Shellac Flakes from Stick Lac

Shellac is the resin the female lac insect secretes on the twigs of its host trees. Scraped off with bark and insects in it, it is packed into a cloth tube and heated over a fire; the resin melts and seeps out through the cloth, leaving the debris inside. Spread thin and cooled it sets into sheets that break into flakes. Dissolved in alcohol it becomes French polish and sanding sealer.