Lipstick on a Pig

Lipstick on a PIG

This was one UGLY piece of maple log that I had cut about 10 years ago, and had been sitting in my shop and was pretty dry.

Of course, I did not know how ugly this maple would be until I got into it. It was only big enough to make a box or cut it smaller & make bottle stoppers or pen blanks, so I decided on a lidded box.

I just dyed this thing black to see if it would help it....it did some, but I wasn't happy with it, so sanded the black back on the sides of the box, and put some leftover green artisan dye I had on it........okay, at least I can work with it now. The lid was just ugly, and had this discolored area around what is the knob, and the blank did not yield enough to make a proper size knob, so this knob is part ugly maple and part black walnut! The sequential black/green lipstick features hopefully helps this pig. The bottom is natural color with my signature. Diameter is 4-3/4".

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Nice save, Roger.

I've got a baker's dozen of Ficus pieces that I rough turned. They were cut from a sanding live tree and were very wet. I put about half in large cardboard boxes and half into bags with shavings. Nearly all of them ended up with ugly black mold. I haven't had that problem before but perhaps it was the combination of wet wood and the type of wood. I tried using bleach (actually it was swimming pool chlorine which is 10% concentration - - about 3 X regular bleach in strength). After a few applications, it lightened the black stains but didn't eliminate them. So, I'm considering using some ebony dye (Transtint) like you did on some pieces, try torching one, try balloon painting, etc. I have one that I've dyed blue that will get a finish shortly.

So, you have given me some inspiration to not toss them into the fireplace.

I'm open to other suggestions.

Good luck with your experiment on the Ficus, Bruce! Post a pic when you get done.

Well now Roger, that sure is one "purty pig". As Charlotte would say; "Special"! Nice recovery.

Nice save Roger.

Very pretty for sure. I often dye pieces with thinned black first, sand off most and come back with 1 or 2 different colors. Try it.