Rubbing on a Thin Coat of Clear Oil Varnish

Here is a quick photo update to show the result of hand rubbing a thin coat of clear oil varnish over the ground on the front and back plates:

Instrument assembly and colored varnish will follow soon.....

Article in Michigan Lawyers Weekly

I am honored to be featured in this week's edition of Michigan Lawyers Weekly, and thought that some of you would enjoy reading the article:

"After years in big practices, Ann Arbor attorney makes beautiful music on his own"

Applying the Ground

The first step in the varnishing process is to apply the ground, which seals the wood, accentuates the figure of the wood, and provides a base color for the forthcoming varnish. There are numerous grounds used by different violin makers.

I have spent the last couple of weeks experimenting with various grounds, and have now applied the ground to my violin. Because this is the first time that this specific ground method has been used in the shop, and because the method isn't my own (and thus not mine to share), I hope you will understand if I don't include the details of the method. Nonetheless, here is the finished result -- the first picture is out of the UV box, the subsequent pictures are with the ground applied:

Note how the ground accentuates both the flames in the maple and the scraper marks that I left on the back plate for character:

With the ground applied, it is now time to apply the varnish and assemble the instrument, which will be the subjects of future posts.

Making Madder Lake - Part 5

I have now repeated the siphoning/washing process four more times, and the water is now clear and the process thus completed. Here are photos of the progression, showing the water becoming clearer after each wash:

After 24 additional hours:

After 8 additional hours:

After 8 additional hours:

After the final 8 hours:

The product of the last week of effort is now clearly visible at the bottom of the bucket -- very fine red powder that is the madder lake pigment, which will be added to the oil varnish to add the red tones:

At this point, the common practice is to filter out the pigment from the remaining water, let it dry, and then grind it into very small particles and store the dry pigment in jars for future use. Gregg tells me that he has a way to avoid the labor of grinding by keeping the pigment wet, so I will skip the filtering/grinding step for now.

For a quick color check, I compared my color to the commercially available Madder Lake from Kremer:

This check, of course, is not accurate because my pigment is wet and the Kremer pigment is dry, but it confirms that I am at least in the ballpark in regards to color. Now, at the great relief of some readers, back to the violin itself.

Making Madder Lake - Part 4

The sediment (which is actually the madder lake pigment that will result from this process) has now settled to the bottom of the bucket after being left undisturbed for 36 hours. You can see in this picture that the water is more transparent at the top of the bucket:

The next step is to use a siphon to siphon half of the water from the bucket into a separate bucket. The siphon is used to avoid disturbing and removing the sediment / pigment from the bottom of the bucket:

With half of the water gone from the bucket, you can see the madder lake pigment at the bottom of the bucket:

Because the water removed isn't entirely transparent (see the color of the water in the small glass jar in the photos above), the bucket will again be filled with cold water:

Because adding water has disturbed the sediment/pigment, the mixture will again be left undisturbed, this time for 24 hours, and the siphoning/washing process will be repeated. This process will be repeated until the siphoned water is clear. I will post an update at that time.

Making Madder Lake - Part 3

It has been three days since the alum was added, and the frothing has died down. The next step is to pour the liquid into a larger bucket and to fill the remainder of the larger bucket with cold water:

Now, this mixture will sit for 36 hours to allow the sediment to settle to the bottom of the bucket. Then, I will begin the process of siphoning water from the bucket until it comes out clear, which will be covered in my next post.

For those who are bored by all of this technical detail, hang tight -- we will be back to the violin soon.

Making Madder Lake - Part 2

The madder root/potash solution has now been heated for 36 hours at a low temperature of 40 to 45 degrees celsius:

The next step is to filter out the madder root and sediment so that a red liquid remains. To do that, I am using a fine cotton cloth taped inside a bucket with a strainer over it and mesh cloth in the strainer (whew!) . Here are the component parts and the assembly:

The mesh in the strainer is intended to catch the large particles so that they don't clog up the finer filter in the cotton cloth. Here it is in action:

I had to replace the cotton cloth a few times because it was getting clogged -- this could probably be avoided by using whole madder root instead of ground madder root, but I used ground root because Kremer was out of stock of whole root. After straining, red liquid is left at the bottom of the bucket (although the deep red color of the liquid doesn't show well in these pictures):

Next, a solution of warm water and alum is prepared and added to the bucket:

As you can see, adding the alum solution causes a lot of frothing and creates a muddy mixture:

This muddy mix needs to sit for three days and stirred once or twice per day. At that point, the frothing will die down and it will be ready for the next steps. Expect an update post mid-week.

Making Madder Lake - Part 1

Before beginning the varnish process, I am taking time to make some madder lake pigment. For readers who aren't violinmakers, madder lake is a red pigment made from the roots of a madder plant and is often used for the red color on violins. This pigment will, if I am successful, be used to add the red color to the varnish on my violin. There is, of course, plenty of madder lake around the studio that I could use, but I wanted the experience of making my own. I will be following the instructions for making madder lake from the late David Rubio's website (www.rubioviolins.com). The process will take a week or two, so I will post updates as the process moves along. Hopefully the end result will be a useable pigment.

The first step is to combine the madder root with potash in water and heat the mixture at 40-45 degrees celsius for 36 hours.

Here are the measured madder root and potash:

The ingredients are then added to the heated water:

It is important to maintain the low temperature to maintain the red color, so I will check temperature and stir the mixture regularly over the next 36 hours:

The next post on Sunday will show the next steps after the heating is complete. Cross your fingers and wish me luck!