Newark School of Violin Making
RAB Award 2022: Alma was awarded the download of Iris Carr’s on-line neck graft course and a work placement with Iris herself. This was Alma’s big chance to up her game as regards retouching and to finish off the neck graft she had done:
The most impressive retouching job I’ve ever done was the first retouching session I had with Iris. Some big varnish-free patches on the ribs of a violin. The way Iris explained and showed to me how to do it made it so simple! A few coats of clear to seal the bare wood, then mixing the colour into the palette, applying it in thin layers, retouching the light spots, job done! The upper bout had been retouched already but was a lot more orange than it should have been, so scraping it away carefully and replacing it with the right colour made the ribs look incredibly authentic.
I also learned that while shaping the neck, it has to be checked from loads of different points of view as well as touching it with the thumb. Iris taught me that if we position the neck horizontally and look at the line if forms compared to the fingerboard line, we can spot tiny bumps and irregularities very well. It helps so much to make a perfect neck shape.
Education Services Award 2021: Funding for 2 sets of Herdim repair clamps
RAB Award 2021: Alma was awarded stretcher clamps from the Bernard Wawman bequest
French national Alma writes about her delight in her award and the help that the RAB Trust offers to students:
I got a cello stretcher clamp and a violin ‘double’ stretcher clamp. I converted the double stretcher clamp into two normal stretcher clamps, because I tried the double one and found it so difficult to use. In the picture below, the bottom stretcher clamp is completely original and the top one has some pieces that I made in tool making to complete it.I also got some money to buy two sets of hand made repair clamps – which are absolutely amazing. They are useful all the time for repairs and I used the small ones quite a lot already, to clamp shavings or cracks back together. I guess I will use the bigger ones when I start repairing cellos and bigger instruments.I would like to thank the members of the RAB Trust foe everything you do for us violin making students, the awards, the Zoom lectures, the tool and wood sales, they are all very useful and so nice for us.
