The word “lac” comes from the Sanskrit word lāksh ā‘, which designates “100,000” and in this context alludes to the vast number of lac beetles it takes to produce shellac (about 100,000 for 1 kilo). Shellac is the processed form of a resin secreted by the lac beetle ( Laccifer Lacca) and deposited on trees, mostly in India where 70% of the world’s shellac is produced. And there are tips to using shellac along the way.ġ) What is shellac? Is it really “bug shit”? So in the interest of disseminating accurate information and setting the record straight, I offer you the Straight Dope on Shellac Varnish for Collodion Plates, supported by proper documentation and evidence rather than merely asserted by bloviating unfounded opinion. There could be nothing further from the truth. While many current practitioners of collodion photography have heard my line on shellac before and many of you use shellac regularly to finish your plates, there are new platers who have not and are going to grow up thinking that shellac is newfangled, non-traditional, non-archival, inappropriate, and generally harmful and evil and should be avoided like the plague for “traditional” sandarac. There has recently been some misinformation broadcast about shellac and its use on collodion plates.
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