Hello All
                        Some may remember a few months back I asked for
advice about removing varnish from shells.
                        Thanks to those who replied - I tried almost
everything. I met with limited success, largely with commercial
varnish/shellac removal compounds, but these were "gloopy" and required
strenuous scrubbing to get them and the varnish off - not good for fragile
shells. Additionally, they struggled to remove varnish from shells with
pronounced sculpture and were horrible chemicals anyway, full of VOCs, bad
for me and the environment.
                        Getting more and more desperate I searched the web
and emailed a furniture restoration company, who told me to use caustic soda
(sodium hydroxide) and warm water.
                        This works brilliantly! Even the most heavily
lacqueured shells come up wonderfully and you only have to soak them for 30
minutes or so and then rinse them (with perhaps a minimal amount of light
scrubbing with a toothbrush for heavily sculptured shells or those
"difficult to reach" places like umbilici). Even better, caustic soda is
only harmful to the skin, with no nasty fumes and no harm to the
environment. And when you have finished with the shells, you can clean your
drains with what's left...
                        SIMON TAYLOR