"The Saint"
Three Coats of Varnish
Below are front and back shots of the "Saint" taken this afternoon. At this point Ben has applied about three coats of varnish to which he had added madder root, lamp black and orange pigments. These glaze or varnish coats have made a tremendous difference in the depth of color of the violin as compared to the previous photos taken two weeks ago with two coats of ground and two coats of clear dark amber varnish.
Below Ben is doing a trial application of a glaze mix made from a very old dark varnish to which he has directly added madder root pigment. Unfortunately, this varnish is no longer made. He is experimenting with the varnish adding additional oil and turpentine hoping to salvage the varnish for the "Saint". He needs to achieve a blend with the old varnish such that it will stay fluid long enough to spread a coat across the entire back or top and yet still dry in a reasonable amount of time. He has just applied a coat to the scroll here.The mix he is applying is from the splotch of color on the glass work surface (his palatte) to the right of the scroll.
Below the trial application to the scroll and top bout of the back has yielded a very satisfying rich reddish brown color that is precisely what we were both after. Now Ben has to work out the problem with the old varnish and if that is not successful he will need to replicate this color balance with fresher varnish in order to apply two more glaze coats before the final clear coat that will finish the violin.
An interesting footnote from Chris in regard to the use of pigment such as madder root. Pigments are bonded with metal salts such as aluminum or magnesium sulfate in order to make them clear and light fixed when suspended in varnish.
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