dying a pen question

[penmaker1967]

hi guys and gals hope this is the right place for this question i am turning down a curly maple pen blank and i am wanting to give dying the pen a try how do i go about this i have seen a few pens that look very well on here that was dyed i have red yellow green and blue dye how do i go about this any ideas will be helpful. do i put the dye on in stages and let dry or do i pu the colors on at the same time and what about the finsh i am planning on doing a ca finsh how do i go about doing this when the blank is dyed .thanks for all the help

 

[ldb2000]

Sand your blank to final sanding then apply the dye , let it dry and do your CA finish . If you sand the blank after you dye it you will take off some of the dyed surface layer and you will have uneven coloration . Sometimes this can look good but most times not so much .
Also , what type of dye are you using . If you are using food coloring , you can use it straight out of the bottle . Analine dyes are sometimes too strong to use full strength and will not come out the color you want so test a piece of the same wood first and thin the dye to lighten the color .

 

[penmaker1967]

i am using food color dye thanks for the info

 

[rherrell]

Like Butch says, do all your sanding first. After it dries I use a piece of brown paper bag to burnish it, it helps give it some shine.

These are Curly Maple colored with McCormicks food coloring and finished with CA.