Violin Forum/Message Board

[actonern]

I'm curious to know how makers in the past that painted purfling lines on instrument edges did it.

Some of the work seems incredibly fine.

I'm especially curious to know how whatever was applied didn't bleed into the adjacent wood and smear the line, and how the paint was applied so perfectly that a 3 ribbon "effect" is evenly achieved.

I can't imagine holding a brush that steady! It would be more work than doing it the usual way?

Any insights appreciated.


E

[Mat Roop]

For sure I don't really know... but my guess is that it would be applied after the first 3 or 3 coats of varnish and be applied with a caligraphy pen
http://www.wyndhamartsupplies.com/isapi/isapi.dll?product_detail&product_id=4432&search_type=browse&cat_id=1449
.... but you have to have a steady hand!
Cheers, Mat

[Michael Darnton]

I have filled in some blank spots in old English instrument that have only a drawn line with a Sanford Sharpie with a jig to arrange the spacing from the edge, but there's a more definite type of black line also, where the line is scribed and then inked, and the ink settles in the scribe line, and probably subsequently scraped off around the scribe line, leaving what's in the scribe.

I don't know what the original Sharpie might have been, though.
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[actonern]

Thanks Michael... could you tell whether it was painted on to an already varnished plate, and then varnished over top again?