# New and looking to learn more about how to dye blanks



## Frank A (Dec 30, 2015)

Greetings all,

I'm pretty new to the hobby and would really like to get more into stabilizing and dyeing blanks for Pens, stoppers and calls. I just picked up a Glassvac system and have found quite a lot of good resources to explain that process but the dye portion has been a little harder to understand. 

Can someone point me to a "Dyeing for Dummies" resource? or is it really just as simple as dyeing your stabilizing resin?

Thanks in advance!


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## Mike1950 (Dec 30, 2015)

Seems as dyeing is a closely kept secret earned by many testing hrs. @TurnTex seems to be the go to guy for Stab materials and advice. He will show up.


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## Kevin (Dec 30, 2015)

Lots of guys here dye and there's many threads about it. Here's a good place to start:

http://woodbarter.com/search/1583713/?q=dyeing&o=relevance


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## TurnTex (Dec 31, 2015)

Dyeing is pretty straight forward but it has a learning curve and a lot of trial and error. You just add the dye to the resin and stabilize like normal. The choice of dye makes a big difference as some do not work at all, some are a pain to use, and some work great. I recommend Alumilite dyes since they are 100% liquid and are no fuss. Now, getting the color you want in the wood is a different story. There is no formula or ratio of the amount of dye to add because each species of the wood will absorb different antiquates of your dyed resin. The biggest mistake I see with folks starting out is not adding enough dye. It takes a LOT of dye to get good color. My recommendation is to get some test pieces of the wood you want to work with and mix up some resin and dye. When you think you have added enough dye, add some more! Then run a test piece following all Best Practices for stabilizing. Once the blank is cured, cut it in half length wise and wet the surface to see what the color inside the blank looks like. If the color is not rich enough, add some more dye to your mix and run a second piece. If it is too dark, add some virgin resin. Do this a few times until you get the color as you want and go to town!

Reactions: Like 2 | Thank You! 1 | Informative 3 | Useful 1


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## Frank A (Jan 3, 2016)

Thanks for the detailed feedback Curtis. I'm looking forward to trying it soon!


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## Fsyxxx (Jan 3, 2016)

He's not kidding about it taking a lot of dye. One you think your there double it. At least that's what I do, if I want blue I'll make the resin almost black with the Alumilite dye.

Reactions: Like 1 | Thank You! 1 | Informative 1


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## Doclennox (Dec 10, 2022)

Curtis, I am looking to dye burl wood to make pipes. Most discussions I have seen note that stabilizing should not be done on pipes. Can I dye without using stabilizer?


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## Wildthings (Dec 10, 2022)

Doclennox said:


> Curtis, I am looking to dye burl wood to make pipes. Most discussions I have seen note that stabilizing should not be done on pipes. Can I dye without using stabilizer?


Last time Curtis was on here was 2016. Go to his website and ask him those questions. He is very helpful. Also tell him he needs to visit here more often.

Reactions: Thank You! 1 | Agree 1


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## 2feathers Creative Making (Dec 11, 2022)

Short answer. Yes. 
Single color dyes are simple. Dyed with a second color overtones are possible as per @Jonkou dyed oil lamps. But the triple dyed stuff with 3 very distinct colors will require lots of fooling around to come close without stabilizing.
And the technique will not be the same.

Reactions: Agree 1


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