When I was last in Italy, my cousin gave me a pound of Shellac flakes.I am about to finish a piece and thought it would be nice to use her shellac. The flakes were quite fine and I thought it to be just an orange shellac.
I put 2 oz in a jar and filled it to 8 oz of denatured alcohol for about a 2 lbs cut. When entirely dissolved it was quite murky and had a yelowish tint. She is a conservator at a museum and so I thought this must be seedlac or buttonlac. However, even after a week, it has not settled out. I filtered it and there wasn’t the trash in it that I usually get with seedlac. What is this stuff?
I am about to do a 18th century period piece in walnut and I want it to look authentic. Can I use this or should I just mix up some orange shellac?I have some super blonde dewaxed, but I think I need a little orange tint.
Thanks
FranK
Replies
We need Sgian for this one. Helllllllloooooo?
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Did you filter it or just sieve it--as in filter through coffee filters to remove wax? If nothing came out after filtering maybe try it on a test piece to see what it looks like.
I sieved and filtered it. Could it be just a heavier cut than I thought?
Could it be refined, ut not dewaxed seedlac. i think that is the most likely.
Frank
It is basically almost raw shellac not refined or dewaxed. Here it is only used in restauration. If you build up a finish with it it will be very yellow and can remain murky(not very transparent).I don't use the stuff I get dewaxed blond in Milano and it works fine. I advise you to throw it away and not risk it.
Philip
Phillip,
After sitting for a week and allowing it to settle I used it to do the inside of the case. It was yellowish and as you said, not very good.
I used a good quality orange shellac on the oiece and it came out very nicely.
She called it Gummelace.
Grazie mille,
Frank
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