‘u Beaut History
U-Beaut
Enterprises was set up in 1996 as the Parent Company of three
other businesses: ‘u Beaut Polishes, ‘u Beaut
Publishing, and Central Victorian School of Woodcrafts.These
four, all Australian businesses are owned and operated by Neil
& Pauline Ellis from their historic homestead in Central
Victoria, Australia.
ABOUT NEIL & PAULINE
Neil describes himself as a woodcarver by choice and a woodturner, furniture finisher and restorer by necessity, whilst Pauline, a French Polisher describes herself as The Boss and the only real worker in the business.
Neil
was the founding president of Central Victorian Woodworkers Guild
Inc. was a long-serving member of the Board of Management for
Continuing Education in Castlemaine. He has taught woodcarving
and woodturning to inmates at the Castlemaine Jail, Malmsbury
Youth Training Centre and Loddon Prison. He has also conducted
numerous in-service days for the Education Department, teaching
woodcarving to teachers. (Described by Neil as; "the same as
teaching the crims, only scary") 
As a woodcarver Neil has been commissioned to carve such things as the front doors and various internal panels for the Old Melbourne Stock Exchange and Safety Deposit Building. Both of these historic Melbourne landmarks were part of a massive, multi-million dollar restoration job which is now the magnificent new ANZ Bank HQ in the centre of Melbourne. His most recent commission was to carve and polish three large, Huon pine, State Coats of Arms for the newly restored Courts of Appeals in Melbourne.
Two
of the central door panels from the Stock Exchange
Building partly carved each one is 5 feet tall and about 18
inches wide, carved with a variety of gum nuts & flowers.
CENTRAL VICTORIAN SCHOOL OF WOODCRAFTS
In the mid 80,s Pauline & Neil
established the Central Victorian School of Woodcrafts at which
Neil was the principal tutor, teaching woodcarving, woodturning,
fine woodwork, polishing and furniture restoration to adult
students from throughout Australia.
It
was at the school that in 1986 ‘u Beaut Polishes was
founded. 
(This new venture was
originally known as Shithot Polishes but the popularity of the
product and the fact that the name could not be registered led to
the name ‘u Beaut)It was in 1986 that Neil invented
Shellawax, and first started making Polish Reviver, Traditional
Wax and Woodturners Wax Sticks. These products were borne from a
discontentment with other polishes on the market in Australia at
that time. Firstly, most polishes for woodturners were far too
slow and complicated to use and did virtually nothing to enhance
the timber they were applied to. Secondly the wax pastes that
were available for furniture restoration etc. all showed finger
marks and were mostly hard to apply and even harder to buff to a
finished shine, especially if left a while before buffing.
With these two problems in mind Neil set out to come up with a better product for his and Pauline's own use and for that of the students. The first revolution was Traditional Wax, a non sticky paste wax, which could be used on all types of furniture and woodturning etc. Next came Shellawax, which over the next few years would serve to revolutionise finishing for woodturners in Australia. These were closely followed by the reworking of an old recipe for Polish Reviver which worked so well that it saved many an antique from the indignity of being stripped.
These and other products were originally made for the exclusive use of Neil's students, but it is hard to keep a secret in the woodworking fraternity. The polishes are now available through a network of over 50 distributors throughout Australia and also available in USA, and New Zealand.
Numerous experiments over the past decade have seen some changes to both Shellawax and Traditional Wax which have made them second to none and also gave rise in 1997 to the new Shellawax Cream which is again set to revolutionise finishing for turners carvers and general woodworkers, not only in Australia, but throughout the world.
ENDORSEMENTS FOR ‘U BEAUT POLISHES
World famous woodturners - Vic Wood, Richard Raffan and Stephen Hughes are amongst the thousands of users who sing the praises ‘u Beaut Polishes - These three high profile Australian turners are well known for their demonstrations at major Woodworking shows throughout Australia, and as key note speakers at seminars, award winners at exhibitions and for conducting workshops throughout America the U.K. and New Zealand.
Between them they have published books, videos and written for many prominent magazines like "Fine Woodworker" ,"Guild of Master Craftsmen - Woodturning, and Woodcarving", "Australian Wood Review", "Australian Woodworker", and a myriad of other overseas publications, etc. It is almost impossible to pick up a magazine or book on woodturning that does not have a reference to at least one of these three prominent Australian woodturners.
Vic uses and wholeheartedly endorses Shellawax, Shellawax Cream, Traditional Wax & Woodturners Wax Sticks. Stephen is a fanatical user of Shellawax & Shellawax Cream, whilst Richard prefers to use Traditional Wax.
In 1991 ‘u Beaut Publishing was established to publish material for students of the school, but once again people got wind of the products being produced and all of a sudden the small publications for their students became best sellers. An eight page set of class notes from 1988 was expanded to a 45 page book which in turn has been expanded a further 3 times until its current 1998 Edition which is now 152 pages long.
One of the three Victorian, State Coats of Arms carved by Neil for the Supreme Court - Court of Appeals in Melbourne.
These carvings can be seen in the background, during the court scene, in the recent Australian film The Castle.
Copyright ©
1998 U-Beaut Enterprises ®
This page was last modified: Sunday, 03
January 1999
