Chatoyance - Just for Fun

[Tim Inman]

Title: Just for Fun
Post by: xs-fumes on January 30, 2011, 07:24:32 AM
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How many know and use the word "chatoyance"? Everyone here has seen
this and knows what it is but may not know there is a word for it.
I've had fun using it with customers but have yet to find anyone who
knows what I'm talking about.


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Title: Re: Just for Fun
Post by: jafo on January 30, 2011, 12:31:24 PM
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Id do, and I use it. I found it reading old magazines my dad kept in
attic (dating back to the late 70's through the 90's). I never saw it
spelled like that though.

If we are on the same page, it is the "3-dish" effect that time and
nature naturally gives to wood. Like looking at aged walnut or
mahagony or better yet, quilted maple that is 100 year old. Sometimes
putting on tung oil over quilted maple gets that effect too.


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Title: Re: Just for Fun
Post by: DarrelK on January 30, 2011, 02:44:35 PM
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Yep, had to take 2 years of French in high school preparing for
college a million years ago so "cats eye" effects came up a few times
through the years. I think I first heard it in reference to precious
stones, then in woodworking, and finally, believe it or not in car
refinishing special effects. Pretty cool effect especially in amber
tones.


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Title: Re: Just for Fun
Post by: Dave on January 31, 2011, 07:50:19 AM
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What's up with this? I've got some folks putting gold dust in our
lacquers to give the finish kind of a "tiger eye" effect. We talking
about the same?

Dave White


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Title: Re: Just for Fun
Post by: DarrelK on January 31, 2011, 09:13:08 AM
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Dave this is what I knew it was before I heard about reference to it
regarding wood.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tigers_eye_crystal444.jpg

Then this is more like what wood guys were referring to...
http://www.quarter-sawnflooring.com/chatoyance.html

Well, anyway my thoughts are it is a "look" that you are trying to
capture that exhibits this "cats eye" effect. I could see using some
texture plus gold dusting to achieve this. Car guys were essentially
doing a faux thing like that because it appeared differently than just
plain gold leafing.


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Title: Re: Just for Fun
Post by: jafo on January 31, 2011, 10:02:28 AM
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I have been doing a lot of reading old material magazines/books the
last few years...kinda interesting. Watching companies grow from
"mail to" to website address...Who would have thought no one had an e-
mail or website until the 90's....watching small companies like
"grizzly" grow from little adds to the powerhouse they are. Anyway,
some people were using chemical reactions instead of normal staining
to get the desired effect. Tim will probably chime in here, but
reading about the late great George Frank and his books was real
interesting. You have to get over some of the advances we have made
with tools, dyes, etc, but still interesting to see how chemical
reactions change the appearance of wood and the different effects.


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Title: Re: Just for Fun
Post by: xs-fumes on January 31, 2011, 01:01:49 PM
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I say chatoyance (when it's a factor) cannot be duplicated with a burn
in or any type of filler or other repair. If someone can explain
otherwise I would be a happy camper!


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Title: Re: Just for Fun
Post by: TIM INMAN on February 03, 2011, 12:43:43 PM
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OK, I'm sticking my head up to peek out of the bunker. Wow! What a
snowstorm!!!

Meanwhile, you guys come up with a question about chatoyance! What a
trade.....

This has caused me countless hours (OK, minutes) of senioritis. There
is another color term which more accurately describes what you are
meaning. I'm stuck on it, and my hard drive won't move off dead
center. I'll eventually get it.

Chatoyance is, indeed, the 'cat-eye' color shimmer we all love to see
in highly figured wood. It is what makes it virtually impossible to
copy in any other synthetic material. There is a depth and life in
chatoyance. The other word - maybe tomorrow - illustrates more
accurately what happens when we do a color match or burn-in and get it
perfect; when we go around the table, it looks totally wrong.

Stay tuned. I've been blowing snow or plowing it since Monday. We
had -44 F wind chills here Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Maybe
my brain is just frozen up. Maybe.


Tim Inman


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Title: Re: Just for Fun
Post by: xs-fumes on February 03, 2011, 04:57:42 PM
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r u thinking refraction?


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Title: Re: Just for Fun
Post by: TIM INMAN on February 04, 2011, 09:33:20 AM
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Nope!

Drum Roll: And the 'Secret Word' is: METAMERISM !

Metamerism is that annoying characteristic of having a color blend in
and match perfectly - until you turn on a different light, or walk
around to the other side of the table. If you haven't experienced
this, then you're leading a blessed life, so far....

Having remembered the word, I took the time to look it up. According
to Professor Hilton Brown, who taught a class in color and colorants
for furniture conservators I took at the Smithsonian CAL center long
long ago, here's the deal: We can match colors so they look the same
to our limited human eye, even though the colors do not come from the
same source, nor are they actually the same colors. It seems that our
eyes only have the ability to deal with three basic colors (sound
familiar). When we try to match a color, the 'cumulative' light
reflection of our blended colors must add up to the 'refractive index'
of the color we're matching. If it adds up, then we think the color
is the same. The original color can be (IS!) a much more complex
blend of color emitting materials. So, when we turn on a different
light or walk around the room, we're getting a different 'sum' of
color reflected from the repair than from the original.

Long story short, it is virtually impossible to match a color -
really. We just approximate it by using our human eye rules.
Fortunately, wood has chatoyance. This makes for a ton of different
colors within the same zone of sight, so we tolerate small
differences. Hence, matching exactly is usually not necessary on
wooden objects, thank goodness.

Whew! Now I can get some sleep tonight!

Cheers,

Tim Inman

[Tim Inman]

One of my long-time friends and fellow refinisher sent me a picture
showing 'chatoyance' as it should be spoke. Apparently, we can't post
pictures directly in this Google Site, so I've put it up in our
Historic Interiors site. Here's the link.

http://www.historicinteriors.com/ProjectPictures.html

Enjoy!

Tim Inman