If my questions have already been answered elsewhere please forgive me
though I did search.

I have finished assembly/glue up of a small pine cabinet. I sanded the
surface working from 80 to 800 grit paper. I'd hoped to build a dark
stain. I know pine can be blotchy and figured I'd try to condition it
before staining. I'd tried miniwax pre-stain conditioner with success
on another project but this time I wanted to try something new. I
shellac'ed, using Zinnser Amber. Since this was my first time using
shellac I thought I'd do my best to screw it up unintentionally to
turn more hair gray. I read an article which recommended putting on
two coats. I can't say how many I put on because the first application
kept running and I kept going over the runs with my brush. I tried to
even what I had on out with a rag dipped in denatured alchohol, which
helped some but left me wondering if I had areas which were entirely
uncovered. I brushed more shellac on because I was feeling crazy. It
all dried and didn't look half bad but my guess is any uneveness will
show up in the final finish. That's question number one:

1. Will any uneven layers of a shellac topcoat produce an uneven
looking stain/finish?

My fear is that no matter how hard I try I will produce an uneven coat
of shellac though recent reading leads me to believe if I cut it next
to nothing with alchohol and build several ultra thin layers I might
have more luck.

Next, The cabinet is now what zinnser calls 'amber' and what I call
'orange'.

2. Have I used too much shellac? Should I use clear instead?

Next, the stain. I'm using Olympic stain out of the can. I put on one
coat, let it sit five to ten minutes and wiped it off. When I wiped it
off it looked as though I didn't do anything at all.

3. Does this stuff get darker or is this a joke perpetrated on my be
Olympic where I spend my life savings and life buying and pretending
to stain wood? There are some spots that will be hidden on the project
and are not covered by shellac which took the stain like I would
imagine stain should take. Have I blocked the stain from penetrating
the wood with the amount of shellac I applied?

4. I work in a dusty environment and accept this as a fact of my life.
If I were a multi-billionaire I'd contract NASA to build and orbit a
space station which had the best dust control imaginable but I'm a guy
on a budget working in his garage that also happens to be used for all
wood working, car parking, leaf parties, bug parties, etc. Am I asking
for too much to get my wood darkened and not blotchy? Is there any way
to speed up the staining process (thinning stain using mineral
spirits, etc.) or have more control over it? Am I doomed to guys
telling me I should just slather the piece in boiled linseed, teak or
some other oil and living with it?

Oh yeah, and I'm sure some one will tell me to run out and buy Bob
Flexner's "Understanding Wood Finishing" book so I'll stop you there.
Read it cover to cover and I still (obviously) don't understand, so
please don't use big words and do talk slowly so that maybe I'll get
it this time.

My temptation is to take off everything on the piece with thinner
(stain, if it's actually on) and alchohol for the shellac, thin the
shellac, apply two or more very thin coats, then retry the stain. I
have a feeling this might work or could get me back right where I am
now. Any thoughts?