Crimson Bowl

[Steve Schlumpf]

This is an experiment in color! Please let me know what you think!

Plain maple bowl, with no interesting grain characteristics, dyed with RIT Crimson Red dye. The dye was dissolved (somewhat) in DNA and applied to the bowl using a 1” foam brush. I have dyed a couple of white birch hollow forms before and thought I knew what to expect – wrong! The maple sucked in the DNA dye mixture so fast that it was hard to keep a wet edge while applying the dye. Would have been nicer to have had a bucket to just dip the bowl in – but maybe next time! Anyway, the bowl sucked in so much of the dye that it warped – BAD. Thought it was going to split right down the middle but as it dried out it did return to its finished form.

Crimson Red Maple Bowl, 8 ½” x 3 ½” x 5/16” thick, sanded to 320 grit and has 7 coats of Minwax Wipe-On Gloss Poly. Plan on buffing it once the poly cures for a few weeks.

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

Thanks for looking!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Steve....To quote Jed Clampett.... "Whew doggies!" That is certainly crimson! Beautiful Steve. I like the form and though the color is loud it definitely looks good. I like it!

[curtis rosche]

it almost looks like plastic

[Glenn Clabo]

How'd ya know that's my favorite color Steve?
Pretty neat...

[Bernie Weishapl]

I like it Steve. Great form, color and finish.

[Don Carter]

That looks great, Steve, but being a MS State fan and certainly not a Crimson Tide fan, could ya do one in Maroon?;)

Just kidding, that looks great! How fast did it take to warp and return to form?:)

[Matt Hutchinson]

You know, I generally don't prefer dyed turnings, but I actually think I like this one. ;) Nice work! I am surprised at how evenly the dye took. That could be a bowl that would sell great during the Christmas season. Way to think outside the box....I mean bowl. :D

Hutch

[Benjamin Dahl]

Steve, I think it came out great. For all the problems you described I can't think of anything I don't like about it.
Ben

[Mike Minto]

Steve, I have to say that my first two (and so far only) experiences with dye (Mixol) haven't made me a fan. Your bowl, however, looks great, and makes me think I should try it again! Mike

[Richard Madison]

Looks great, Steve! The RIT dyes are inexpensive and readily available. Am curious how well it dissolved in DNA, as I want to try it that way to thin some epoxy and see if the color is fairly saturated.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Thanks for the kind words everyone! I do appreciate it!

Don - the bowl took a little over 24 hours before it was back to original shape. When I did the hollow forms I only had to wait a couple of hours before they were dry enough to apply poly.

Richard - RIT is cheap and have some great colors to choose from - should you want to give it a try. When mixed with DNA it will partly disolve (there are always grains of undisolved dye at bottom of container) - meaning the DNA will take on the color and using a foam brush can grab just the colored DNA and apply it. I put about 1/2 teaspoon in a small butter container and mix it with 1/2 cup of DNA, (nothing is actually measured) stir it up for a few seconds and start applying. The DNA evaporates extremely quickly - which is good if you have a small project. If you have to stop and mix more dye solution you take a chance of having darker areas on the wood.

Hope that helps some.

[earl timmons]

Steve that is really a nice bowl. I never would have had the nerve to go to a color like that. I tried dying a hackberry bowl black once upon a time and while it dyed OK. I had a heck of time getting a finish on it afterword.

I used a water based dye and it took a bazzilion coats before the color evened out. Once it did I tried Antique oil. I could not get it to even out. Blotchy no matter how many coats. I wonder if the water based dye was the big mistake. I think I will try your combination.

Thanks for a goal to shoot for, well done

[Keith Burns]

Excellent bowl Steve. Great from and the dye is very nice. I like it !

[Curt Fuller]

Wow, that sure is red! I'm not much of a fan of coloring wood. The natural colors of the wood are what I like. But that's as good of a dye job as I've seen. I've never heard of anyone mixing the Rit dye with DNA. Maybe that's the ticket. It looks as though the DNA dye mixture saturated the wood pretty evenly and came out the color that was intended. It is a very nice looking bowl. Maybe if you would have said it was bloodwood I would have liked it more;).

[Jim Becker]

Geepers...that looks like a crimson bowl!! LOL Very crimson. Nice...

[mike fuson]

I really like it Steve. The good finish makes the red stand out.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

BoyoBoy Steve, That was a beautiful shape bowl, it Still is :D, and for Maple being notorious for blotchiness, you done a great job, still It is hard on my eyes :eek:, Yes I prefer the natural wood look to this, but you sure did a great job on this one :D

[Steve Schlumpf]

Thanks everyone for your comments!

I have to admit that I am one of those guys who really likes wood - to look like wood - but every once in awhile you want to try new things.

Like I stated in the beginning of this post - this was an experiment in color - just something I wanted to try out to see if it could liven up some otherwise bland looking wood. Well - it brightened it alright but you really have to like the color red! I may check into doing some other colors at some point this winter - when I'm really bored.

[Jim Becker]

The nice thing about transparent dyes, Steve, is that they still let the wood figure show through clearly...your next assignment is to try airbrushing multiple colors onto the same piece and blending them... LOL

[robert hainstock]

"We know not if we expirement not. Yhat might be a way to deal with popler, or beech. Anyway it looks good, and could set on my counter. :):)
Bob