Dyed and not dyed...

[Steve Vaughan]

OK, with much inspiration from all of you, I've turned an experimental bowl to do a little bit of woodburning and then dye it black. Thought I'd do something a little different though by keeping the inside natural. For the dye, I used Kiwi shoe dye, and put about three coats on. Each coat though was rubbed in and rubbed in...not quite like wiping stain on and wiping off. The first coat raised the grain, thankfully I'd already raised the grain with water while still on the lathe and sanded that all out to 400. I sprayed the inside and the top rim with a light coat of shellac - specifically to keep the dye from bleeding into the grain at the edge going from the rim down into the inside. Once I sanded all that smooth, I taped the inside edge of the bowl, trimmed that with a razor to give a pretty smooth but clean transitional edge. Once dyed, I steelwooled the dye, sanded and steelwooled the inside, several coats of lacquer, sanded, buffed with steel wool, then waxed and buffed.

The woodburning was just a simple basket weave sort of thing, just a creative thing - nothing to go by. An easy, simple design to start with for the first time. And, there's a few places where the finish didn't quite become what I'd hoped, but overall, learned a lot and will still make a great gift. Thoughts?

[Roger Chandler]

Steve,

I think this is a great piece! Very creative, and great form. The combination of natural and dyed finish is really impressive!

I really like this one a lot!

Were you able to make the symposium in Fishersville?

[Thom Sturgill]

Very nice. One of the things i like about SMC is the fact that many, if not most, here seem to push their skills and turnings to new levels. Much more so than I see in the club I belong to. I expect to see much more in this vein as you work through this level of artistry. I just did my first dye job (burning is still a ways off) and know that there is a considerable learning curve when one starts 'enhancing' the turnings with color and textures.

I particularly liked keeping the inside natural, and personally would probably have toned down the outside so that the pyrography contrasted more.

[Tony De Masi]

I like this piece alot. Nice contrast between the inside/outside with the burning giving it a little extra something to look at.

Very well done.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Very nice work! I like how you kept the interior natural - really enhances the piece! Great job on keeping the dye/natural boundary clean - not easy to do!

I like the idea of burning your detail ring but agree with Thom - having the exterior dyed black hides that the detail ring is burned in.

I look forward to seeing where this takes you!

[Ken Glass]

Steve,
Great creativity. I really like this one. It has a wonderful contrast and the burning and then dye, give it an old world look. Well Done.

[Steve Vaughan]

Thanks for the comments and suggestions!

Roger, did not make the symposium...I heard about it on here but had a church event to take care of (I'm the pastor). Speaking of that, where does one find, or keep up with, that sort of information?

Thom and Steve, I thought about at least keeping it lighter around the woodburn, and think I might do something like that on another piece. One issue with the woodburning to keep an eye on is dealing with the areas close to the actual line you burn and not wanting the scorched wood to show, just the line itself. But, and I almost did this, there's great potential on a piece like this to dye it black (or whatever color), and then sand lightly so that you do begin to see the wood and grain around the woodburn show through the color - something of a 'worn and used' look, as if it was an older, well handled piece. Lots of options for creativity for sure.

Ya'll just keep a'talkin now, cause I'm gonna just keep a'learnin'! Thanks for all the help!

[John Keeton]

Steve, I like the piece, and particularly like the accent ring. However, without mention of pyrography, it simply appears to be nicely carved, so you did OK on this one anyway!! I do agree if one is to appreciate the pyrography, then the dye application probably doesn't work in this instance.

I understand that rubbing the pyro area with DNA will remove much of the scorched look.

[David E Keller]

I like this bowl a lot. It reminds me a bit of some of the japanese lacquered rice bowls. I've considered doing something like this, but I never settled on a way to keep the dyed and undyed portions nicely separated... You've obviously figured that part out nicely. I personally like the subtlety of the pyro/textured area. Thanks for posting this one!

[Jim Burr]

That's fantastic Steve!! Even though the pyro is a bit masked, since it's your first shot at it, better to add some camo to it rather than come out with guns blazing and detract from the great form and dye job. The separation is great!!

[Robert McGowen]

I think that your finish on this is awesome. You accent band is very subtle with the polish over it and I think that it works here.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Really nice piece. I agree and do like the contrast of colors.

[Baxter Smith]

The contrasting inside looks great.

[Tony Pridmore]

Spectacular! I think the pyro-texturing is great and I really like how clean the dye line is on the rim. Another feature that stands out is the rim detail. All so well done.

Just how much of the rim did you spray w/ shellac? My experience with leather dye has been that it bleeds a lot. I would have guessed that to get the clean line you would have had to spray nearly the entire bead. Even then it seems as though it would seep under the tape. I haven't used the Kiwi dye, just Fiebing's. Maybe that's the difference. What kind of wood is it?

-Tony

[Steve Vaughan]

Thanks again for all the comments.

Tony, I sprayed one light coat of shellac in the inside and the top of the rim. After drying, I sanded that coat with 400 paper. My goal was to seal the wood to keep the dye from bleeding, but in sanding, I wanted to allow something for the dye to "grip" onto as well as allow for a smooth surface.

For the tape, I used that new Frog brand of painters tape, thinking that the new-fangled technology would keep any bleeding at bay. It may have helped, but I read on the package after taping that this tape was developed specifically for water-based paints...oh well. Just so yall know, that stuff is way too expensive! Once I taped the inside edge, and cut off the access, I gave it a good rub with the fingernail along the edge where it would meet the dye.

The wood is gum...the gum tree that has those nasty little balls that will stick the daylights out of your bare feet!

[Leo Van Der Loo]

OK, with much inspiration from all of you, I've turned an experimental bowl to do a little bit of woodburning and then dye it black. Thought I'd do something a little different though by keeping the inside natural. For the dye, I used Kiwi shoe dye, and put about three coats on. Each coat though was rubbed in and rubbed in...not quite like wiping stain on and wiping off. The first coat raised the grain, thankfully I'd already raised the grain with water while still on the lathe and sanded that all out to 400. I sprayed the inside and the top rim with a light coat of shellac - specifically to keep the dye from bleeding into the grain at the edge going from the rim down into the inside. Once I sanded all that smooth, I taped the inside edge of the bowl, trimmed that with a razor to give a pretty smooth but clean transitional edge. Once dyed, I steelwooled the dye, sanded and steelwooled the inside, several coats of lacquer, sanded, buffed with steel wool, then waxed and buffed.

The woodburning was just a simple basket weave sort of thing, just a creative thing - nothing to go by. An easy, simple design to start with for the first time. And, there's a few places where the finish didn't quite become what I'd hoped, but overall, learned a lot and will still make a great gift. Thoughts?

Steve this is a very graceful bowl, if that is the right word for it, the embellishment is softened by the dye, it goes well with the natural inside look, and the bowl itself has a nice shape as well.

I really like the look of it, well done :D

[Ken Whitney]

Steve,

Beautiful work.

I particularly like the pyrography. While the dye does mute it somewhat, I like the combination.

On the pyrography, did you do that on the lathe? Using an index wheel?

Ken

[Steve Vaughan]

Leo & Ken, thanks. With this being the first attempt at dyeing and woodburning, my goal was to do a simple woodburn pattern. I wanted to dye all the outside so that the woodburning would be somewhat subtle, and I wanted the finish to be a soft sheen.

I did the outer rings of the pattern on the lathe with a turning tool, then marked all the perpendicular lines with a pencil using the indexing feature...I think it was 24 of them. Then burned all the lines for consistency and free-handed all the in-between stuff. First time burning, so it had to be simple, but I think I'm liking it.

But let me also give credit here where credit's due. Of course, all of you with your knowledge, all of you are just plain smart with this stuff. But back in the spring, the spring issue of the Packard Woodworking Tool catalog featured on it's cover a piece of Molly Winton's HF work - woodburned with a beautiful pattern of repeating horses, basketweave, and textured background around the horses, and then dyed black. A beautiful piece that caused me to just say out loud that when I grow up, I want to do something just like that! So, this is a start...and thanks again!