recipes

I found the following recipe in the discussion on http://www.fiddlehangout.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5979

For vernice bianca, melt about 20 - 25 grams of gum arabic in a double boiler or bain-marie, add a teaspoon of honey and let it cool down, then blend in an egg white and strain it. Sacconi used it as a ground on his instruments, as do a number of modern makers, purely for the influence on tone..

And another one at http://woodworkerszone.com/igits/showthread.php?t=7299

The following is taken directly from American Lutherie #10 in 1987 when interviewing Jack Batts. It is also in The Big Red Book vol 1 from Guild of American Luthiers.

25g of gum arabic,
1/2 teaspoon of honey,
1/4 teaspoon of rock candy,
about 100cc of water,
albumen from one egg white.

"Crush the rock candy. Warm the water but do not boil. Slowly add the gum arabic, stirring constantly until dissolved. Add honey and rock candy. Strain the mixture through a fine cloth (handkerchief or sheeting) and let cool. While the mixture is cooling, whip an egg white into a meringue and turn the bowl on edge. Allow the mixture to settle out and remove the liquid that separates. This is the albumin. Add the albumin to the cooled mixture and stir well. Use this Vernice Bianca immediately and discard the rest. Sacconi advocated that after potassium silicate had been put on very sparingly, you should cover it completely with the vernice bianca before varnishing."