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A customer in Boise asked me to match a finish from a 1920s photo
They brought in a blurry black and white picture of their grandma's dresser, wanting the exact same dark amber tone. I spent a full day mixing shellac with tiny amounts of walnut dye and burnt umber pigment, testing on scrap pine. When I finally got it right under the shop lights, they looked at it and just said, 'That's her.' Has anyone else had to work from just a photo? How do you handle the color guesswork?
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markm272mo ago
Wasn't shellac the standard finish back then anyway? You probably nailed the original method as much as the color.
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bethcarr2mo ago
That "that's her" moment hits deep. It's not just fixing a thing, it's bringing back a memory. I see it everywhere now, people trying to hold onto a feeling from an old photo. The color match is just the tool, the real job is matching the vibe. You got the warmth from that old finish, and that's what they actually wanted.
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