I said "dyed" not "died"!

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MorganGrafixx

MorganGrafixx

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Jan 20, 2009
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Location
Snelville, GA
So I decided to try out this dying process I learned from the Georgia Chapter meeting on a piece of Eucalyptus. I put my emphasis on the word "try". I think this will get chalked up as one of those "good idea, bad execution" projects.

I just wanted to tint the wood and have it fade into the natural wood color. Instead what happened was, after turning the blank and sanding I started dying it with food coloring and Rit dye. After one coat, i think a large beam fell from overhead and knocked me out cold. When I came to, it appeared as though the Easter Bunny paid me a visit early and took a rainbow $h!t all over my beautifully prepared Eucalyptus blank. I decided that in order not to hurt his feelings I would go ahead and finish it with a CA coat and assemble it.

View at your own risk!
 

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Snake eats Bunny

I didn't think bunny when I saw it, I thought reptile! I think the blank works. There may be a better kit that would work for it, but the blank turned out great IMHO. Could you expand a little bit more on your technique for dying the wood? I have quilted maple and it might be nice to do Easter pens instead of Easter eggs this year! : )

Martin
 
MartinPens said:
I didn't think bunny when I saw it, I thought reptile! I think the blank works. There may be a better kit that would work for it, but the blank turned out great IMHO. Could you expand a little bit more on your technique for dying the wood? I have quilted maple and it might be nice to do Easter pens instead of Easter eggs this year! : )

Martin
Click to expand...

It is actually FAR simpler than any explanation I could give it. What you want to do is turn your wood like normal. Maybe hit it with some 400-600 grit sandpaper. Turn the lathe off. Get a clean rag and just dab some water on the cloth. Use the damp cloth like you would sand paper with the lathe on. This will stand up the grain slightly. Let it dry. Get a new/dry paper towel (I fold mine 4 times), touch it to the bottom of the blank (lathe on) and use food coloring or Rit dye and just one little drip at a time, let it drip on the spinning blank and the paper towel will spread it out for you. Let it dry before doing the next drip. Repeat until you get the color you want.
Keep in mind though, even though the wood used may SEEM white/off-white it is more yellow than you know. Adding red dye will create an orange color. Adding blue dye will give you a green color.
Now you know as much as I do about it. :cool: I'm sure after several more attempts, I might even get good at it.
 
I think it's an interesting pen! And I do think you are on to something.

Did you start with a plain blank or pre-dyed and then added more dye?
 
I think the blank looks cool personally. Nice job from what I am seeing. That would look cool with black ti or a black kit.
 
MorganGrafixx said:
After one coat, i think a large beam fell from overhead and knocked me out cold. When I came to, it appeared as though the Easter Bunny paid me a visit early and took a rainbow $h!t all over my beautifully prepared Eucalyptus blank.
Click to expand...

Funny! I think the tinting turned out well even if it isn't the color you intended.
 
WOW! Send your Easter Bunny my way! I have some clothes that could use his touch. I have no failures that even come close to that success. That is one fine blank, especially for a total failure. congratulations on your failure, mine never get that far, they go for a ride on the throwing arm in the 55 gal barrel.
Charles
 
Interesting! It doesn't look like there's anything wrong with the pen, in fact it looks pretty sharp. Another great idea to jot down in the old idea book ;-)
 
Scott,

I don't know where you got the idea :cool: , but the end result is cool!

The curl & color combo work great, and since the future buyer doesn't know what you were trying for, they just know they got a cool blue/green fade on a blank with lots of character. Can you say "eye candy"?
 
My wife would have snatched that green pen up in a minute --

May not be your taste --- but nice color that accents the wood.
 
Yep. Sorry guys, the post slipped off the 1st page and I honestly forgot about it. I'll go back through and quote the questions with answers one at a time.
 
Padre said:
I think it's an interesting pen! And I do think you are on to something.

Did you start with a plain blank or pre-dyed and then added more dye?
Click to expand...

I can't take credit for the idea. I saw it done in a demo at our last IAP Georgia chapter meeting. But to answer the question, I start with a regular old Plain-Jane wood. The dye/food coloring goes on after it gets turned to final profile....before CA.
 
Steve Busey said:
Scott,

I don't know where you got the idea :cool: , but the end result is cool!

The curl & color combo work great, and since the future buyer doesn't know what you were trying for, they just know they got a cool blue/green fade on a blank with lots of character. Can you say "eye candy"?
Click to expand...

LOL! They let some crazy lunatic in the IAP meeting a little while ago and he started putting food coloring all over a perfectly nice pen blank. If you hear of him, watch out...i think he's kinda shifty!:biggrin:
 
Woodchuck said:
How much Rit dye do you use? I tried using Rit dye and it didnt turn out. Havent tried the food coloring yet.
Click to expand...

I used the food coloring first....didn't give me the deep red I was going for....so off to the store I went looking for something a bit........stronger........turns out. it didn't make it dark enough either. But I know RIT dye is a mean mother if you get it one ANYTHING at all. I have a 5' stain on my concrete shop floor to prove it.
 
Woodchuck said:
MorganGrafixx~ I was curious on how much dye you use to how much water for both the food coloring and the Rit dyes?
Click to expand...

Just wet a rag (water) and do like you would with sanding (lathe on) for a few seconds to dampen the wood blank. When it comes to the dye (food coloring), I just turn the lathe on, hold a folded up paper towel to the bottom of the spinning blank, and let a SINGLE DROP of the food coloring hit the top of the blank. The paper towel will spread it around for you. Repeat until you get the color you want.

As a side note...keep in mind that the color you see on the blank will become brighter/more colorful once you get the CA coat on it. So if your color looks too washed out or dull, don't sweat it. Carry on through with the CA. Trial and error will be your friend on this one!
 
Looks good to me. Now that you tried the dye that you learned about at Georgia chapter, when will you show us your turnings done with the Beall Treen mandrel.

Ben
 
Scott - actually very nice - wanted to try it after the demonstration but have not yet. You have encouraged me to make a run at it.
 
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