I've been taught by experts, as well as some who thought they were. I've painted large parts inside of several houses, some "hobby" creations (aka almost recognizable furniture), and have respectably wielded a brush on most of those occasions. Always, always, like a mantra, was the need to blend new and old surfaces so there are no brush marks left, nothing drips, everything is evenly covered.
I doubt a single one of those fussy people ever varnished saguaro ribs.
The varnish was free, a donation from a friend of Rich's who conveniently works in wood himself and has a renter who does creative things with cactus and sells them. I'm talking about the woody skeletons left behind after they died, of course. The varnish included a dark stain, not my first choice but the price was right. So was the advice his renter provided, noting that cactus wood is thirsty. Very very very thirsty! Seriously thirsty!! Whatever you put on it gets slurped up almost immediately, well before drying of course. I presume it's that characteristic which keeps desert plants alive, that ability to slurp and store liquids rapidly. Apparently it works after death as well.
Yesterday I had 7 pieces of skeleton to varnish, and today, after more sawing and brass-brushing, had another 8. Yesterday's pieces got two coats. You think they exhibited the least bit of shine this morning? LOL! They had dried a tad lighter in shade than when completely wet, but still a very matte finish. Hardly an indication that they'd been sealed at all.
Today I really slathered the varnish on the fresh pieces, left them on the chicken wire to drip, then started right in with the first of those again for their second coat. The first one had already been soaked up, just as rapidly as yesterday's. Varnish levels in the container were dropping so I made sure to give them everything I could while I could. With a second coat applied, and still having varnish left, coupled with very little desire to drag it all out to a third day, especially considering how stiff the protected-from-air brush was this morning and having no more plastic gloves for my hands, it was today or never. So I slathered them again, all but finishing up the varnish. (It's air drying out now until garbage day.)
The point of this is, however, that the surface of saguaro ribs is very three dimensional. Its grain has patterns in all directions, not by color but by grooves in a variety of patterns and depths. If you are ever in this position, prepare to sacrifice your brush, since there is more jabbing and stabbing to spread the varnish than there is smooth stroking. Lots more! Especially since there are channels nearly half an inch deep which have openings to the surface much smaller to stab your brush through. Best to apply it while still dripping varnish so it runs down in to be spread immediately later than try to do anything resembling a neat job. Coverage is key, especially if your piece is going to be outside in non-desert conditions, and more especially if those conditions include freeze-thaw cycles. Besides, all that slurping up is going to suck whatever whats to run, drip, or pretend to leave brush marks while it still is wet. You won't see any of that once it's dry.
In hindsight, I was pretty prepared for the sloppy application, but not quite enough. I wore old clothes where whatever happened to them didn't matter, wore plastic gloves so I could hand-hold the pieces, and was barefoot out on the front slab, so no worries about shoes either. An old resin patio table covered (nearly) with newspaper ad circulars held the varnish, it's lid for brush resting, and most of the drippings. Not quite all. I could have spread the newsprint out better, but I didn't care about the table in the first place. A few drips of varnish landed on the concrete, but again, I don't particularly care. I presume a few more years of Arizona summer sunshine and foot traffic will pretty well take care of those as well. Worst case it can be either painted, or astro-turfed again. Astro- turf hates bare feet however. The cardboard from the broken up box caught most of the drips from today's varnishing while the ribs dried on chicken wire above, though it did catch all yesterday because I was working more "old-school" in being careful with the varnish than today. The brush actually looks pretty good - must have accidentally bought a good quality one! But it's going to dry stiff and well varnished, just because I'm done. I'll buy another when needed.
Tomorrow or Wednesday I'm going to pick out the ribs to haul north for windchime assembly this summer. Amount of solvent odor left will be one major determining factor, since we'll be living with them in the car for three days and the windows will not be open because of the AC. The rest of the finished ones will find a summer home, hopefully safe from theft and mischief, though it's impossible to predict that after last summer. I'm not finished cooking all my glass, but I'm done for now. I tried some glass fusion with a few pieces yesterday to see how they turn out. If I like them, I'll probably use most of what's left to make more like that. But all will need to be drilled, and that will wait another three months. Today I just need to hit the club and pull the last two batches out of their kilns, then pack them away with others that aren't drilled. Since my Ukrainian bead order arrived in time (!!!!) there's one wire and bead project left to do as a gift for somebody down here, and then it can all be packed away or packed for travel.
And there's still all those lists to make!
Hey, you don't think I've been avoiding that, do you?
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