Color finials without bending

[Phil Rose]

I think I'm getting better at making the finials, ala Cindy Drozda. The change to Holly allowed me to get MUCH finer/thinner;), and the acquisition of the Vortex tool made a world of difference in the crispness of many of the details;).

Where I'm running into trouble is in coloring the white holly without adding so much moisture that the wood warps:mad:.

The closest I got to finding a solution was to gently wipe on a black tinted epoxy. Looks great ... just like plastic ... but not without a lot of waste (takes a few applications to build up enough thickness).

Also, I'd really like some of the grain to show through.

Any hints?

-Phil

[Bernie Weishapl]

Phil on some I use a sharpie like she does and it works well. If I am going to tint or color them I use transtint dyes mixed with Denatured alochol. It doesn't raise the grain or warp the finial. I found something a little better is from Hobby Lobby and is India ink. I just brush it on with a small brush. You can get all kinds of colors.

[Scott Hackler]

Black leather dye works pretty well, too.

[John Keeton]

The Sharpie, leather dye and Transtint are all alcohol based and will work well. The leather dye is highly concentrated and doesn't take much, and, of course, Transtint can be mixed in alcohol (or water) very concentrated, as well.

Holly does not always show well with colors. The grain is much different than maple, and I personally do not care for how it looks when dyed a transparent color. But, if you want that look, then I would suggest the Transtint dyes to avoid warping.

For black, you might also consider flat black spray paint, followed with 2-3 coats of spray lacquer. It doesn't show the grain, but as I stated, I don't care for that with holly. Most of the time, I will use African Blackwood, though holly is a dream to turn!

If you can find it, there is also a black spray lacquer.

[Steve bellinger]

phil i do most of my finial in holly then dye. I don't under stand why yours are warping? Is it still wet wood? i cut my pieces from the trees on my own land, cut them up to 1 1/2x 1 1/2 blanks. micro wave them off and on for a week or so, then just let them sit till i need one. As far as the dye i'm cheap so i just found some left over black printer ink the wife had and use that, works good for me.

[Phil Rose]

Thank you for all the suggestions everyone.

I decided I needed a small break today, so went out and found some blackwood. I think this is exactly what I'm looking for.

Learning from the Drozda videos ... I'll try and post some pics tomorrow.

[Phil Rose]

OK ... hope this upload works. I'm still working on the shapes, but you can see progression from left to right across the pics. I started in mahogany, tried a bit of holly, and the latest are in blackwood. Also showing a small lided contained in canarywood.
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[John Keeton]

Phil, those are some excellent examples of finials! Great job on them. I wonder what one of the shorter finials would look like on the dish? I suspect you have already glued the black one, though.