I shellaced a nature colored Cinelli cork type tape for my Mike Appel.
i used flakes and spirit from a furniture restoring supply. This must be more than 20 Layers (i wanted that brown tone), but the shellac dried fast enough for me to apply several Layers a day.

i have no problems with wear or the surface getting opaque, but then i don't ride with gloves.
Only issue i'm having is with small cracks, that might be because the base cork tabe is too soft. But it gives the bar that Jaguar leather seat look

this is how it looks: