Shellac, Take One!

Here is the bar tape on the 1972 Mondia Special with one coat of shellac, after about sixteen hours of drying time. An image of the raw bar tape with no shellac is here.


The green is saturating a little and is almost a perfect match to the frame paint. The yellow assumed a little more of an orange cast, about which I'm a bit concerned - the yellow highlights on the bike, note the head tube pinstriping, are a canary yellow, so this isn't matching well.

Hopefully, the yellows will diverge enough such that it doesn't look like an attempt to match the yellow highlights. Perhaps it will end up looking like old leather after repeated coats. If it is unsatisfactory, back to the drawing board.

Fortunately, I bought a couple extra rolls of theolive green Viva tape, which is out of production and getting scarce. Jitensha Studio is out, although Rivendell still has some (they call this color "celery"). If this doesn't work out, seems like it will be either solid green bars, which would be sad, or attempt to dye some white tape a much more pale yellow to match the frame highlights.

Here is a shot moments after application of the second coat. It goes on dark and lightens up as it dries.