Harp Notes

Witches and Harps

Part The First

October 2004

The pain in my left hand fluctuated quite a lot during this month, and I had episodes where I needed to wear my splint constantly. But on the advice of my physiotherapist, I started to remove it for an hour a day, to give my wrist some weight bearing exercise and movement. There was some worry that by not using it at all I was losing some bone density. And the X-ray that was taken seemed to confirm this.

I am so lucky that I was able to continue working on Annie during these weeks. I took it easy - there were days when I knew it would be physically impossible for me to hold any wood in my left hand - and when that occurred, nothing got done. But when I could, I painted on the shellac and sanded down afterwards with an amazing amount of energy. Must have been something in the homeopathic medication I was taking!

I tried my (good) hand at French Polishing. It has been suggested to me that I might like the overall effect and it would harden the finish. So, I tried it on the 4 feet, rationalizing that they would certainly need as much strength on the finish as possible and if I did it wrong it wouldn't matter that much. It was hard work, using the rubber. At first I used far too much linseed oil and wondered why it took so long to 'take'! But once I'd finished I was quite pleased with the results, however not enough to continue it for the rest of the harp!

I then completed the shellac-ing on the base and the neck and column. T had offered to put a small carving on the join of the neck, which I had decided would be a labyrinth. Quite rightly, T wanted to practise and as the only wood we had to hand of that type was the base, we decided to use the inner part as a test piece. Unfortunately, when he had finished T was not completely impressed with his own handiwork.

Afrormosia is a hard wood, but doesn't seem to suit dremelling. The carving wasn't a consistent depth and whilst the labyrinth looks good in the pictures, T decided that he didn't want to put it on the neck of Annie. I understood, but felt a little disappointed. But as I thought about it, I realised I will still have the image on my harp ~ there will be a secret labyrinth hidden on the inside of my instrument, which I think is rather beautiful!

October continued to be a busy month. To find out what happened next,
click here.