external agents such as water, mildew, and abrasion. The use of ahlcohol-diluted shellac, applied with a small tampon, that arose in France around 1820, seemed so effective that quickly spread throughout Europe.
Applying the shellac with a tampon became over the years a kind of art for the furniture-makers, and until the advent of synthetic paints remained the paramount coating method. The shellac has indeed several advantages: it is not toxic, it easily spreads over the surface, it dries quickly and it’s cheap.
MATERIALS
The shellac itself, of course. It is sold in powder or flakes. It’s available in various colors: orange, amber, ruby, white, etc.. It’s easily dissolved in alcohol (methanol, ethanol, propanol and butanol), and the solution that is obtained maintains its properties for about six months. To apply the shellac with a tampon you obviously need a cotton swab, which should be cleaned and wrapped around itself like a gauze. You also need some oil, preferably linseed, to allow the pad to slip over the layer of paint that was previously applied.
“Tchawolo swing” is one of the songs from the soundtrack of “Latcho Drom”, a movie by Tony Gatlif, in which both the great gypsy guitarist Tchawolo Schmitt and guitarist/violinist Dorado Schmitt, are featured.
It has become a classic tune in the gypsy jazz repertoire.
This video was used as an audiovisual aid for Luca Leimer’s graduation thesis at D.A.M.S. department, at the University of Padua. A thesis which of course focused on the manouche music.
We had a great time, shooting this video, and we hope that Luca’s research will continue and will give good results.
THE PREPARATION
