Lacquer

Hi all,
In my last post I mentioned that I was going to do some pyrography primroses on top of a box that I am using to store my watercolour paints in. I haven't managed to finish it yet but I though I'd show you the work in progress.

I have decide to put a drift of snowdrops behind the primroses to give the image a bit of height. I am also going to use a lot of leaves on the snow drops to give a dark background for the light snowdrop flowers. It is important in pyrography to increase contrast by positioning light areas against dark areas. All of the pyrography work has been done with the spoon tip, which most of you will know is my favourite pyrography tip because it is so versatile.

I hope to be able to show you the finished box in my next post. I will also be using an unusual finish on the box to see how it works with pyrography. Nearly all my pyrography work, up until now at least, has been given three coats of Ronseal quick drying varnish and I've always been pleased with the results. However, I have made a discovery which is very exciting and I will share it with you now.

About a year ago I made a a small wooden box from mahogany and inlaid the lid with some polymer clay flowers.

It looked okay but nothing to celebrate. Anyway, my wife put the box on our bedroom window sill and over the months it was attacked by the sun. It fished up all drab and faded and looked like it would be best keeping the carrot peelings company in the wheelie bin. However, that seemed a bit drastic so I decided to give it a coat of my amazing ebonizing solution to darken the wood and then gave it three coats of Bolger guitar lacquer. The result was quite stunning and the box is now so, impressive that my wife has promoted it. It now languishes on the sideboard in the living room and I can't help but give it a little rub every time I go past. I'm  afraid the photo doesn't do justice to the shine, but take it from me it's fantastic.

So, I'm going to keep my fingers crossed and see how it looks on the new box.