First time coloring

kweinert

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So, I've been watching Martin Saban-Smith and he did a live demo the other afternoon so I thought I'd give it a try.

There are multiple issues with this attempt but there were a couple of places that looked passable so I thought I'd share.

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And I got in trouble this morning as my wife's car was covered in sawdust: )
 

kweinert

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I used W. D. Lockwood pigments dissolved in alcohol. Used paper towel to selectively apply the stain. It's probably obvious but the stain is applied with the lathe off :lol:

A few things I've learned:
1. You really need to pay attention to sanding - I only went up to 320 and when you combine that with not having all my stuff unpacked I was unable to do radial sanding. You can see all the marks in the wood. Martin goes to 400, some folks go as high as 600. Adding color makes everything pop, including the sanding scratches.
2. The quality of paper towel matters. Mine is real cheap and has a dot pattern impressed on it. Those dots sometimes got in the way and put more stain down than I wanted when I was trying to blend the colors.
3. Don't forget the sanding sealer step (after color applied.) While putting the oil on I kept getting color bleed off. Some is normal but the green seemed to bleed more and I'm pretty sure that that muddied some of the colors.
4. I think I got this part correct, but ensure the dye is dry before moving on to the next step. I used a heat gun and the surface looked dry - but it may not have been.

Doing colors like this is not for those folks that just want to whip out a turning in record time. It really does require some time between some/most of the steps. I don't believe that Martin's video is available unless you're a member of the group. It was done during a live demo on Facebook. It's too bad, really, as he had a lot of really good info in it.
 

rocky1

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First picture up there is cool as can be Ken!! That looks really nifty!!

Beyond that... the lighter colors look really nifty. Maybe stay away from piling the darker colors up.

First attempt... :good2:

Just watched a video on this method the other night, guy was doing a sunburst effect on curly maple on an electric guitar, it's really nifty stuff!!
 

NYWoodturner

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Ken - Big kudos on giving it a try. I don't think your end result look bad at all. I'm not sure if I'm not a fan of the style or just don't have the guts to try it.
I have seen some finished pieces in that style that make you stop and say "How the hell did they do that"? but have never attempted it. Keep after it !
What kind of wood? I think the grain lines lend themselves to that style well
 

chippin-in

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Looks good. The colors really make it pop.

Robert
 
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Woodchucker

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I used W. D. Lockwood pigments dissolved in alcohol. Used paper towel to selectively apply the stain. It's probably obvious but the stain is applied with the lathe off :lol:

A few things I've learned:
1. You really need to pay attention to sanding - I only went up to 320 and when you combine that with not having all my stuff unpacked I was unable to do radial sanding. You can see all the marks in the wood. Martin goes to 400, some folks go as high as 600. Adding color makes everything pop, including the sanding scratches.
2. The quality of paper towel matters. Mine is real cheap and has a dot pattern impressed on it. Those dots sometimes got in the way and put more stain down than I wanted when I was trying to blend the colors.
3. Don't forget the sanding sealer step (after color applied.) While putting the oil on I kept getting color bleed off. Some is normal but the green seemed to bleed more and I'm pretty sure that that muddied some of the colors.
4. I think I got this part correct, but ensure the dye is dry before moving on to the next step. I used a heat gun and the surface looked dry - but it may not have been.

Doing colors like this is not for those folks that just want to whip out a turning in record time. It really does require some time between some/most of the steps. I don't believe that Martin's video is available unless you're a member of the group. It was done during a live demo on Facebook. It's too bad, really, as he had a lot of really good info in it.
 

Woodchucker

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the web site " Joe the woodworker has a lot of info about using trans tint for coloring.I like the tie dye appearance. I have found the blue paper shop towels work well when I am applying Trans Tint.
 

Gdurfey

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There are several in our turning club doing paint, stains, etc and a lot of other techniques to color. One guy is really good, wish I had pictures. Great work, keep it up and keep us informed.
 

Karl_TN

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@kweinert , Nice first attempt, and thanks for sharing the lessons learned.

Getting a perfect surface is one of the hardest parts of dyeing. The radial scratches can be the most noticeable when dyeing a piece so make sure to remove these between grits (by stopping the lathe to randomly sand by hand). Finally wet the surface with DNA before the last sanding pass in order to raise the grain and highlight any scratches that were missed. No extra equipment needed just a little elbow grease.

Also, I think dyed wood really pops with a glossy or semi-gloss finish. Consider spraying lacquer on your next piece to see how that compares to the oil. Just make sure to keep the first several coats light to keep dyes from running.
 
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