Dieing to dye this bowl

[Allen Howell]

I’m posting this on several forums, so please, if you have some advice don’t ignore my plea just because you’ve seen it elsewhere. Thanks in advance.

I have a Cherry bowl with a wavy rim and I want to dye the top with a blue dye. This will be my first attempt at using dyes, so I have zero experience to draw from. I would like to have some experienced folks give me advice on a couple of things. First, which type of dye (not necessarily brand) will work best with Cherry. I want a fairly deep blue color. I plan on using a pie plate to put the dye in and then dropping the bowl into for ____ minutes. How does that sound?

Any other advice is also appreciated.

 

[Bob Edwards]

wavy rim??

I'm not sure what you mean by wavy rim, and if it is wavy how can you dip it an follow the contour of the rim? Most dyes or ink will bleed giving a fuzzy edge. There are ways to prevent or reduce this but will be difficult if it's dipped. A photo of the piece would help as well as the measurements.

 

[Jim Keenan]

I’m posting this on several forums, so please, if you have some advice don’t ignore my plea just because you’ve seen it elsewhere. Thanks in advance.

I have a Cherry bowl with a wavy rim and I want to dye the top with a blue dye. This will be my first attempt at using dyes, so I have zero experience to draw from. I would like to have some experienced folks give me advice on a couple of things. First, which type of dye (not necessarily brand) will work best with Cherry. I want a fairly deep blue color. I plan on using a pie plate to put the dye in and then dropping the bowl into for ____ minutes. How does that sound?

Any other advice is also appreciated.

Here is one I did with an air brush.

 

[Bill Boehme]

Like Bob Edwards, I am also unclear on what you mean by wavy (natural raw edge, warped, textured, chatter, divots, waves in the breeze , etc.)

In any case, you might try Prismacolor. I took a class with Andi Wolfe a few years ago and Prismacolor pens work quite well for pastel type coloring of very light wood. If your cherry bowl has sapwood on the rim, then it might work. For darker wood, Liquitex and Jacquard Lumiere acrylic colors thinned with water and applied with a small flame tip brush might be the way to go. Some of the metallic, halo, pearlescent, and interference colors work really well on wood.

If you are cross posting, it is best to not announce it as that is a good way to get minimal response not to mention that on some other forums your post might be deleted. It is considered spamming in many circles.

 

[Steve Worcester]

Prismacolor will give you the most control over the edge line, with the least amount of bleed. Unless there is a dividing line, a bead or something, you will get bleed into the other areas.
The potentially more difficult part is if you want a bright blue, is the background. Use a color wheel and with a brown background, you won't get a bright blue.
Practice on a smooth piece of the same log, or just experiment on the piece you have knowing it is the beginning of the journey.
An airbrush would allow you to mask off the area, and then by thinning out the dyes or paint, build up to a color. An airbrush is design for super thin coats.

 

[glenkey]

Allen, I use anline dyes. You can mix with distilled water or denatured achohl. Using a cheap foam bursh I paint it on, then wipe off the excess, sand a little then paint on more. If you don't want the color to bleed, put a finish on before starting the coloring process. If you are using the dyes mentioned you can mix to the color depth you want.
The method I use is from Joe Landon, he has a blog on Lumber Jocks.
Hope this helps.

 

[Betty Scarpino]

I’m posting this on several forums, so please, if you have some advice don’t ignore my plea just because you’ve seen it elsewhere. Thanks in advance.

I have a Cherry bowl with a wavy rim and I want to dye the top with a blue dye. This will be my first attempt at using dyes, so I have zero experience to draw from. I would like to have some experienced folks give me advice on a couple of things. First, which type of dye (not necessarily brand) will work best with Cherry. I want a fairly deep blue color. I plan on using a pie plate to put the dye in and then dropping the bowl into for ____ minutes. How does that sound?

Any other advice is also appreciated.

Allen,
Depending on the nature of the cherry, you might try bleaching the area first with two-part wood bleach. Doing so will remove the dark cherry color (some cherry does not bleach well, some does). Neutralize that area after bleaching (directions come with the bleach) and wipe the wood with a damp cloth. Then apply the dye. That should give you a more intense blue color, rather than simply trying to dye the cherry. The wood grain will be still be visible.


Betty Scarpino, editor, AW

 

[Bill Luce]

Here is one I did with an air brush.

One big issue in uniform dyeing is whether the piece is side grain or end grain.

Also if it's natural edge side grain and thin, be careful when you bleach because bleach is mostly water and the rim can crack at the endgrain.

DAMHIK

 

[Allen Howell]

Thanks,folks, for all the replies/information! I'm still not sure what Im going to do with the bowl, but when I do finally get somewhere with it, I'll post resulting process and pics (if I don't totally mess it up, anyway, or maybe even if I do, so others can learn from my mistakes).

Allen

 

[Mike Peace]

I tend to do better with new surface treatments by first experimenting and climbing that learning curve before attempting something new and experimental on a nice piece I have turned that I do not want to ruin.