How to Dye Wood
Did you know that you don’t have to stain wood to give it color? You could dye it instead. That’s what I did with this mask that’s sculpted from figured maple. One of my favorite comic book characters is Oracle. Many of you may have no idea who Oracle is, but you probably actually do know her. She’s Batgirl. In 1988, DC Comics paralyzed Barbara Gordon, who was Batgirl. She reinvented herself by becoming a computer expert named Oracle, who serves as the information lynchpin for the DC comics universe. I always loved Oracle because she’s an empowering female, disabled hero. We need more of these characters.
I wanted to make an Oracle mask, but I have no sculpting experience. I found a drawing of Oracle’s avatar on Deviant Art and used that as the rough basis for my sculpture. I made a ton of modifications, breaking the image into parts, ultimately resulting in a 3D model that I could use for my CNC. A few hours later I had an amazing looking carved mask made from figured maple.
I wanted that figured maple to really pop and decided that dying it was the way to go. In the comics, Oracle’s computer avatar is usually green. I bought some green dye stain, which is really marketing lingo for green dye since it’s nothing like traditional stains that. The result was a vivid color that leaps out at you. It turned out even better than I imaged. I ended up putting my mask on a Batgirl logo that I made from walnut. This was done at the bandsaw and router table.
What is Dye Stain?
So what is dye stain and why should you use it? Think of it as a can of food coloring, but with other added ingredients so that it dries and doesn’t come off of the wood like food color would do. If you go to the local big box hardware store you can buy a can of regular stain. These are typically oil based stains. You apply them with a brush, wipe off the excess, and let it dry for while (usually 8-48hrs). The problem with these stains is that they suck at staining closed pore woods like maple, pine, and birch. That’s why you tend to see a blotchy look when these woods are stained. The stain penetrates some areas of the wood and doesn’t in other areas. To get around this, people often use a wood conditioner or thin coat of shellac on the board prior to staining. From my experience, this gives me an even coat, but much lighter of a color than I want.
Dye stain is water-based, not oil-based. Because of this, it penetrates the wood deeply and more evenly. Plus, it dries very fast. You can apply your top coat finish in a few hours. There are a few other reasons why I like to use dye. You can mix the colors together to make just about any color that you want. It’s also amazing on figured woods. You can apply dye to the wood, and once it’s dry, sand it off. The dry will stay in the figured parts and really pops when you apply finish.
While you may never want to make this particular project, I use a lot of techniques that you may really like to try. I spend a lot of time showing you step by step how to use dye to color wood. A lot of people think of stain to add color but completely forget about dye. I use dye way more than stain in my shop. I urge you to give dye stains a shot in your next project. You may fall in love with them like I did.
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