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How come the shellack I paint is turning white, while it should just be transparant barier?
Is it to thick?
First I tried to dissolve my own shellack flakes and it turned out opaque matt on the glass and paint.
Then I bought prepared shellack (for wooden furniture) and it gave me the same result even when I mixed 1:1 with alcohol.
The problem is probably moisture. If the air is cold and humid, it causes this "bloom". How's the weather there?
Maybe the alcohol is contaminated...try a different one.
Usually, as long as the temperature is not too cold...say at least above 10 degrees C, it should be OK.
One more thing...if you get this effect, such as on a peice of furniture getting wet or drink rings, you can often simply wet it with alcohol and the white disappears. I had an old honor board like this. The custodians at a government council were horrified when a 100+ year old honor board got wet due to a leaking roof and large areas went milky. I went there to do a quote to re-letter the board and did a little test wiping on some metho (methylated spirits as it's called here, basically plain ethanol)
and it magically came good. I ended up simply giving the entire board a wipe and they couldn't believe in less than half an hour, the precious piece of local history was restored. hahaha...didn't even charge them. The goodwill was payment enough.
I think the alcohol is of poor quality..... bio-ethanol for lighting garden candles
The temp is a bit low and it rains, perfect conditions for a bloomy shellack...
Bruce is right and I would be particularly concerned about the alcohol. Most shellac uses denatured but you can use 99% isopropyl. Using too much reducer however allows for moisture absorption and hence the bloom.
Yikkes....the alcohol is the problem for sure. Loved Bruce's tale as well....and although I ain't really said much am in awe over the photos he's been showing as well.
you definitely don't want diluted mixtures like that. After all...70% means it probably going to have 30% water...exactly what you don't want. You just want just straight alcohol.
I don't know what percentage should be regarded as a minimum, but I assume it should be almost pure. The stuff I use is around 95% ethanol, with the remaining 5% being methanol (so I believe)
i don't know if the regulations are different in Holland, but I buy this stuff from either the supermarket or hardware shops. It's very easy to buy here with no restrictions. If all you can find is 70-90%, maybe you need to search around for a better supply source.
I think the regulations here are indeed different.
I just phoned the local apotheque/drugstore and thery only have 70%.
You can buy 5 gramms marhuana here, but the real enemy seems to be alcohol....
I have to continue my search.
It's funny isn't it...whatever product we demonize and ban, it affects the legitimate uses.
try asking a furniture restorer where they get it...or art/paint supply, or picture framer.
Or maybe buy it as a cleaning product...
or chemical company...it's got so many industrial uses, there will certainly be a supply somewhere
In another aspect of this...the ethanol/methanol stuff I use is very cheap, because it is made for industrial/cleaning/solvent uses, so it attracts no tax. Having that little bit of methanol is how it gets around regulations. If you try to buy the same thing as pure ethanol, you would pay a small fortune in alcohol tax for the because of the strength.
Am so surprised that pure alcohol or methyl hydrate would difficult to get anywhere. What/how exactly are you using it/for Eric? As a barrier it really shouldn't matter that much, as a finish is quite different of course
I use it as a barrier Doug.
But since I have many very small details painted next to many little details clear glass, I was hoping i could paint over them together in one stroke. My result here was that the clear glass turned out opague white and had to remove it carefully with some alcohol.
I'm junior here when it comes to glass but have used shellac as a barrier in the mentioned manor. I also swabbed it at the end with alcohol to get back to clear glass and am willing to bet that the alcohol you used to clean with is the same you should use to cut your flakes. Also since you're making it yourself be sure you haven't messed up the mixture. If I recall correctly there are different "pound cuts" for different purposes. Good luck with this. It's just so much fun to experiment without all the pressures of a deadline looming.
When I deicded to get back into Wood Graining about 8 years ago I had to start fresh searching for the materials to use. Most of what I’d used 25 years previously were no longer on the market. I needed transparent browns for toning, and the only ones I could find were lacquers in a spray can (not compatible with my oil based stuff) and the different colored shellacs. Some of the shellacs are wax free and some are not. And some mixed up crystal clear and some were cloudy and almost opaque. The only alcohol I use is Klean Strip, a brand of denatured available here in SoCal.
I began using shellac as a barrier between steps wood graining dashboards. On 3 occasions I was horrified to see that overnight all my work had turned white and not knowing what else to do, I stripped the pieces down and started over. Why they didn’t turn white a second time I will never know, as I thought I was doing everything the same way, but they held. The fourth time I got white blotches I sprayed the piece with Zinsser clear shellac in a spray can just to see what, if anything, would happen, and guess what; the piece cleared up, the white went away, I clear coated over and everything stayed good. Now the only shellac I use is the spray Zinsser, wax or no wax, I’ve not had any problems with adhesion or losing color.
Since the dashboards are interior objects, I use Varathane #900 gloss clear over them, and have found a good 30 year longevity, and it is compatible with PPG automotive clear in case my customer wants to go that way and polish it himself. But for exterior application the Varathane won’t hold up. I’ve had a lot of guys ask me about graining their vintage station wagons, because the DyNoc “wallpaper” is no longer available. So 6 years ago I garined my ‘67 Chevy Suburban, sealed the work with Zinsser spray shellac, and coated it with one coat of Varathane exterior spar polyurethane, which lasted about 6 months before starting to break down. Where the varnish weathers through and exposes the shellac, it turns dull and light colored. Shellac isn’t made for outdoors. But I’ve found that spraying a few coats of shellac over the dull areas brings the colorr right back, and I can varnish over and it’s all good again. So as of now, October 2010, I’ve only ever put two coats of varnish on the truck, the last coat about a year ago, and I used an old can of McCloskey’s exterior spar varnish (old red label, original formula, not polyurethane - the good stuff). It needs some TLC again, but if I got a burst of energy and sanded the whole thing down and sprayed a few coats on and then waxed it, it would all come back like new. Better than new, because all I ever used was 49¢ chip brushes to paint it with and it sits outside and never gets washed. It’s my experiment to see how long it will last being neglected. I can show my customers and say. “See, left to the elements you ought to get 5 or 6 years out of it - wash and wax it and keep it garaged and who knows how long it will last.”
Denver Chapter of the Letterheads