Color and wood get to art -- processes are not repeatable because the wood changes unless you are using glazes (color added between layers of finish).
Maple is a wonderful place to try things. You have lots of choices for color agent, depending on your expectation for stability of color over time. Think Ultra Violet fading.
I find that acrylic inks are an excellent source of color to play with because the pigments in the ink tend to be color fast, and do not fade easily. The pigments in inks are more fine than they are in traditional artist colors and wood stains. The next up in fine pigments are paints designed expressly for air brushing applications (yet another slippry slope in decoration). Inks are videly available at moderate cost in small containers with a wide range of colors.
Aniline dyes are more durable than such products as food colors. Alcohol solvent vs water is better on wood with aniline dye because of the tendency of water to raise grain.
Sanding does not have much effect on dyes, but does affect the effect on inks and stains with pigments. You need some texture to hold the fine pigments.
You can get more uniform colors, or can use sanding and recoloring to alter shades and effects. I like to back sand fiddleback maple or birdseye maple to bring out contrasts. The birdseyes act as end grain and take more color/pigment. Burls are all mixed up grain.
The use of a shellac wash coat to seal the grain will allow better control of the amount of color for light shading applicaitons, and a resealing of each layer of color helps keep the colors from muddling together.
A light yellow undercoat followed by other colors is sometimes magic.
I learned a lot about color watching Cindy Drozda at demos -- take a look at her videos for some ideas on color - she uses lots of maple burl and mixes color and sanding.