Veneered Frames - continued

The frames have now been cut and assembled.

This is one of the elm frames. Here I've mixed up a water-stain using Fiddes concentrates and scrubbed it into the raw veneer. Mixing stains can be very subjective but I find blending the concentrates with some Van Dyke crystals gives a good antique colour. Two coats of stain bring out the grain pattern best.
Next the colours are muted with some umbers and ultra-marine blue, mixed with spirit stain concentrates in shellac. All a bit complicated and it does take quite some care.
After all that, the frame is given several coats of shellac white polish and left to dry.
Leaving the frame then to allow the shellac to sink through the grain and give a pleasing relief pattern on the surface.