Silk is probably better and in the UK there are a couple of kits that are sold for the purpose. all you need is a crescent of silk of a similar weight to a silk handkerchief and a good acrylic cement containing an anti-fungal compound as fungal infections in the nails will really damage them and are more likely with frequent applications of false nails. Apply a small amount of cement to the edge of the nail and apply the crescent, cut to fit, with about 1/16 - 1/4 inch overlay. Apply a coat of acrylic cement to the the silk and nail once the first application has dried, allow that to dry and then apply a second coat. Let that dry completely before shaping with emery paper. If you can, let the nail dry over night but I have done the whole thing in two hours. Dont forget the solvent for the cement. The new nail will last for up to three weeks. Charles
-----Original Message----- From: Eugene C. Braig IV [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 11 January 2005 15:08 To: bill kilpatrick; lute list Subject: *** SPAM *** Re: torn fingernails At 12:38 AM 1/11/2005, bill kilpatrick wrote: >there's an interesting contribution to the "fingers vs >fingerpicks vs plectrums" thread over on >[EMAIL PROTECTED] that details how to >repair torn fingernails with perm paper (the guy is a >hair dresser) and glue. > >- bill I don't know that this is useful to most lutenists, maybe the Italianate archlute crowd, but when I have a guitar gig pending and have damaged nails, I do something similar. I will apply a thin layer of some incarnation of cyanoacrylate (i.e., "super" glues) to the damaged area. I almost always use commercially available "nail" glues because they seem a little more pliable and less rigid. I will place a sliver of coffee filter paper over the glue, torn to fit and leaving the jagged edges to be more absorbent and "blend-able." Depending on the nature of the damage, I may fold the paper over the edge of the tear and under the nail as well. After the glue becomes tacky, I will layer more cyanoacrylate over this whole assembly. After it is completely dry, I blend the edges into the nail and buff it to a shine with multi-stage cosmetic nail buffers. The end result should be almost invisible and function essentially like the nail itself, both in typical punteado upstrokes and in rasgueado...of course it should, but it sometimes requires a mid-process abort, especially in positioning the paper, and a restart. It will be thicker and certainly more rigid than nail, but it will do in a bind. If the nail is lost, I will cut acrylic (either a ping-pong ball or the finer end of artificial fingernails that is designed to be glued over the nail) to fit and glue it _under_ the nail with the acrylic protruding to span the lost area. The joint will receive the glue-and-coffe-filter-paper treatment described above. Best, Eugene To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
