Body making Part 2: Patina - Dichromatism and Bob Ross

Drive through a subdivision and you won’t notice the houses, drive by an old cabin in the woods and it will turn your head. Why? Intrigue. Your eye sees a variance of color with changes in the light and is trying to figure out what’s going on and that captures your attention. 

Violin makers use this effect, called dichromatism, in their varnishes. I grew up playing violin so I was around varnish before nitro. Dichromatism means that because of the layers in the finish light will make it appear slightly different colors depending on the light. Intrigue. 

So we use the same idea when doing patina. Some patina looks dumb because it’s wiped on and looks dirty and that’s it. But that’s not how things age and that’s not eye catching. Doing it in layers gives you depth and looks more natural. When trying to figure out the patina I thought of Bob Ross paintings and how they looked like nothing until the last few minutes when he put the flourish on the pretty little tree and the pretty little bird. So I heat up the metal and put a heavy layer on and buff it off. Repeat. Different chemical. Different application. Sand. Repeat. It looks like way too much until the very end. 

What you end up with is YOUR guitar. It looks like nothing else in the world. People can argue whether aging is authentic or not, but to me that’s missing the point.

🎶@idamaemusic