Fall Leaves

Fantastic piece!

Very beautiful!

This is lovely Scott. Nice coloring!

Will Armstrong said:

This is lovely Scott. Nice coloring!

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Thanks Will!

Those are terrific leaves Scott! I could make an argument that they compete for attention with a fabulous piece of wood but because the coloring/ details are so cool, I want to look hard for them!

Russ Braun said:

Those are terrific leaves Scott! I could make an argument that they compete for attention with a fabulous piece of wood but because the coloring/ details are so cool, I want to look hard for them!

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Thanks Russ, I agree, both the wood and embellishments turned out great. I think the color brings you in and the wood grabs you.

Hi Scott,

Seeking some advice on process for using Alcohol dyes so they don't bleed (btw, public posting this older thread , thinking that any advice offered, everyone might benefit for the info, rather than a DM).

I've seen your maple platters with the leaves on pyro'd on the rims, and dyed (presumably alcohol dyes ?) and your results are stunning! Very well done indeed.

I'm looking to use this technique with a deeply undercut rimmed bowl from nicely spalted and figured birch, where my plan is to pyro some flowers and leaves and a honeybee. I'm wanting to add color to the flowers, leaves and yellow stripes of the bee, but am very concerned with bleeding - both between elements (across pyro'd lines) and then with application of finish. I'm certainly going to have to try and test some things, but thought I'd seek some expert advice, and would appricate any recommendations or concerns you might share!

I've got Chestnut alchol dyes which I like, but am not wed to, and I suppose Acrylic's could be a distant second place fallback that would prevent the bleeding, but would prefer to use dye. What dyes did you use? You certainly had great success with the blending as well as control.

I presume you do your pyro directly on raw wood (which is my plan, as I hope to use a polymerizing oil as a finish, and putting sanding sealer on before isn't advised from my knowledge). Is there anything you did other than pyro lines, to contain the dye to the area desired?

As to finishing, I was toying with Waterlox, to really bring out the figure and make it pop, while not darkening it too much, and give a nice hard the surface, but it has mineral spirits, which I assume with make the dye's run. As a fall back, I'm likely go to pure tung oil, perhaps with a first coat thinned by citrus solvent (D-Lemonine ), which I hope would not carry the dyes - but I'll need to test this.
What was your finish ? Advice ?

Thanks very much in advance.

Chris

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the compliments. I can share what I use and my process (hopefully without violating any rules). As with anything, I'm sure their other ways to accomplish the same thing, this is what I do. Yes, pyro the design first. Second, I have always applied 5 coats of aerosol sanding sealer on my projects prior to dying. This stops the bleed issue. I'm not sure about applying on an oil finish, however I would think if you allowed 30 days or so to dry, it may work similar to the sanding sealer. As for dyes, I tried using Mohawk dyes but they were too diluted. I have never used chestnut dye, so no comment. I found Gourd master dye to be far superior for color and richness. They are a surface application and do not penetrate the project. During application, if I go outside the line, I let it dry and use an exacto knife to scrape it off lightly. I apply the dye with micro applicator brushes found on amazon. I get the smallest possible with round heads and use a dabbing method to apply. This prevents brush marks and is great for blending. As for finish, I use a spray on lacquer. It dries quickly and I have had no problems over the dyes. I recently saw a post where a member used pre-catalyzed lacquer. I just ordered some and will try it. I would be leery of using a brush on product over the dyes and thus never tried one.
I hope this helps. Anyone can reach out to me if they have questions.