Boogieshop

Greg, for the finish, I built it up in layers keeping in mind what colors I would reveal when wearing the top cots off. So the first coat is a copal linseed oil varnish with various yellow/gold pigments added. After the box was in an ultraviolet light box for a couple of days, I built up the orange and red layers using an alcohol seedlac based varnish with alizarin pigments. Then I began taking varnish away with a combination of alcohol and rubbing with mineral oil/rottenstone on a cotton rag. At this stage of the antiquing, I'm imagining where I think the box will get the most wear based on how it might be held and where it might be over polished/cleaned through the years. The next step was to use rocks of various textures to roll over the varnish and scratch it where I thought it would see the most wear. Next I rubbed in oil paints to simulate dirt and muck that evaded cleaning over the years. And hopefully in the end I have produced a convincing antiqued appearance.

Chris

Thanks for all the nice comments. I really enjoyed working on this project.

WHAMMO, I made the top by 1. Resawing the overall curve and thicknessing the top to around 5mm. 2. Next I used the bandsaw to rough the outline. 3. Then I cleaned up the outline with a knife and fingerplane. 4. I then used a channel gouge to put a 1mm deep channel around the edge and used a scraper to clean this channel up and blend it up to the very edge. 5. Next I used a purfling marker to mark the inlay for the purfling. 6. I then cut the channel with a knife and picked out the inlay channel with a purfling picker and glued in the inlay. 7. I then rounded over the edges with a file and scraper.

You can find some great photos and explanations of making violin edges and corners on Michael Darnton's website.

http://www.darntonviolins.com/viola2.php

I hope that's a decent explanation.

I just want to thank everyone for the nice comments. It's truly an honor to have my box chosen out of the many creative and well-executed pieces submitted. Thanks so much.

This is actually my box, but it got submitted under my wife's account by accident. So it looks like she is commenting on her own work, which wouldn't be like her at all, I assure you.