Hollow Form Color Experiment

[Steve Schlumpf]

Everyone knows that you have to step out of your comfort zone every once in a while and try new things in order to grow. I like what I am doing as far as forms but really want to play around with colored dyes and see if they work for me or are just a passing gimmick. I have seen a few folks out there that have done amazing things with dyes and thought I would give it a try. Please forgive the snapshots…

Started off with a really nice curly maple HF - that would have been just fine if left alone - but it had fairly bland color to it and was a great candidate for using dyes.
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Using Black RIT powdered clothing dye, I combined approximately 1 teaspoon with about ¼ cup of denatured alcohol (DNA) in one of those plastic margarine containers and mixed it up using a 1” foam brush. Applied the dye to the form – inside and out – until it was saturated. Using an old towel, I wiped all the excess off and set it out in the garage to dry for a few hours.
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Once the form was dry, using 220 grit sandpaper - sanded everything down. Didn’t try to remove all the dye – just even things out and prep the wood for the next dye.

Using Teal RIT powdered clothing dye, I again combined approximately 1 teaspoon with about ¼ cup of denatured alcohol (DNA) and mixed it up using a new 1” foam brush. Applied the dye to the form – just on the outside – until it was saturated. Using an old towel, I wiped all the excess off and took it back out to the garage to dry for a few hours.
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Once the form was dry (about 3 hours later) - used 280 grit sandpaper and sanded everything down. Once again, not trying to remove all the dye – just even things out and prep the wood for the next dye.

Using Yellow RIT powdered clothing dye, I followed the same application process and stuck the form back out in the garage to dry overnight.
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Tomorrow I will sand the form down with 320 grit and then start applying Wipe-On Gloss Poly. This will deepen the colors and should really make the curl stand out.

As stated – this is an experiment and it either works or it doesn’t. I have my fingers crossed that it will.

Will post photos – instead of snapshots – once the piece is finished.

As always – your opinions, critiques and comments are welcome!

Thanks for looking!

[Curt Fuller]

Of course you know by now that coloring wood is blasphemy in my mind, Steve;);):D. That said, I like watching what you're doing. Using the different colors, similar to washes in watercolor painting, gives the wood some interesting results. I'll be watching to see how this looks with the poly finish. If your interested, check out some of Chris Pytlik's work, http://www.chrispytlikwoodturning.com/ He's a local turner who's work I see at the art shows and he does some amazing things with color. But it's still blasphemy;).

[Bernie Weishapl]

Well Steve that is different. I will be anxious to see what it looks like when the poly is applied. It will be interesting to see how it comes out.

[Alan Tolchinsky]

I see a lot of potential in what you're doing Steve. I'll bet if you can get a nice high gloss finish on those they will look very modern and bring a lot of life to the wood. I can't wait to see the end result.

[George Morris]

Steve I really like your coloring ideas. I have to give this a try. I also have to try piercing and airbrushing. So much to do so little time! Keep up the great work! G

[charlie knighton]

when you climb the learning curve,approaching the summit, its always nice to know there is another aspect where you can start at the bottom...

keep reaching.... enjoy....thanks for sharing

[alex carey]

that certainly makes the grain look wild, lot of potential there. looking forward to the outcome.

[Horst Hohoff]

Steve,

I always approve such efforts, specially after seeing it on a demo in England.
I really liked the result and tried it myself with the same dyes the guy on the
demo used. But so far I'm not happy with my results. But yours looks quite
promising. I'm looking forward to see the final result.

Horst

[Ron Bontz]

Anxiously awaiting results.:)

[Jeff Nicol]

Steve, I have been experimenting with dyes and color for a while and have not tried the RIT stuff yet. I have tons of color and like the idea fo blending and coming up with color combos and seeing how the wood reacts to different things. I kind of liked how the blue looked all alone so another thing to do! We are all waiting for the results!

Jeff

[Mike Minto]

steve, looking forward to seeing the final result. as an aside, regarding HF's, what is the dimension of this piece? how thin are the walls at the extreme outside? i know mine are always too thick, but without turning the opening into a bowl instead of a HF, i just can't get my tools (jamieson, hollowmaster, whatever) all the way over there. got something shopmade? thanks, mike

[Steve Schlumpf]

Mike - the HF is 7" in diameter x 3 1/2" high x 1/8" thick. The top of the form is actually less than 1/8", the shoulder area is closer to 3/16" but overall I'll claim 1/8".

The only hollowing tools I use are the Monster Systems (only reason I mention that is because someone is going to ask) and sometimes you have to be creative with tool combinations to reach into the far corners. In this photo - the goose neck combined with the swivel tool bit holder work well up until the time the goose neck starts rubbing on the opening lip. Then I change over to the straight bar with the 45* extension holding another straight bar with a swivel bit. This combination requires either a bigger opening or, in my case, I switch over to Randy's articulated system so I can get the tool into the opening. Also, lots of torque going on when you start adding weird angles to the mix but as long as you maintain a good burr and make sure the cutter is at the center line or slightly above - it works. To low and the bit either rubs without cutting or it grabs! When working with walls that are 3/16" thick - you can't tolerate to many catches - so you take really light cuts.
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Hope that helps answer your question.

[steven carter]

Steve,

It ended up an apporpriate color, as is resembles the color of my envy. I'm hoping to get into hfs at some point, but for now I just enjoy looking at your progress, and I can't but help thinking that it will help me when I do get to doing them. Thanks for all you do.

Steve

[Scott Hackler]

Well for me it doesnt work. I am more of a natural finish type of guy but I have seen you and others with a few colorized forms and they were nice, but this color doesnt do anything for me.

[Rob Cunningham]

Steve,
Nice shape on the HF. I'm not sure yet how I feel about the colors, I wait to see the finished product.
Since there is no binder in the dye, just dye and DNA, do you find any smearing, lifting or migrating of the color when you put on the first coat of Poly?

[Steve Schlumpf]

Rob - you're not alone when it comes to the color! I'm going to wait and see the finished product before I decide if I like it or not.

First coat of poly has never been a problem - probably because I use a foam brush and saturate the piece. If I were actually wiping it on - I would expect to see a lot of the dye rubbing off onto the paper towel. Once the initial coat dries - I can wipe on additional coats with no problems.

[Ken Whitney]

Steve,

I like the concept, but the dye colors always look kind of "flat" to me. Do they brighten up under the poly?

Ken

[Steve Schlumpf]

Ken - from what little dye work I have done - the poly darkens everything just like it does on a bowl or hollow form. So, if you start with a piece that is fairly dark to begin with - you lose any punch the color might have added.

I started this piece using Black as I wanted that as the background. Then Teal and finally Yellow. Idea was to have it predominantly dark with Teal as the main color with Yellow highlights. Well, that was the idea when I started. We'll see how it all finishes up.

I am beginning to think that I may have to go the same route as Sasha and check into air-brushes just to have more control over where the color goes. Its a thought...

[Alan Tolchinsky]

From what little work I've done with dye you could never tell what the color would look like until the finish was applied. For that reason I always made a lot of test pieces with the finish applied. Usually the finish will really brighten and "pop" the color you've used. I'll bet these are going to look beautiful once the finish is put on.

[Bill Bolen]

Well Steve you have certainly chosen an interesting path to experiment with. I'm very interested in seeing the end of this story.! I've been wanting to play around with some colors myself so your saga is an interesting read for me...Thanks...Bill...

[Richard Madison]

Aha, the next evolution.

Steve, was the form finish sanded before you began the dye work? If so am surprised the first two sanding grades (after dye) were so coarse. What am I missing?

[Steve Schlumpf]

Richard - before I took the HF off the lathe I had sanded it like all my others - to 320 grit. I liked the form and the wood and wasn't 100% sure I wanted to dye it and take a chance of creating really pretty firewood.

When I hand sanded the form after the first dye I used 220 grit to remove a lot of the black color and also to expose fresh wood for the next dye color. Next time I sanded with 280 - then 320 grit but the idea was to take things in stages with each progressive grit removing the sanding marks of the one that came before it. I am sure there has to be a simpler way to do things but this is all trial by fire and just figured I would share the experience - good or bad - and we can all learn from it.

[Richard Madison]

Thanks Steve. I think your finished piece is going to look great.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Thanks Richard - that's one of us....

I went down to the shop earlier this afternoon to check out how the form was looking. Well, I know it is hunting season but I did not want a camouflaged HF. So, grabbed the 320 grit sanding sponge and worked on it a little bit. Added just a touch more Teal dye and am now happy with the result. Will start putting poly on it this evening and we'll see what happens.

[John W Dixon]

I look forward to how this turns out! I really appreciate all the effort to document some of the in-between steps. It is nice to see how you went from a-b-c-d rather than just seeing d if that makes any sense at all. Thanks for your efforts and your experimentation. It drives all of us to do more and try something new.

John

[Dan Hintz]

This thread was brought up in another one recently, but I notice Steve-O never showed us the final product (at least in this thread)... talk about a tease!

[Steve Schlumpf]

Dan - that was because the finished product was shown later... in a different thread. Finished HF (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?121669-Finished-Product-of-HF-Color-Experiment)

Hope that helps!

[Joe Landon]

Steve, looks good. I started my journey of coloring using RIT dyes. The main issue I had was durability. The RIT dyes faded fairly quickly.

Joe

[Michelle Rich]

I'm not ususally a dye person, but I recall your purple one & loved that. I think for me the color has to be deep & penetrating & not the "wash" type I see so often. I guess I'm trying to convey that BOLD is what I like if there is color applied. I will watch your progress and maybe I will be drawn into the dye vortex!

[Alan Trout]

Looking forward to see how it all works out. I bet it looks pretty dang cool.

Alan

[Steve Schlumpf]

Joe - when I started with dyes, you were just coming out with your curly maple HF series! Amazing work and I still view them as prime examples of what can be done with color, form and the right wood to showcase it all!

[Steve Schlumpf]

I thought it did. You can see the final results in this thread (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?121669-Finished-Product-of-HF-Color-Experiment) or check in my gallery. Still can't believe someone found this old thread! :D

[Bill Wyko]

Cindy Drozda does some incredible dying combinations in her video, Finial Star. It never looks like much until the end. As her project came together it looked pretty cool and then she added the clear coat. POW that thing just came alive. I have no doubt this project will as well. You sir, are a true visionary.