Nice work if you can get it

Retouching varnish is sometimes one of my favorite jobs. On good days it can be very satisfying and I might be listening to something like this:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Vem1ZKnStU On bad days it is just frustrating and I'll be saying "oh please, won't you tell me how?"

My palette has amber, red, green and black colours which are mixed into a bit of spirit varnish - it's the closest I'll ever come to being an artist. I test the colour on my thumbnail and add more alcohol regularly with a pipette. Two things that I keep in mind are to aim for a slightly lighter colour than the surrounds and not to underestimate the amount of green necessary. A darker patch immediately draws the eye for some reason and a lot of bad retouch work has way too much red in it. I suppose because the idea of a red brown varnish is nicer than the idea of green brown, but maybe it's just because of colourblindness. Some people use blue but green is better because it is one of the primary colours of light and varnish has a lot to do with light. That's what makes it difficult. You're dealing not only with colour but refraction and reflection. Sometimes the retouched area will be the right colour if you look at it from one angle and completely wrong from another. Sometimes it ends up too shining. Sometimes it just disappears, like magic.

What is satisfying about retouching work is the variety of different approaches you can take, from how you prepare the wood underneath to how you mix the varnish, to aging the new varnish, blending it with the old. And you can get it, if you try.There are so many different colours and textures and depths and each instrument is unique. It's not about perfection either because the signs of age and weathering, the patina, the imperfections just enhance the character and beauty of an instrument. Being able to spend hours concentrating on little tiny details, your mind free to wander, and then when it's all done being able to step back and suddenly all those little eye catching wounds have become invisible and the underlying beauty of the instrument comes to the fore - that is nice work.