Hydro dipping lathe turnings?

[Scott Luallin]

HI all,

I am curious about adding hydro dipping to my toolbelt as another possible way to embellish some bowls and other turned items.

Hydro dipping can be as simple as spraying or drizzling some acrylic paint in a tub of water, and dunking the piece. The colors can be abstract, made to look like stone or marble, etc. But they also make hydro dip film. The film is printed with some design, it is paid on the water, sprayed with an activator, and you dip the piece.

While I look for and try to turn only the best/prettiest wood I can find, some wood (like the soft maples around here, that are very plain) could be a great blank canvas for more whimsical pieces. I've thought about making a small set of bowls for my twin grand-daughters with giraffe, cheetah, and zebra skin bottoms. Or I can hydro dip something I make them with lady bugs, for example. My buddies who don't really appreciate a nice wood bowl may think a bowl that looks "carbon wrapped" is cool. Could also play with a cherry bowl (keep it cherry inside), with a walnut grain outside.

The search here didn't return anything and there are only a few Youtube videos on lathe-turned and dipped pieces. But the process LOOKS stupid simple.

Anyone give this a try? Any tips/tricks? I'm probably going down this rabbit hole at this point so I'll be the guinea pig...

--Scott

 

[Richard Coers]

Turning looks stupid simple on YouTube too. There are also people doing marbling on turnings.

 

[Steve Tiedman]

Boy, I'm probably remembering mixed thoughts here, but I swear that maybe, I dunno, 25 years ago I saw a video of Rude Osolnik (Google him if the name means nothing) doing this process on his famed candlesticks. And for some reason I want to say it was on an old episode of the PBS show American Woodworker.

Yeah, a tub of water, float some splotches of acrylic paint on the surface, and gently dip the piece in and out past the paint, grabbing it as you dip in and out. The wood may need to be sealed first to prevent water absorption... maybe? Anyway, let the paint dry, do it again with another color.

When I saw this, the candlestick may have already been completely painted with a base color to waterproof the wood, then dipped into the water with the other small spots of paint floating on top the water, then drag the piece past the paint splotches.

Sorry I can't recall with greater clarity, but maybe that'll help.

 

[Michael Nathal]

Good articles on marbling are found in American Woodturner by Walter Wager in 2018 and Mary Thouin in 2002

 

[JeffSmith]

google marbling - it's been used for centuries on paper products and has been more recently used for embellishing turned items. should be lots of info online.

 

[Michael Anderson]

I believe @Marie Anderson has some experience with this.

 

[Dave Landers]

I played with that (long time ago).
Tub of water, several colors of spray paint. Paint the surface of the water and use a stick or something to swirl the colors around. IIRC, I dunked the piece underwater and then withdrew it out of the water thru the paint (but could have been opposite order - dunk thru paint then remove thru clean water).
Messy (water and paint dripping everywhere - at least if you are like me with stuff like this).
Easy, as long as you're ok with random (takes some practice if you want control over the pattern).
I think you just have to dive in and experiment....

It was fun to play with, but as with other similar things I quickly got bored with it and moved on...