Shellac

When I started this blog I promised to document my success as well as my mistakes. Well, here's a pretty big mistake on my part - measuring shellac flakes. The first few times that I mixed up shellac I planned on mixing a 1 or 2 pound cut. I measured out my out my alcohol, 8oz., and then I measured my shellac flakes, 1oz. for a 1 pound cut or 2oz for a two pound cut. Then I mixed it in a mason jar.

Here's the obvious thing that is not printed on the instructions label - you are suppose to measure the shellac flakes by weight... I measured it by volume, using the same little measuring cup that I used for the alcohol. So that 2 pound cut was in actuality about a 3/4 pound cut.

In the above photo on the left is what I though was a 4 pound cut of shellac that I mixed up last week, making it the same way that I had the previous few times. On the right is an actual 4 pound mixture that I did this week the proper way using a scale to measure the weight of the flakes. Notice the difference?

All is not lost though, the mixture on the left is about a 1.5 pound cut and I'll be able to use it.

On a side note, when I mixed the 4 pound cut (4oz. of shellac flakes and 8oz. of alcohol) the shellac and the alcohol looked like they were almost equal in volume. I had my doubts about whether I had mixed it properly. I really didn't think the shellac was going to dissolve. I shook the jar, placed it in warm water and then placed it under a lamp. After about 30 minutes about half of the shellac had dissolved. A few hours later there was still a large amount of shellac at the bottom of the jar. But by the next morning it had completely dissolved.