Dyes or Stains

[rmaker]

Hello everyone;

 

I would like to start doing Intarsia but I'm retired & funds are limited so buying different woods can get to be expensive. I was wondering if you would recommend dyes or stain to achieve the different wood look. Any suggestions are welcome.

 

Thank You,

 

Rod

[jollyred]

Go down to the local box store and get a couple of stains for wood.  Get some of the wood you will be using for your intarsia (cedar fence boards are a good choice) and cut them up.  Sand to the extent you will be doing on your projects, then try the different stains on the pieces.  Use the recommended thinner to try the stains at different strengths.  Try putting on one stain, then blotting on a different color stain.  In other words, experiment to find out what you can do with the stains.  Then get some dyes (Rit fabric dyes are a good starting point) and do the same thing.  You will develop a "feel" for the results which will be a lot more useful than written advice.  You will also want to put a top coat on the pieces to see how that affects them.

[spirithorse]

Greetings,

I thought I'd also mention that people have even used Kool-aid as a stain but,

that would probably be in rare cases when bright colors are called for.

 

You can also use craft paint thinned down so the wood grain still shows through.

 

Can't wait to see some of your projects!

 

Good luck and God Bless! Spirithorse

Edited February 8, 2017 by spirithorse

[worbler]

You may want to also try home made stain or things that aren't normally for that purpose. Black shoe polish is supposedly good but I haven't tried that yet. Vinegar and steel wool make a good graying agent, something to do with the tannin's in the wood. Coffee, Tea or anything else that would normally stain other things, especially food dye. Personally I go for Feast Watson wood stain. They have a good range of wood shades and it's not overly expensive. Not sure if you get it in the USA though.

[hawkeye10]

You might also try food coloring. I have bought some but haven't tried it yet but several folks on here have. Also here is a link to buying scroll saw ready to cut wood. You can buy what you need. I and others have ordered from them with good results so you don't have to worry about that. I would not start out buying expensive wood until you have a little experience.

[Scrappile]

I have had great success in the pen/toy making using a lot of the items mentioned above.  Vinegar/steel wool works great for ebonizing  wood, it reacts differently with different woods, food coloring works great for bright colors, along with many others mentioned.  Use scrap wood for experimenting and number the pieces, them log in a book the number, wood type and what you used.  Keep this and the wood sample so you can duplicate the color (well almost) when you need it.

[MTCowpoke22]

I've used Behlen's Solar Lux wood stains with great success. They have a wide variety of colors and don't raise the grain like some others do. They are about $15.00 a bottle, so are definitely more expensive than some other options.

[tomsteve]

iv used the acrylic paint sold in the craft section at walmart, hobby lobby, michaels,etc- sold in 2 ounce bottles- and thinned it down a bit to add color. its inexpensive and works good for adding color.

to get the depth of color I am looking for, I start with full strength and brush it on a piece of scrap, then wipe off. thin as I feel necessary

[RangerJay]

I have never done intarsia before but this set of dyes has done me well regardless of any type of project I've had - I bought the complete set of dyes many years ago and don't recall every being skunked when looking for a specific colour to do the job I wanted.  I mix the dyes at 1/2 the recommended ratio - mix one litre pickle jars at a time:

 

http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=20081&cat=1,190,42942

 

The price shown is in Canadian dollars - so expect yours should be about 25% less - and I understand from another thread just started that there is a free shipping period being offered right now.

 

 

Jay

[rmaker]

I want to thank everyone for their suggestions. I will definitely post my projects when the time comes.

 

Have a great evening.

 

Rod

[heppnerguy]

Good luck with your intarsia project.. they are fun to do and very attractive to have hanging on your  walls.

 

 

Dick

heppnerguy

[amazingkevin]

Hello everyone;

 

I would like to start doing Intarsia but I'm retired & funds are limited so buying different woods can get to be expensive. I was wondering if you would recommend dyes or stain to achieve the different wood look. Any suggestions are welcome.

 

Thank You,

 

Rod

You'll have fun doing "Segmentations" ,imitation intarsias,google it.All done with the same wood.They look great.

[Sycamore67]

I have used dyes on some projects and like dissolving them in alcohol rather than water as it raises the grain less.

 

I prefer not using dyes or stains for Intarsia but....it is almost impossible to get good deep green or blue real wood. I do have some nice blue pine and green poplar but hard to find. In addition, many woods will gradually change color with exposure to light. With green poplar, it will eventually turn brownish.

 

Another suggestion, the books by Kathy Wise are an excellent way to learn Intarsia. She has some step by step instructions.

[zimmerstutzen]

Fiebings water based leather stains from Tandy Leather works well for plain woods.   For somethings, different colors of India Ink.  Years ago I refinished a small pine table.  Painted the whole thin g with two coats of India ink and then when that dried, a coat of formby's tung oil.  Difficult to tell it wasn't ebony.    For deeper solid bright color stains the powdered Russian and Greek Easter egg dyes are incredibly intense in color.  Some dyes require an additional chemical as a "mordant" to set the dye.  For instance the Greek egg dyes require a little vinegar.  , 

 

I take part in some historical re-enactments and many folks are big time into making their own dyes for clothes.  there have been several articles in Muzzleloader magazine and a few other reenactment periodicals about such dyes.  Walnut hulls for dark brown, I forget what common roots for yellow.  A trick with poke berries. Pick a half gallon of the berries in a stainless steel container, mash the berries, add a cup of sugar and a pack of yeast and let it work for several days.  Cloth then heated in the strained juice takes on a very deep  bright pink which is said to be colorfast.  The example I saw a lady do, the wool shawl came out about as day glow pink as anything I have seen.   To get the dark brown from walnut hulls, add a spoon of iron filings the day before to help the color set. 

 

Colonial gun smiths made stocks from beautiful pieces of curly maple, but that rich brown or dark brown actually came from treating the wood with acid and then holding the wood over heat.  The color change is about a 32nd of an inch deep and just suddenly flashes across the piece when the heat reaches the right temperature.  Then after the color is uniform, the stock is washed with baking soda water to neutralize the acid.  The archaic name for the acid is Aqua fortis. (Nitric acid as I recall. requires care, eye protection, keep out of reach of children, etc.)   The nice part about this last treatment is it chemically changes the natural color of the wood, instead of just spreading bits of pigment over the wood that may gather in the grain.   I recently attended a wood turning meeting and a member had turned a really fancy box from hard curly maple and he used the acid treatment and the wood was a very rich golden brown that made the curl stand out like stain just can't do.  .It has been years since I did a few gun stocks with the acid method.  I think the process is used only on maple. .