I am Crazy

I know, I know, we are moving in two and a half weeks but I just cant stop myself from getting distracted by projects I have out in our garage. Before we moved I had picked up a few pieces of furniture for free or dirt cheap that I kept thinking I would fix them up and then sell them. The problem is that I really like them. The other problem is that we are moving into a house that we are going to be working on from the get go. That means there is not going to be a lot of room for furniture or storage. I have been going through everything I own and purging. I have taken quite a bit to the thrift store already. Last week I thought I would fix up all the furniture and then sell it before we moved so I wouldn't have anything extra laying around. So last week I started to work on them only to fall in love and decide to keep them. One of the projects I have is a large lovely table. The photo below it the exact table and it has become my inspiration (it came from a decorating magazine years ago).

I really wanted to find a product to use that was non-toxic. The thing I hate about paint and stains is that the non-toxic stuff is so dang expensive. I researched and have found an old form of finishing that has fallen out of popularity by the average do- it - yourselfer but is known as the "best" by professional woodworkers.

 Shellac flakes are a resin secreted by insects. They dissolve into denatured alcohol and when the alcohol is evaporated off it becomes completely non-toxic and food safe. Shellac has been used as the primary wood finishing product for hundreds of years. Only in the last century have all the other stains and finishes that flood up the shelves at common stores come to be. Shellac was a little hard to find but I tracked some down locally and it is supposed to turn out a red-brown. I am a little nervous because it can be tricky to apply until you get the hang of it.

Here is a shot of my one pound bag for about 25 dollars. I bought some denatured alcohol for seven dollars. It took about 48 hours to dissolve. The cool thing is that I only used 1/2 the bag and the leftover flakes have an extremely long shelf life. I am excited to stain my table. I will keep you posted, and hopefully I will be able to share my other projects with you too.

I linked up to  Wow Us Wednesdays you should go check it out.