Shellac is a resin secreted by the female lac bug, on trees in the forests of India and Thailand. It is processed and sold as sticks or pieces.

Shellac has amazing holding and sticking properties which makes it perfect to hold items of jewellery, for example stone settings, watch/clock parts and fine components where conventional holding clamps cannot secure the piece to work on. You will also find shellac is flexible and resilient.

Shellac is also used to fill engravings repair wood items and restore clock dials.

Quick guide for securing a piece on to shellac to work on:

1. Get a piece of round or flat wood depending on the size of the object you would like to hold.

2. Place some shellac pieces onto the wood and start melting with a small soldering torch (code M4184).

3. Cover the wood with approximately 10 to 20mm of shellac (depending on the depth of your piece) ensuring the edges are overlapped.

4. Use a pair of tweezers (code T4914) to secure the item in place and apply heat pushing the piece into the shellac.

5. Once the piece is fixed into the shellac to allow it to cool for between five and ten minutes, the piece is now ready to work on.

6. To release the piece from the shellac heat the item on the shellac (to melt) and remove with a pair of tweezers (T4914).

7. Any shellac still coating the piece can be removed by using Mineralised Methylated Spirits (code C4357) by dipping it or wiping it off.

