I purchased some Hock Blonde Dewaxed Shellac flakes in April of 2009. I used a small portion of them and they worked fine. I vacuum sealed the rest in 2 oz portions to use this year. Yesterday I opened one of these vacuum sealed packages and found that the shellac had hardened into almost a solid block. I put it in a coffee grinder to make the flakes small so they would disolve better and made them very fine. I then added the necessary amount of denatured alcohol (16 oz for 2 oz of shellac for a 1 lb cut). I mixed it well a number of times last night and today. But, these very small shellac crystals are not disolving very well! They are coating the inside of the glass jar they are in and they settle to the bottom of the jar as soon as I stop shaking it.
Any idea on what the problem is? Do I need to throw these away and start over with a new batch of shellac? How do I save it from year to year if I can not vacuum seal it?
Thanks for any help on this.