To dye or not to dye

dyes would work the only problem i see is with all the cross layers of different wood you would get very uneven coloring.

I honestly believe that will have trouble keeping the dye from bleeding into areas that you don’t want dyed.
Painting would probably be best. IMHO.

-- If we learn from our mistakes, I'm getting a fantastic education.

I was wondering about the dye(s) bleeding. The depth of the carved lines is just through the veneer. I wanted to use dye only because I wanted to show the wood grain below.

ya, bleeding and all the different woods and plys and glue and end grain will give you problems. i would just paint it. it you are really content with showing the grain you could use glazes. those would be hard to find in a lot of colors though.

One trick that some pyrographers (woodburning folks) use is to use colored oil pencils. Use a Q-tip or small brush and paint thinner to shade and blend. Not sure if this will help but it wouldn’t hurt to give it a try on some scrap.
Larry

-- Growing older but not up!