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Dyeing a bowl segment?

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I have made a couple small segmented bowls but, would like to try some bold colors. I would like to dye a segment yellow, or purple, other bold colors and sandwich it in.
Is there a dye or method that will give me color throughout the piece so that I don't just turn the color off to bare wood? I was thinking 1/4" - 1/2" segment in a 6" - 8" bowl or platter.
Would it require vacuum or pressure (which I don't currently have)?
Appreciate any tips?
Regis
 

Bill Boehme

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No, dye does not penetrate more than a few thousandths of an inch in side grain. On end grain it will penetrate deeper depending upon the size of the pores, but the penetration won't be uniform. You will have more success in dye penetration if you put the pieces in a vacuum pot, weight the wood down, and cover with enough dye to ensure that the pieces will remain covered and then maintain a hard vacuum until the wood stops bubbling. When dyeing wood you need to be aware that the color of the wood combines with the dye color to produce the final color. For example if you dyed maple blue, the resulting color would be green. It would help if you are familiar with using an artists color wheel. I would recommend sticking with very light colored wood such as holly. There is a possibility that certain glues might cause the color to bleed.
 
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Location
Mount Juliet, TN
No, dye does not penetrate more than a few thousandths of an inch in side grain. On end grain it will penetrate deeper depending upon the size of the pores, but the penetration won't be uniform. You will have more success in dye penetration if you put the pieces in a vacuum pot, weight the wood down, and cover with enough dye to ensure that the pieces will remain covered and then maintain a hard vacuum until the wood stops bubbling. When dyeing wood you need to be aware that the color of the wood combines with the dye color to produce the final color. For example if you dyed maple blue, the resulting color would be green. It would help if you are familiar with using an artists color wheel. I would recommend sticking with very light colored wood such as holly. There is a possibility that certain glues might cause the color to bleed.

Bill, I was thinking of making a vacuum chuck and may just have to add a pot to dye some wood.
Thanks,
Regis
 

john lucas

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Regis Even with vacuum it won't penetrate the wood evenly. The only way I know to do that would be to use Frisket material to mask off the area you want to dye and then use an air brush to spray on the dye. It still might blead through the edges of the mask depending on the wood. Transparent air brush paints will do that using the frisket mask.
 

john lucas

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Ditto what Bill said. I didn't suggest that earlier because you usually don't wood burn segmented work. The glue could feasibly act as a barrier in segmented work. It's been a long time since I've tried dying segemented work but I don't remember having good success or I would have done it more.
 
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I've done some more research. I found out that you must pressure bleach and then pressure dye to have any chance of success. Then, apparently, thicker wood reduces chance of success. This is how veneer is dyed, commercially.
I think that I have other fish to fry and will use Bill's suggestion if I want a color stripe!

Thanks for all the input,
Regis
 

john lucas

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Veneer is very thin. Easy to dye. I've made my own colored veneer in the past. I used vacuum and it seemed to work. If you just want a color stripe come up and see me. I have a stack of colored Veneer. I've added colored veneer stripes to my mirrors and other projects many times and know the ins and outs of doing that.
 
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Veneer is very thin. Easy to dye. I've made my own colored veneer in the past. I used vacuum and it seemed to work. If you just want a color stripe come up and see me. I have a stack of colored Veneer. I've added colored veneer stripes to my mirrors and other projects many times and know the ins and outs of doing that.
John, I'll give you a call early in the week and see what your schedule looks like..
Thanks,
Regis
 
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