Harp Notes

Witches and Harps

Part The Second

October 2004

Now that I was in the groove of shellac-ing then sanding then shellac-ing again, I decided to try a coat of wax over everything. Once again, the feet were my test pieces - I'm not quite sure if you are meant to wax over French Polish, but I did anyway! I used 0000 steel wool to apply each of the 3 coats and buffed vigorously with my good hand using some spare linen cloth, after approximately an hour. After that first coat, I reapplied the next one an hour later, and then waited over night for it to settle before applying the final one. Apparently it completely hardens after a week. I liked the effect - a dull sheen which was preferable to the higher gloss of the French Polish and far more practicable in my opinion.

Once I'd perfected the technique on the feet, I repeated it all again on the base. I tried to apply a little gold leaf on the labyrinth, but most of it came off with the steel wool, so I put it down to experience and left it at that. In fact the small amount of gilt that did survive highlighted it very subtly and I thought was rather good!

Then I started to work on the arch and pillar. Along with the sound board, this is the part that is most prominent when being played, and I wanted to be very confident in my technique before I began to work on it. With a little assistance from a 'D' clamp, pieces of scrap cloth and my work table, T managed to rig it so that I could paint on the shellac, smoothly, comfortably and most importantly, easily!

As you can see from the pictures, the shellac makes a huge difference to the original colour, and brings out the beautiful golds in the wood.

Once I had sanded down, and reapplied it 3 times, I let the piece rest whilst I applied 2 coats of shellac to the sound board and back. This was going to be the base for Vicky to paint on and I made sure it was smooth - but not overly so or her paints couldn't 'stick' effectively! The test piece of soundboard wood that I had sent to her earlier on was incredibly useful for the both of us. Vicky had tried out her acrylic paints and decided on shades, whilst I had later on halved it and tried out 2 different finishes. I decided on the basis of this that a further coat of shellac seemed the best sealant, as the steel wool appeared to produce minute scratches on the paint if wax was used instead.

Towards the end of October I received a wonderful parcel. Earlier on in the year I had ordered a Pointy Hat from Sally Pointer - a fellow re-enactor and pagan. She had promised to complete it before Samhain and as good as her word, it arrived the week before. I am totally impressed with my bespoke head wear, and love it to bits! And as you can see, Annie seems to quite like it too!

A Very Wonderful Samhain to everyone!