And what, you may ask does a grape arbor have to do with violin finishing? The first coat on this Opus # 16 violin is a stain wash of grape juice from my Concord grape vines.
This first stain can be seen particularly on the neck underside. This is allowed to air dry for a few hours (as pictured above).
This natural water based stain is applied with a brush wetting all exterior surfaces.
When Dinah commissioned this violin, we looked through pictures of famous violins and she selected these as the appearance and color for her violin.
In the plastic cups are three different colors of permanent specialty water stains. A first yellow base stain is followed by combinations of red and brown. Each layer is allowed to air dry until the surface is not wet, then another layer is applied until I have approximated the model coloring in base permanent water stains, as seen at right.
This is allowed to air dry for several hours (depending on temperature).
Modified 9/2017
Page O16C_71
..Most of the following comments apply to the varnishing and finish of my Opus # 16 Violin. There are many variations possible, but I will present this as a whole...
