Question on dyeing!

[Jonathon.C]

As most of you know, I make a lot of wands... I want to dye some of them to look antiqued. I managed to do it with one of my wands, but it was more of a messed up dye job that turned out alright... do any of you have some suggestions on this???

Jonathon

 

[TurningDog]

my personal preference for dye is powered ritt dye mixed with denatured alcohol.

 

[Steve Worcester]

Liberons metalized water based dies.

But I don't know if dyes are going to give you an aged look. Depending on the wood, amonnia fuming, as would be used to age cherry and oak, may work better for you.

 

[underdog]

Use a glaze.
When making an "antiqued" look on cabinets I use a glaze.
Distress, Seal/stain, lacquer, glaze, top coat w/ lacquer.

The idea is that when applying and wiping off the glaze that it accumulates in the corners and crevices and makes it look like years of accumulated.... errr.... grime. 🙄 Ick.

 

[TEK]

dye

I'd try fiebing's antique finish. It's made for leather. I used to do leather tooling. The finish is a paste that you wipe on and then wipe off. It is darker where it stays in the depressions and lighter where it is rubbed off. It really did a good job on leather.I never tried it on wood, but it's worth a try. It needs a finish over the top of it too. I did a web search on it and it is still available. It runs a little less than $6 a jar. One jar would do a lot of wands. I just may have to try it myself.

 

[TurningDog]

Liberons metalized water based dies.

The problem with water based dyes is they will raise the grain, hence the reason I prefer to mix mine with denatured alcohol.

 

[Steve Worcester]

The problem with water based dyes is they will raise the grain, hence the reason I prefer to mix mine with denatured alcohol.

I have never really noticed it, and I don't see it as a problem because I use the dye as a step in the process which usually involves lacquer (many coats) over the top, or wax applied with 2K or 4K abralon pads

 

[Bill Boehme]

Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody . . . . .

The problem that I have had with using alcohol as the solvent for dye is that it soaks into the wood quickly and then evaporates before I can get a uniform color. Plus, the alcohol seems to allow the dye to penetrate latex gloves.

I found that leather dye and/or paste shoe polish work well in producing an antique look. On porous wood, it is good to spray very lightly with a thinned coat of lacquer first.

I did this on a bowl recently and thought that the results looked "interesting". At least one other person also thought that it was interesting because they actually bought it (OK, it was a charity auction).

Bill

 

[Dave Smith]

I didn't know you made a lot of wands.

Hi Jonathon,

You said, "I want to dye some of them to look antiqued."

I am sure you know what you mean by antiqued but there is a fair amount of ambiguity in the word antiqued. What type wood are you using? You could just make a friction polish with garnet shellac and kill two birds with one stone. I make friction polish with equal parts of boiled linseed oil(BLO), pale shellac and denatured alcohol. For use on maple and other light woods I use tung oil instead of the BLO. Perhaps a little bit of alcohol based dye added to the friction polish would yield the results you want. Or maybe a shellac burn in stick of the desired color could be used as the first coat. I imagine friction heat would melt the color stick enough for application. Being the cheap fellow I am I would probably just use paste shoe polish belore using the friction polish.

I need to make a few wands for family members. I do know that coconut palm, purple heart and white oak are not good materials for making wands. Not that most turners need to be told that.

Good luck.

Dave Smith

Down river from Camas in Longview, WA.

 

[Jonathon.C]

Thx for all this information... I simply wanted my wands to look like they have been around for a while: grime in places and an overall look like they have been handled alot. I am using all different types of woods... it is with the lighter woods that I notice that they are really plain looking and I was hoping distressing them would fix that! If anybody has any more suggestions I would love to hear them!!!

I do know that coconut palm, purple heart and white oak are not good materials for making wands. Not that most turners need to be told that.

What is wrong with these woods... I have used red oak and purple heart several times!!!

Jonathon

 

[underdog]

Hmmm...

For "looking handled" I would recommend some black toner and then sand through it to another color below it.

Cherry with a warm red stain like fireside or heirloom with a black toner on top, then rubthrough is a real hot item in cabinets around here right now.

I'd stain/seal and then put a coat of lacquer on, then a toner, rub through the toner in spots and then hit it with the clear coat again.

Just some ideas.

In reference to my earlier suggestion, I'll bet you can get glaze at any paint store. I'd stain with a light stain then glaze with a darker burnt brown color.

I like your ideas, and your wands. I think I need to turn some more of these, and try some of this out.

 

[TurningDog]

Plus, the alcohol seems to allow the dye to penetrate latex gloves.

Bill

Two words: nitrile gloves.

 

[Jonathon.C]

Now I gotta do some experimenting... thanks for all the helpful replies!!!!!

Jonathon

 

[Ed Davidson]

I've used Solar Lux dyes for several years with great success. It's an alcohol based dye and will not raise the grain. Just sand as you normally would, apply the dye with a paper towel (like on a wand’s handle area) while the lathe is turning slowly, let it dry, then apply a coat of sanding sealer and buff. Here are some examples: My Magic Wand page

 

[Bill Boehme]

Here are some examples........

2 kool, Yo. A new spin on making wands. Makes me want to turn a wand myself.

Bill

 

[Jonathon.C]

Ok... here is what I did... the picture is kinda dark and not very good, but you get the idea. In the other picture the light one in the middle is the one that I dyed. Thanks for all the suggestions!!!

Jonathon