Dyed maple vessel

[Tom Hardy]

Something a little different I made for my Daughters Birthday. Maple hollow form, approximately 11" T x 5 1/2" W, & a tad over 1/8" thick. Also a couple pics of knife blanks I handled up while I was watching wipe on poly dry.
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[Steve Doerr]

Tom, I really like the way you died the HF. The variation in colors is amazing. I have yet to try to die anything but seeing your work increases my desire to give it a try, but it will be a long time before I can come anywhere near your expertise.
Keep up the good work and thanks for sharing.
Steve

[Ray Bell]

Tom, the vessel is beautiful. Would you consider sharing the dyes, and dying sequence you used?

[Tom Hardy]

Thanks for the compliments, Steve, and Ray. I am embarrassed to say the dye is nothing fancy, its Rit Dye. First coat is dark navy mixed with Minwax wood hardener same batch I used to dye & stabilize the knife handle in the pic. just wiped on with a rag then sanded lightly just to get the grain darkened. then applied medium blue, light sanding, then the purple.

[Thomas Heck]

All three are nice work!

[Ray Bell]

Thank you Tom, outstanding results.

[Don Nicholas]

Your work is stunning,top notch.
Question, you mentioned you mixed the dye with Minwax wood hardener, did you mix using the hardner in place of the water? Then WOP over the top?

[Tom Hardy]

Your work is stunning,top notch.
Question, you mentioned you mixed the dye with Minwax wood hardener, did you mix using the hardner in place of the water? Then WOP over the top?

I used the powdered Rit dye (navy blue) mixed with Minwax then wiped it on. the blue & purple mixed with water. Then the WOP after all dye was applied, lost count but about 15 coats sanded or steel wool, ever now & then to keep the finish flat then buffed. I guess I only used the rit dye because it was readily available, and didn't want to wait to order something else.

[Paul Engle]

Excellent , well done indeed Tom! the blades look hammered , nice effect ..

[George Morris]

Beautiful work! How many colors are on it? What type of dye and what finish did you use? Very well done!

[Garth Sheane]

Neat idea. I've used Rit type dyes frequently for dipping bowls, which avoids the blotching that happens when I tried just wiping it on the raw wood. Does mixing it with the Min Wax get rid of the blotching problem? I would guess that the other coats of dye don't blotch because the wood is sealed with the Min Wax? It is a beautiful piece of work Tom.

[Dennis Nagle]

I used Rit on this handle. I mixed it with DNA which left the grain down and allowed me to blend the colors with a little DNA on a rag. I started with purple, then red, then yellow. The yellow turned into orange when I blended them.

[Tom Hardy]

Neat idea. I've used Rit type dyes frequently for dipping bowls, which avoids the blotching that happens when I tried just wiping it on the raw wood. Does mixing it with the Min Wax get rid of the blotching problem? I would guess that the other coats of dye don't blotch because the wood is sealed with the Min Wax? It is a beautiful piece of work Tom.

Garth, I mainly use it because it darkens the age ring grain almost a black color, and seals it so the other colors don't soak into those areas. Seems like that part of the grain soaks up more than the rest, so it enhances it. Also I think adds a little more iridescence to the figured maple.

[Tom Hardy]

I used Rit on this handle. I mixed it with DNA which left the grain down and allowed me to blend the colors with a little DNA on a rag. I started with purple, then red, then yellow. The yellow turned into orange when I blended them.

Dennis, that's a good looking handle, I use Rit dye & food coloring quit often with good results. I have had some fading on some Humming bird feeders i made with food coloring, but i don't think there's much out that will hold up to the sun, and weather without some fading.

[Dennis Nagle]

Garth, I mainly use it because it darkens the age ring grain almost a black color, and seals it so the other colors don't soak into those areas. Seems like that part of the grain soaks up more than the rest, so it enhances it. Also I think adds a little more iridescence to the figured maple.

Min Wax what? I am not sure what you are refering too.