Epiphanes

I love working with paint and varnish.
Fortunately I've never had any problems with the fumes I work with,
but I can't say the same for my beloved wife.
Fans, closed doors, and all other efforts have not fixed the problem.
If I'm brushing something in the garage, it's not long before it 
gives my wife a headache and triggers her asthma,
as she sits at her computer in the next room.

Now, I do love my wife more than painting and varnishing,
but the work still needs to be done, and I'm pretty good at it,
so over the years I've tried using more fans, kept the door to the garage
closed, and even stuffed a towel into the space beneath the door.
Eventually, however, the fumes get through and she's miserable.

My wife is not a lightweight.
She just has issues with these particular fumes.
I could point fingers and complain, but then anyone who accompanies me
to the grocery store would see the depth of my hypocrisy as I coughed
and gagged my way down the place I call "the stinky aisle" - that's where
they keep all the laundry detergents and fabric softeners.
The place kills me.

Like I said, I'm lucky that the paint and varnish products I use don't
bother me, 'cause laundry detergent sure does, and vinegar is my
complete and total kryptonite!

The struggle continues.
The work still needs to be done.
I can't just farm it out to some woodshop and pay top dollar for work
that I can do at home for the cost of the varnish and thinner.

I line up the next batch of remi that need varnish, and discover that I'm
out of my normal varnish.  The backup brand is also not present on my shelf.
I look further and discover the cans of Dutch varnish and thinner made by Epiphanes.
Months ago I found them for a good price and have been saving them for whatever "special project" might require such a high-line product.

I brush the Epiphanes varnish onto the freshly sanded oars,
Patsy Cline sings from the old tape player in my garage.
A fan blows over the surfaces that I'm varnishing,
and then...my wife opens the door to the garage.
She props the door open, asks me a question, and leaves it open!
It's quite possible that you don't understand just how amazing this single event was in our household.

Upon further investigation, I discovered that the Dutch varnish and thinner I was using, had no adverse affects on my wife's nose or head.
No asthma either!
Four days later she still had no complaints.
I spent a few hours in my garage tonight with brush in hand,
rejoicing in the fact that a simple change in product could solve my problem
(and I get to keep my wife!).

The Epiphanes varnish might cost more, but for me,
it's SO worth it!

Pupparin - Before and After

photos by Tim Reinard

Many of you may know that one of my favorite boats outside my own operation, is Sunset Gondola's pupparin.

Recently Tim hauled her out and gave her the TLC that a genuine Venetian beauty deserves.  Here's a photo he sent me after spending some real quality time with some sandpaper.

A lot of times, if you prep it right, you can varnish over previous coats. 
But sometimes you've just gotta start from scratch. 
Get rid of the old material and go with all new varnish.

Here's what it looks like when it's done right:

And here she is, all dressed up and ready for her close-up.

Shortly after this photo was taken,
the boat took part in a special parade in Venice, California.
I'm sure she was the best looking boat of the bunch.

Passing on the Varnish Brush

photos by Cassandra Mohr

Most fathers hope to one day pass on wisdom and skills to their children.
And while I won't claim to have much of either, I do know a thing or two about varnishing.
I also have an eleven-year-old daughter who is quite a little artist,
and has been amazing the family with her talents. 
She especially likes painting, and anything that involves a brush. 
When I announced today that I'd be doing some varnishing,
Isabella made it very clear to me that she'd like to help.

This was nothing new. Bella has pestered me for years about "helping me" with various paint and varnish tasks. I've let her paint a few times,
but today she was working with varnish.
I gave her a quick tutorial on what to do and how to do it.
We started with the smaller pieces first, and she picked it right up.

A few pointers here and there were given, but it became obvious to me that she was a lot more comfortable with a brush in her hand than most kids her age.

The more she brushed, the better she got. We talked about the mix of varnish and thinner. I explained how the whole process works, and about how the two products work together to leave a nice, shiny, and protective surface on the wood.
Different brushing techniques were described and demonstrated. 
I explained how the brush needs to be dunked and purged now and then, and how the varnish in the bucket needs to be given more thinner to keep it brushable.

I got a kick out of watching my daughter brushing on that beautiful golden coating, and visions of the future came floating in to my mind.
I saw my little artist slowly taking over some of my paint and varnish projects, and as the need arose, she would step in as my "chief painter."

I beamed with pride.

Right about then, my precious girl informed me that she was getting bored with the whole varnishing thing.

OUCH!!!

Ah, but of course "she's an artist", I thought.
I quickly explained that what we were varnishing was a thing of beauty.
My daughter said:
"Yeah, but it's not like we're going to frame it and hang it on a wall."

"Better than that", I said, "hundreds of people will see it and admire it. 
It will be a part of some of the greatest memories, and folks will step into the boat and talk about how beautiful it is".

She kept dipping and brushing the varnish onto the wood, thinking about what I'd said.

We graduated to longer pieces, which required more thought and technique.  Bella did her best to listen to my coaching - even though she was sure that she knew more about varnishing than I did.

As is common around my house, the phone rang with a call that I had to take, so I asked her if she thought she could finish the job without me.
She said "yeah, I can do it."

I smiled with amusement as I walked into the house.
Twenty minutes later I was off the phone and looking over the work. 

It was all perfect.
She did a great job.
Now if I can just convince her that what she was doing today was worth doing, I'll have my "chief painter" one day.

Last-minute varnish

After my sanding "spazz-attack" yesterday, I showed up today with John Kerschbaum and we varnished two gondolas.
We rolled and tipped them both with Epiphanes and I can't wait to lay down the final coat tomorrow.
Here are two shots of John on the back of the Serena Lee, rolling and tipping like a madman.

The "Spazz-Attack"

photo by Ali White

As we approach Valentine's Day each year, there are a few things that you can count on:

1. we'll put more gondolas in the water

2. extra docks will be rented to accommodate the extra boats

3. an inventory of everything from life jackets to silver champagne buckets will be done

And

4. I will have an obsessive "spazz-attack" over one of my boats.

This year's winner - the Serena Lee!

Today was obsessive "spazz-attack" day, and I went at the Serena like some kind of Norse berserker.

I taped, sanded, vacuumed, sanded, examined, considered, contemplated, and then sanded some more.

Then I jumped over to another gondola - the Cassandra Anne, and sanded her too.

John Kerschbaum arrived tonight from Minnesota; he'll be doing some rowing with us on the 14th.

Tomorrow morning, John and I will varnish those two gondolas and then look for something else to work on before V-Day.

Welcome to California John, it's great to have you he

Warm wood interior

When you look at the interior of most gondolas, you’ll notice a common theme: black. Some brass trim is present here and there, seat cushions are usually black but other colors can be seen such as red, and blue. The most common accent color is the floorboard paint. Gondola floorboards, or “pagioi” are usually painted in a theme color with the edges scalloped in black to tie into the boat’s interior. The theme color on many gondolas is red, although blue is commonly seen as well (see the other gondola in the photo). Some rare exceptions do exist; they are often done in a unique hue and can really catch the eye of a gondola fanatic. I’ll cover some of those eye catchers in another post. In this post I want to spotlight a gondola that doesn’t have an accent color – it has something much more impressive: varnished wood.

The gondola in this photo is exceptional on so many levels.

First there’s the look; most gondolas have varnished wood, but it’s only in a few small places. One look at this gondola and you know that it’s special. It’s not “one among many gondolas owned by the cooperative”. Many private owners set their boats apart by using non-traditional colors, but this guy took it to a new level.

Second, there’s the maintenance; so few gondola owners are willing to commit to the upkeep of so much varnished wood. Whoever owns this boat needs to do twice, or three times the work to keep her passenger area looking good. Most guys can just slap another coat of paint on – never worrying about anything but good adhesion. That’s the beauty of paint – you can cover up yesterday’s sins with today’s paint. With varnish, you must take great pain to make sure everything looks good before you varnish – leave something undone, and it will remain on display for all to see until the next time you tool up to recoat. Mix it incorrectly or apply it in the wrong conditions and you may end up with a milky, translucent look, or what I like to call “raisin skin”. Of course there are ways to mess up even worse with varnish but usually you have to be either reckless or stupid to venture into such territory.

On top of all the above, the guy who maintains this beauty must sand each and every corner before varnishing. With a black interior, you can often get away with “skipping” some of the more hidden corners when sanding and painting; I’m not so sure this guy can get away with such corner-cutting. If you look closely, you’ll see parts of the varnish that reflected the flash from my camera. Great varnish, not so great photographer.

I also like the cavalli (brass horses), which are usually left with the brass finish. This boat appears to have nickel plated ones instead – a nice contrast against so much warm varnished wood.

If you’ve seen the Vogalonga or Regata Storica, you know that varnish is not unusual in Venice. In fact there are many all-varnished boats within the many clubs in the Veneto. It is rare to find so much varnish on a passenger gondola. It shows an enviable level of dedication.

The true test with this boat will be whether she is kept up. I speak from experience when I say: anyone with money can buy or commission a beautiful boat – it’s quite another thing to maintain one.