Nowadays the shellac you come across is usually in a nail bar. Here we are looking at a different material – the original shellac. Find out why this is a really useful varnish and sealant for printmakers, particularly when making collagraph plates.
Shellac is a natural resin secreted by lac beetles living on trees in India. It recorded use dates back over 3000 years, and it was used for a multitude of purposes until the invention of plastic mostly replaced it.
Nowadays it is used in wood finishes, you may know it as French polish, knotting or
sanding sealer. You can also buy it from printmaking suppliers ready mixed up as ‘button polish’ or ‘straw hat varnish’.
‘Shellac’ nail varnish is not made from beetle secretions but is a trade name for a synthetic polymer product – I am sure it could have some use in printmaking but here we are concentrating on the original and natural beetle shellac.
What do printmakers use shellac for?
It is particularly useful for sealing collagraph plates, which are made from a mixture of collaged materials and often include pva glue.
Pva glue (or Elmer’s glue if you are in the USA) tends to stick to damp paper when under the pressure of the press, this means your prints will tear when you remove the paper from the plate – they are completely ruined, but shellac will seal the pva and prevent this from happening.
When should I use it?
Shellac seals the surface of your plate without changing the texture because it is so thin, I have found that modern varnishes, (acrylic, polyurethane etc.) are too thick and will clog up the textures in a collagraph plate, but if you cant get hold of shellac use these alternatives and thin them down.
You only need to apply it to areas with pva on them because of the sticking problem, but it will also protect the whole surface if you are using delicate materials. I avoid putting any on very smooth shiny areas (e.g. parcel tape), as it will roughen up this surface and print slightly darker.
How do I use shellac?
Shellac comes in the form of thin flakes in a lovely rich orangey brown colour, these are dissolved in meths. I love the combination of the colour of shellac flakes with purple meths.
Sprinkle a few pinches of flakes into some meths in a jar and give it a shake, in an hour or so it will have dissolved and be ready to use.
Cover the jar up otherwise the meths will evaporate – it is best to use a plastic snap on lid, screw tops can get stuck down with shellac. Chocolate Nutella comes in perfect shellac jars, with an easily removable flexible lid.
Mixed up shellac does not store well, after a few months it may not set properly and stay sticky. Buy dried flakes and mix up small amounts to use as you need it.
A brush with nylon bristles works best, it will need to sit in the liquid for a bit to let the old shellac on it soften. I often use a piece of rag to wipe the shellac onto the plate, this is quick and easy and you can throw the rag away afterwards.
Once it is painted onto a hard surface the meths evaporates and the shellac forms a layer of varnish, it dries quickly, your plate can be printed in an hour or so of being varnished but it is best to leave it longer if you can.
Things to watch out for
This shellac seal is ‘reversible’; it will re dissolve in meths so can be removed, however the meths will mess up the pva underneath so its probably not worth doing this.
See the post ‘print an ants nest’ for examples of an interesting reaction between shellac and pva.
I use a single coat of shellac as putting a second layer over the first causes a reaction that makes the surface rough, this is bad – it will affect the tones in your print making everything go dark. If anyone knows why this reaction happens and how to avoid it please let me know……
Where to get shellac
Get your shellac flakes from Hawthorn Printmaker’s Supplies.
Get your meths from hardware or DIY stores like B&Q Depot.
And finally…
I like the thought that I am using a traditional material with a long rich history, and also the fact that this natural resin provides the best solution to sealing pva on collagraph plates. This meeting and mixing of ancient and contemporary materials is very satisfying.
13 thoughts on “What is Shellac?”
Love your hint about using plastic snap on lids as I’ve had to resort to holding stuck down screw lids under the hot tap to get my shellac jar open.
I have to apply & dry shellac coated plates outside as me & meths just don’t get on but it’s worth that bit of inconvenience.
Thanks for your comment Judith – I learnt the hard way about snap on lids too, it is also a good excuse to eat nutella, those jars are perfect for shellac!
Hi Emily,
Just come across your page in Google, thanks for the useful information for dissolving shellac flakes. Re your question-
Q – ‘I use a single coat of shellac as putting a second layer over the first causes a reaction that makes the surface rough, this is bad – it will affect the tones in your print making everything go dark. If anyone knows why this reaction happens and how to avoid it please let me know……’
A – As you probably know, Methylated spirits is a solvent and adding a second coat is likely to dissolve some of the first as the meth’s is still fresh and fluid.
Robin.
Thanks Robin – that makes sense. The thing that confused me was other people put several layers of shellac on their plates with no bother. I now suspect that because I dilute my shellac a lot (on purpose) that makes it more prone to dissolving the layer underneath, whereas a thicker mix is less likely to do this.
What are meths called in the US?
Is there a shellac that’s already mixed that’s good to use?
Thanks.
Meths is short for “methylated spirits”, I didn’t realise it is different in the US – I believe you call it ‘denatured alcohol’, (a bit less romantic I think!) I get it from the DIY depot, camping shops may also sell it for portable cookers.
You can buy it ready mixed with shellac, in different forms;
‘knotting’ for painting on knots in wood to stop resin leaching out
button polish or straw hat varnish used for giving furniture a ‘French Polish’ finish.
Check out antiques restoration or fine woodworking suppliers for this.
I hope that is helpful
Thanks so much for the speedy reply.
Thanks for this and for your very useful site:)
I’ve always used yacht varnish but it’s so thick and plastic-y that I started looking at alternatives – where I found your article. For what it’s worth, I have just varnished using button polish – two coats, straight from the bottle. It seems to work ok, and it means that I don’t have to use meths, which I don’t like at all. I’ve cleaned the brush with low odour white spirit.
A lot of people use button polish, I think it is shellac/spirit based, and convenient as it its ready mixed. You can also try thinning acrylic floor polish (‘Pledge’ type in UK) with water. Basically what you need is any varnish that you can use quite thin so it doesn’t clog up all the textures you have made. I am glad you found the post useful – hope it works for you.
Not sure you’ll see this as it’s such an old post but anyway……. Is there a way of speeding up the drying process for shellac, ie haridryer? I run a 2 hour community workshop and was hoping to manage a collagraph in the given time. Or is that too ambitious? I’d do it over 2 sessions but the guests change quite a bit each time.
Hi Sarah – I would try making collagraph plates that don’t need sealing with shellac. If you haven’t used any pva on the plates you can usually ink them up and print them as they are. I am not sure what materials you are using to make plates but if you use aluminium tape and mount board you can get a good range of tones and no shellac needs to be involved!
In answer to the last question – I saw a YouTube vid recently by Bristol Print Room where they were using all manner of different tapes and vinyls to make the surface/tones. Results looked great and no shellac needed. Yrs ago I went to a workshop where we dissolved shellac flakes and had to do it outside because of the awful fumes. Wanting to try collagraph again, I’m going to try the ready mixed if I can find it. Thanks for your tips.
thanks Kanga – you are right there are quite a lot of materials for platemaking that don’t need sealing with shellac, this can be hard to understand if you have had the idea of sealing plates with shellac drummed into you for ages!