Description
Shellack is a honey-coloured, transparent, thin, animal origin resin in the form of small flakes.
It's main usage is in furniture but it can also be used as a hardener in the ceramic industry, hair sprays, seal making, finishing of felt and fabrics, and men's hats to prevent them from being deformed.
It is used by melting and shaking approximately 100-150 g shellac in 70 cl blue spirit or alcohol. This ratio may differentiate depending on the user and the area of application. If the consistency is prepared too dark, it creates thickness on the surface. If it is prepared with water, the desired result can't be achieved.
Shellack in the ceramic industry:
- It can be used in plaster model, model mold, and duplicator mold. The plaster it is applied to must be dry. Otherwise, the applied shellac can't absorb as the body is wet and separations from the surface will be observed.
- It can be applied it with a clean oil paint brush. At least 3 layers must be applied. There should be a 5 minute waiting break in between every application. Make sure that it dries well after the application of the last layer. After it dries, it should be polished by rubbing it with a dry soft cloth without pressing.
- It is used to close the small pores, reduce the water absorption, and to create a thin protective plate on the surfaces it is applied on.
- The applied shellac is not an insulation material. It doesn't do the tasks that insulation materials do. Insulation materials should be applied to the shellac coated surfaces.
Shellac in furniture:
- In application, the surface to be polished must be turned into a smooth surface by completely cleaning with sandpaper.
- The cleaned dry surface then is oiled with sunflower or any kind of oil.
- It should be rubbed with oil and sanded with zero sandpaper, after cleansing the dust off, shellac ball (made by putting genuine cotton in a fine cloth) is impregnated with shellac and applied circularly until the polish dries and disappears. This process takes a couple minutes, after 10-15 minutes the same process is done again 5-6 times. If you want it to be bright, you can do the process more.
- After the process is completed, the materials used during shellac application should be washed with the help of rubbing alcohol or stored in a small container with rubbing alcohol.