# 2 tone wood dye



## Daren (Sep 16, 2007)

I do alot of this and get asked how it is done some times, so I thought I would just show how that way I could refer people to it in the future. I use RIT clothes dye. In my work shop I dye items like knife handles,pistol grips,turned wood pens,wooden fishing lures…RIT is just a common (and inexpensive) grocery store item, found by the laundry detergent.

Step1: Start with a piece of figured wood (curly/quilted) in picture one it is a scrap of quilted rock maple. Mix up the dye following the instructions (a little goes a LONG way, a $2 package will make gallons).








2: Paint the piece with the first color (black in this case) don't be scared of it, get it soaking.








3: Wash it off in hot water as soon as you get it fully covered. You are going to want to work quickly, you only have a few minutes for best results. Figured wood is a mixed of end grain and face grain, it soaks deeper/faster into the end grain. The dye on the face grain rinses off pretty easy.








4: Let the first color dry








5: Saturate the piece with the second color and let it stay .It can be rinsed too if the color is too dark without ruining the first color. I rinsed the last picture just a little to brighten the yellow.








All dry with a quick shot of spray can lacquer….and yes my fingers are yellow (don't do everything the way I do , rubber gloves are a good idea )








I will repeat "a little goes a long way", so if you have a spill-you have a mess. Trying to clean up the mess with water…just makes more dye . Make sure you have newspaper or something suitable to work on and plenty of paper towels handy.


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## brunob (Dec 26, 2006)

Wow. What a great idea. Striking results. That's one I'll have to try.


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## trifern (Feb 1, 2008)

Thanks for the step by step demonstration. I used purple and yellow on my catalpa bowl. I had read about it from you, but did not quite know how to do it. So I just winged it.


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## Daren (Sep 16, 2007)

I saw and commented on that bowl, that was the motivation for this tutorial really. I have had the pictures on my camera for weeks, planning to some day post this. I saw your bowl and decided to stop being lazy. I think guys/gals can have alot of fun with dying and it can really spice up a project.


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## jm82435 (Feb 26, 2008)

That is cool I have to try this myself. Thanks for the tutorial.


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## North40 (Oct 17, 2007)

Daren, thanks for posting this! You've given me some ideas (a dangerous thing to do)!


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## lclashley (Feb 19, 2007)

COOL! I've wondered if that stuff would work on wood. Thanks for the demo.


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## BigTim (Jan 17, 2008)

Another trick to file away. 
Thanks. 
Can't ever have enough tricks up your sleeve!!


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## Radish (Apr 11, 2007)

Coming soon to a piece of bigleaf maple in my shop. Thanks, Daren this ought to be fun (potentially messy fun, right up my alley).


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## Mario (Apr 23, 2007)

Thank you so much for posting this information.


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## rikkor (Oct 17, 2007)

How does it penetrate? If you turned a blank into a pen for instance, would you dye it after turning.


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## rikkor (Oct 17, 2007)

By the way, thanks for the posting.


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## Daren (Sep 16, 2007)

rickkor, yea the dye is applied after it is made/done (whatever it is), just like you were using stain on a piece of furniture. Then topcoat with your finish.


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## sbryan55 (Dec 8, 2007)

Thanks Daren. I am always looking for novel ways to stain wood. These appear to be very similar to trans tint dyes but without a doubt are a lot cheaper. I checked the web site and it appears as if they are available in 16 different colors either in powder or liquid form.

Thanks for the post.


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## croessler (Jun 22, 2007)

Darren,
Thanks for the tutorial. I love these how-to's so I don't try to re-invent the wheel!


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## GaryK (Jun 25, 2007)

Dyes work great. That's all I use for coloring. I like sanding the "high" spots off after the first coat though.
It creates more of a contrast.

Great post.


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## rikkor (Oct 17, 2007)

Thanks Darrin.


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## Daren (Sep 16, 2007)

Gary, I have tried sanding like you said also. Charles Neil has a great little video showing how to make the grain pop in tiger maple where he sands too. It is a personal preference thing, I prefer the look of the way I showed to do it here.


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## runngt (Feb 29, 2008)

WOW,
That is a great idea, will have to give this a shot. You don't mention gloves here…does the dye stain your hands as well? If so I will need a green for my thumb to show my wife I can actualy grow plants too!! : )


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## SteveKorz (Mar 25, 2008)

COOL… I'm always up for something different.. this is a GREAT idea!!... Thanks!!


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## mrtrim (Oct 11, 2007)

thanks for this post and heres a link to make your own colors also .

http://www.ritdye.com/Create+Custom+Color.9.lasso#top


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## Dusty56 (Apr 20, 2008)

i must try this soon on a clock i am making for a customer that has to have "something unique" to show their friends…thanks for the schooling ! : )


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## HokieMojo (Mar 11, 2008)

Darren,
I've been thinking about trying to do something like this to birdseye maple. One thing I noticed is that after applying the black, the wood looks green. Is this a camera issue, or was the black dye based on a VERY dark green. The reason I'm curious is I'm wondering if I should expect my material to be much lighter than the color I try to apply. I'm sure this will take a little experimenting, but I thought I'd check to see if you have any advice. Thanks and I really appreciate this post. It has inspired me to try something that I'm very excited about. Executing it will be another story! lol.


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## Daren (Sep 16, 2007)

It did turn green. I don't know why. With the 2 tone using the yellow also it turned out attractive, but not what I was expecting really. I would for sure experiment on a scrap piece to see if you like the end result and go from there.


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## pastorglen (Jan 13, 2011)

VERY very cool. I just tried this using my kid's water color paint sent. I'm happy with the results.

Great post!


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