Finishing Touch

Putting the finishing touch to my guilded pencil box has been a somewhat tactile and tentative process of waiting, doing a little bit, waiting and so on, fitting it in between other processes. But those times spent doing a little bit can need a careful hand and an attention to detail that requires both patience and determination - skills in themselves I believe! For this it was all about the order of things - I tried applying the guilding first, then taking the excess off with meths, then touching up the wood stain, then applying the shellac polish - then swapped the process around a few times, leaving the shellac til last of course, to see what heralded the best results (bearing in mind that each individual process was separated by a day!). As it happens it didn't make too much difference but it was worth it to gain that knowledge aspect of the skill involved. So, if you want to see this piece in it's final state, and all the other pieces, come on down to The Minories Art Gallery in Colchester for the exhibition, which will be running for 4 weeks from Saturday the 12th December 2009. I should be there the following Wednesday (16th) during the day if you'd like to meet me and ask me any questions in person, otherwise please feel free to post any comments on here!