“This trade is an old worldly trade and its beauty lays in the time and patience it takes to create by hand…bespoke unique instruments which not only have to look but to sound beautiful and last several life times.” Ilja Grawert 2022
The cello is nearly finished now. I just prepared and glued the fingerboard, saddle and nut. Next will be the tuning pegs, the endpin, tailpiece, the bridge and soundpost…basically the whole Ilja Grawert deluxe set up
I cannot wait to finish setting up the cello and hear it’s beauty 🎻❤️
Finally it stopped raining a bit so I could start the varnishing process of the beautiful cello. The ground varnish coat has the purpose to seal the pores of the timbers, making it more stable and resistant to humidity changes. As well as preventing pigments from the colour varnish coats to soak into the wood.
The golden ‘Fleur De Liz’ painting starts above the ground coat and will be repeated on each subsequent layer of pigment to then at the end adding shading and colour texture. I need very fine brushes and a steady hand to paint such fine detail.
The reflection in the moving light on the flamed maple wood is just fantastic…