Antiquing — part one Ey Peau nak bance Orr ec Py adda lee LL) Lapua , Ret since ada WESTART OUR ANTIQUING JOURNEY with fully varnished chery-red violin. Rather than building up all the finished results like a painting, in a mostly additive fashion, ‘we choose to use a more subtractive approach to recreating the actual proces of wear and tear. ‘After an appropriate amount of age’ and wear has been auded tothe woodwork, the instrument is varnished as ifnew. discal Cur varnish is made of rosin and oil and is designed to be appropriately britleand alcohol-sensitive. The rosin is cooked anti the desired colouris obtained. It is then mixed in alow oi ratio and cooked briefly to keep the varnish from being 10 stony Strong, tough varnish will not respond well to ths proces, ‘We are not copying a specific violin but draw our inspiration from many fine old examples. yg Craquelure, or cracking of the varnish, is done to the whole instrument using a protein and water-based solution (using gum arabic, hide glue, egg white or walnut crystals, for example) Bg We spray the solution on with ana which provides very good control over the amount applied and doesnt create application lines. In genera, it is best to keep the inital layer as thin as possible, otherwise the crackle can be too large ‘ter spraying a small area, its then heated with a hai dyer The protein layer dries and shrinks, causing the now-softened varnish underneath to be pulled. If pulle j a little it will look Brizaed, wrinkled or leathery f pulled a Il create sues, Or cracking of the varnish layer.eee ee keaton! ‘We use an assortment of oil pigments forthe first layer of Patina. They are thinned with cooked linseed oil to control Pigment concentration. A variety of colours ~ such as blacks, browns, greens, greys — will help give complexity to the patina The pigments are rubbed on and forced into the texture: alittle too much at this point is allright. We look for a variety of pigment concentration We use smooth paper to remove excess pigment fro the surface. This cleans the surface but leaves pigment in the low-lying texture can easily be removed with paper towels if too much is applied and then reworked. 1 ofthe cracks with patina and not othe we let the vi i we create scratches and densely on, some wl get 6 filled with varnish during the shading process. Others are filed with pigments tron. This creates scratches and dents of erent colours.» ncewcess nara 69‘On many olf Cremonese violins it looks ik the varnish Nas BB sip ott We use packing tape to reproduce the majority ‘ofthis effect. Tis shea nftvenced by the typeof varnish used and overt brite (Qough vamih wil not release easily fa ‘amish can release too eas). By pressing tape agains the varnish and paling away. can be removed in large or small quantities gpg <0 moo the aah shading and ning with alcohol hence the need fr a varnish that responds ty to alcohol. By starting on areas that wil end up being ed clean, we eta fee or the way the varnish is responding longed lengths of time will ly result the whole varnish layer coming of at once. This fan be avoided by working on one area very quickly and then ck once it has died. Tying to get the ck rather than gradually is asking for trouble, eee ‘The previous steps of denting and tooling should now hel, asthe tape will pull these areas away much more easly Its goog towork this step over the whole instrument, and not just the typical wea ie. tf one area of the instrument has considerable ‘Chipping the centre ofthe back, for instance), most other areas will also have at least some chipping. Very litle ofthe instrument will be left with a ful thickness of varnish Rather than just shading a few spots, w a subtle shading effect over the majority of the instrum The overall impression of the antiquing nt should Begin to resemble the final rest. nth wil explain how we work with the ground, tna do retouching and put the ial polish othe 70 wre nse sc aia aaidioasink eaneiendiniats kentaiienednaaemnitade