Finished Product of HF Color Experiment

[Steve Schlumpf]

Here is the finished version of this thread: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=121497

The hollow form is Maple, 7" in diameter x 3 1/2" high x 1/8" thick, dyed with Black, Teal and Yellow RIT powdered clothing dyes mixed with denatured alcohol (DNA). It has several coats of Minwax Wipe-On Gloss Poly and will get buffed after at least a week curing time.
129280 129281 129282 129283 129284

So, what do you think? Is it worth playing around with this dye stuff or should I stick with natural wood?

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

Thanks for looking!

[Bernie Weishapl]

That is a beauty Steve. The poly really makes it stand out. I would say you did well.

[Harvey Crouch]

It is always good to try out new ideas. We all learn from them. In this case, I would say the results were well worth your effort. Great job.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Steve,

I'll be frank with you. I saw the original post about the dyeing process....and my initial thought was.........Uh......Not for me.....


But now that I have seen the final product. I like it! Very nice!

[Bill Bolen]

Guess I have a bit of "Ken" in me. I too looked at the process, all the colors going on in seperate stages, and did not hold much hope of a success. Boy, was I wrong! That piece is one of those love it or hate it things and I just love the color and the depth of the finish. Grand piece Steve and well worth the time and effort invested. Went back to your album and decided the "candy apple red" is even better than when I first saw it. Will this be another entry to the show? Should be, it is gorgeous,...Bill..

[Jack Mincey]

Steve,
All I can say is AWESOME!! It will be a even bigger hit around March 17th.
Jack

[Ron Lynch]

Wonderful piece, it certainly came out better than I expected after seeing the in progress pics. Apparently the last tweak with the teal dye put it over the top. It certainly doesn't hurt that the form and quality of the work and the wood itself are all top notch.

[Richard Madison]

Extremely successful! Joe L. would be proud of you. Time to get more colors? Maybe try one of those larger hf's that are clogging up the house? Just a thought.

[George Morris]

Steve i like it! I think that you should do both. Maple is a good fit for the dye. I have to try that also looks good.
Keep up the experiments ! G

[Chris Rae]

I like it very much! I think it was well worth your efforts, it's beautiful!

[Eugene Wigley]

Steve, that piece turned out really well. The color and depth is beyond words. I hope you enter it in the show. I know you worked hard on it and those efforts paid off. I'm on the way to the store to get coffee and Rit dye.

[Barry Elder]

It's called creativity and you did a great job! Some wood just cries out for some help and you now know what it takes! Wow!!!

[Pete Jordan]

I like it a ton!

[Brian Brown]

Here is the finished version of this thread: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=121497
Is it worth playing around with this dye stuff or should I stick with natural wood?



Definitely worth playing around with. Just keep good notes with a pic of the final piece attached. When I play with something new that requires multiple steps, I can't remember how I got the final result. The notes will help. By the way nice piece. :)

[Steve Frederick]

Here is the finished version of this thread: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=121497

So, what do you think? Is it worth playing around with this dye stuff or should I stick with natural wood?

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

Thanks for looking!

Absolutely! That's really great. You managed to keep the characteristics of the wood, while adding the interesting color shading.

[Ryan Baker]

Wow. Looks great, Steve. Those last tweaks with the teal and the clear really made the difference. Rainforest.

[Curt Fuller]

I really like the shade of green that was the outcome of mixing all 3 of the other colors. I don't think you could have gotten that from a bottle. And with the finish applied it looks even better. I think there are real possibilities in experimenting with and mixing the colors.

[Nathan Hawkes]

A certain Machiavelli passage comes to mind here: "the end justifies the means"

Nice work!!!! Dyed pieces can be nice, but this is special. I'm waiting to see the next one!!

[robert hainstock]

Or maybe Emerald. Reminds me of a gem stone. It seems to me to be a great way to use that kinda No grain wood like maple , beech, Birch, etc.
Great piece. :D:D:D
Bob

[phil harold]

Keep at it!

reds or blues would be my choice

but you did make green look nice...

[Kirk Miller]

Steve,
That is a very nice piece. I really like it. It was very interesting watching it devlop. I am going to have to give that a shot. Thank you very much for sharing.

Kirk

[Keith Burns]

Excellent form and the dye is perfect as well. Keep it up !

[Mark P. Brown]

Great looking piece. If I lived closer than 1060 miles SW of you I would come for a visit.
Mark

[Mike Svoma]

I love how this one turned out, Steve. I think you should keep on playing with the dye.

Mike

[Ken Whitney]

Steve,

Keep it up! The poly really makes the color much richer.

I may have to give it a try, although I'm afraid my results might look like lime jello or an easter egg :)

Thanks,

Ken

[charlie knighton]

i agree with George, very nice piece

[Dolan Brown]

Steve,

Normally I shy away from putting any color on wood - but I admit I have been thinking that maybe I should try it one of these day. Well you have convinced me that I should. Wow that is a beautiful piece of art. You did good by that wood.

[Joe Meirhaeghe]

I like it.
Although Green isn't my 1st choice. I do like to ad color to some of my pieces too. I usually use acrylics for my colors. However it now looks like I may have to try some dye's some time.

[Alan Tolchinsky]

Steve, That was a success! The dye plus the finish really ADDED a lot to the piece. Isn't that what really determines success? It definitely doesn't subtract from the piece. The color brought out the grain and made it more visible and more interesting. I'd like to see it in different colors.

[Harvey Ghesser]

Just amazing!!.......georgous piece!!

[alex carey]

that is a winner. nice job.

[Billy Tallant]

Wow that looks oustanding. Definately keep it up. I've been wanting to try some color designs on some pens. Now I know I got to play with some color dyes. Great job!!!:)

[Rob Cunningham]

Steve, That came out much nicer than I thought it would from the original post. The poly really brought the whole thing together. I would say it was well worth the effort. Outstanding piece.

[Dave Halter]

Steve,
I like how you can see the variations in color throughout the piece. Really makes the grain pop out. I would say you're on to something and you should keep "experimenting".

Dave

[Paul Engle]

Oh yeah... absolutely PERFECT , Steve :D:D:D, I never tried the alcohol mix , did the salts desolve ? Does not seem to matter with a finish over the top ...beautiful work indeed.

[mike fuson]

Nice work Steve, one of the best dye jobs that I have seen.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Wanted to thank everyone once again for all the kind words - I do appreciate it!

Also, I included this as one of the three entries into the juried art show that I am entering. Decided to call this piece 'Gem' and hope that the name explains it all.

Thanks again everyone!

[Ryan Baker]

Steve, the techniques you are experimenting with are basically the same ones that luthiers have used for years to dye and enhance guitar tops (frequently figured maple and similar). You might want to spend some time on the web checking out their techniques ... it might give you some new ideas or shorten the learning curve in places.

[Richard Madison]

Steve, Congrats on getting the cover today on WoW.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Thanks Richard! Appreciate it!

[Toney Robertson]

Steve, Congrats on getting the cover today on WoW.

Richard,

Please excuse my ignorance but what is WoW?

I have seen that reference before and I have no idea of what it is.

Thanks,

Toney

[Richard Madison]

Toney,
It's the World of Woodturners site on My Family.com. They have a photo of the day on the front page that you get when you log in/on.

[James Roberts]

WOW! What an awesome piece! Like some others I followed along on your process out of "morbid curiosity", waiting to see if it was worth the trouble or not. Definitely worth all the work you put into this piece, it's beautiful. Your work continues to surprise and inspire the rest of us.

[Greg Ketell]

Dang that is sweet. I really like the way the more twisty sections look (photo 2 and 4).

I would certainly keep at it. It looks really nice!!

[Rick Markham]

I really like it Steve. I think the final product was worth it. It turned out to be a very beautiful color.

[Jamie Donaldson]

200971200971I've just now seen this thread for the first time, and suggest that another variation is to first apply a wash of black acrylic paint pigment diluted to taste with alcohol, then sand back before applying a second coat of another color. The acrylic pigments are light safe, cheap, and available in a rainbow of colors. The black really adds depth to the figure of the wood, then a good gloss finish really finishes it off.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/images/misc/pencil.png
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/images/misc/pencil.png

[Dan Hintz]

Jamie,

Other than it being dye rather than acrylic paint, that sounds exactly like what Steve did... any advantage to the acrylic over dye?

[Michelle Rich]

GO FOR IT..looks super. I think Joe Landon does dye well too..his hollow forms have stood out for a long time.

[Jon Nuckles]

Steve,

I'm glad this was brought back to the top, as I have really admired your and Joe's dyed work. If I recall correctly, you have switched from the RIT dyes to something more colorfast. If that is right, can you remind me what it is? I want to try this when I work my way through my current walnut pile and get back to some lighter woods.

Jon

[Jamie Donaldson]

I don't know about the archival qualities of the RIT fabric dyes, and many of the aniline dyes used by woodworkers for years are not at all light safe. Acrylic paint and drawing ink pigments are quite light tolerant without fading, and anyone working with color should consider the light resistance of the materials they're using.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Jon - I am using TransTint dyes at this time because I could pick them up while in St. Paul. I am sure there must be better options and may try some of the pigments Jamie has been talking about.

[robert raess]

Not only is it beautiful,it has great shape!One thing i feel certain about, is the dye popped the grain much more than if it was un-dyed.

[Gary Conklin]

Jamie, when using the acrylic paint do you still get the same grain pop on curly lumber?

[Bill Wyko]

Steve, do you have a link to a site that has instructions on how to get my jaw off the floor? That is absolutely magnificent. You never cease to amaze me. This one is a real show stopper for sure. I was planning on using some dye on my next project. You've truly inspired me to do so.

[Ed Morgano]

Steve,
I've seen some posts where people don't like the color but I'm not one of them. That is simply beautiful. I haven't tried the multi color technique but it's on my list. Nice work. Oh, and the form is beautiful too.

[Joe Meirhaeghe]

Steve
You know I love to use color's in most of my work. I think your on the right track here & I really like the piece. However I would like to see a second color for some contrast. Maybe a little black or gold around the opening. Just a thought.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Joe - there are 3 colors in the piece already and if I remember correctly (this thread is 3 years old) I let the wood dictate which color would come to the forefront.

Was great spending time with you at the symposium - hope to be able to do that again soon!

[Joe Meirhaeghe]

I need my eyes checked, even though you used 3 colors to get the finished color it looks predominately green to me.
I also had a great time talking with you & hope that someday we can spend some more time together. I hope you don't blame me for spending so much money on the Robust after our little talk....

Joe - there are 3 colors in the piece already and if I remember correctly (this thread is 3 years old) I let the wood dictate which color would come to the forefront.

Was great spending time with you at the symposium - hope to be able to do that again soon!

[Steve Schlumpf]

The piece is predominately green - nothing wrong with your eyes! When viewed in person, green is predominate, then teal and last is black. You do get varying intensities of color, depending on endgrain or facegrain. This piece is still in my possession and remains one of my favorites. You have to see the color and the curl together to really appreciate the piece!

I had my mind made up about the Robust months before the symposium! Still, it is nice to get the perspective of those that have used one! Just confirmed that I was making the right decision!