Many years ago I made my wife a jewelry box, that she does not like! She always wanted something to sit the box on that was simple, so I came up with this Greene and Greene inspired piece. I am not finished yet, but thought I better post something for my three followers!I am using some new techniques. I am using water based, environmentally friendly dyes and finishes -- I have always used oil based products. First I am mixing the dye with water and applying that on the wood. This piece will have cherry, walnut and maple woods used in the piece. The drawer will be curly maple, which you can see the quilt pattern in the picture. The apron around the top is birds eye maple veneer because I could not find a good pieces of quilted maple locally, so I used a small piece I have been saving for a project.
I am applying a shellac over the stain, which I am mixing myself with alcohol, if I would use a drinking alcohol the surface could be used for food preparation, I am using a denatured alcohol. Shellac is a resin secreted by the female lac bug from Thailand and India, when mixed with alcohol it dries fast and leaves the resin on the wood. Woodworkers from the 19th centuries and earlier used it mainly for wood protection to be replaced by lacquers and polyurethanes. It binds to itself very easily and is able to be repaired much easier than its more modern substitutes. You have to mix it and it takes about a day to dissolve in alcohol, it dries very fast. On this piece I am going to apply a water based poly over the shellac. The next piece I am going to start with a base of dye then apply Tung oil or linseed oil and see how that turns out. You would think I would experiment with pieces of wood.... but that would not be as much fun! The piece has a floating shelf at the bottom, the picture has the maple a little yellow, it is more of light brown as you see in the picture of the curly maple.
