I have purchased a number of bags of shellac flakes of various colors from Wellermart. I've used it on bar tape and some wood finishing products. It isn't difficult to adjust the color to what you want (within the boundaries of chemistry and physics), and painting it over bar tape of different colors is not difficult. My experience with applying shellac to bar tape... It will eat the cheap foam brushes, but they do a reasonable job of applying it. Good brushes can be better BUT, the shellac tends to form a gazillion tiny driplets EVERYWHERE if you don't take it super-slow. Also, you need to thoroughly clean the brush immediately afterward, or face a choice between spending an hour cleaning it later, or simply pitching the brush.

Oh... pictures... Silly me.

My first attempt. Clear from a can over red bar tape. I had this on the Hetchin's I used to have, but sold it on as a frame and fork and kept this. Now on Loki - the Single-speed Viking. It could use a refresh.



I initially had this blonde blend (and the same saddle - an limited run ochre Brooks Pro) on my 1972 Competition when it was the original and scraped to crap black paint (prior to it's gugification). It is now on the "no hills, please" Argos.

The colors match a bit better in daylight.







And a darker mix on the Grand Sports. I believe I was attempting to match an older Ideale saddle with this, but have since swapped it out with a "cushier" saddle that's a couple shades different.







I have another one a few places down the build queue that I intend to treat with shellac. No telling how long it will take the glacier to arrive there though.

One last consideration to throw out there. Unless you have stems with removable face plates, bars with shellac are essentially married to the stem. Choose wisely, or face the prospect of tossing all that effort away.