wood colouring?

[shedhead]

I have tried some different things in the 4 months i have been wood turning, from bowls, confetti lights and pens. now i have started to have a go at turning fruit. as i do not have the finances to buy much exotic wood to get the different colours required for all the different fruits i have to do with what i can get for free.
i have stained some of the fruit (bananas, lemon) to make it look more realistic using chestnut wood dye, (only the plum is exotic wood, purple heart)
can anyone suggest to me what other ways to colour the wood? just enough so as to still let the natural wood grain show through.
dermot

 

[Paul.J]

Dermot.
They look great.
I'm not usually one for colouring the wood but those look lovely with the grain still showing.Great idea.
Sorry can't help with a suggestion :roll:
Paul.J.

 

[TEP]

Hi Dermot.

I think you've got it sussed OK, I make quite a bit of fruit and yours looks good to me. I suggest you stick with the colour dyes you're already using.

If you want to try something else you could try food dyes, some of the colours that you buy for colouring icing on cakes have been used, and I believe they are water based.

As far as the grain showing through, all that is usually required is to bash the dye down with whatever thinner it uses water/spirit and make a translucent wash.

 

[Blister]

I agree with the others , they all look good to me

mind you , there's " not mushroom in there , is there " :wink:

as far as colouring goes , I would take a trip to my local art supply shop , they sell small tubes of water colour pigment , poster paints , acrylic , oils in hundreds of shades

Go have a look and test on some scrap wood first

keep up the good work

 

[shedhead]

mind you , there's " not mushroom in there , is there "

Thought i would just slip the mushroom in, thought it would fill up an empty space. Will start on a satsuma when i get the time.
I watched a good DVD by Andy Lodge on fruit turning. I have all 4 of them and also a DVD on pen turning by Paul Loseby.
Dermot.

 

[Woodmagnet]

I agree with everyone else Dermot, they look fine as they are. :wink:

 

[Paulhenryb]

All the above are great but have you ? :roll: Have you thought about different coloured shoe polishes. They are brilliant and if its not the right depth of colour they can be removed with spirit. Or if you want a different depth of colour you can add more polish, even trying to mix different colours the lighter coulred first then going darker, but first do some trial runs on some scrap timber. . :idea:

 

[mrs. sliver]

I likes the look o' them! what good colours! I've only ever tried food colouring but wasn't as vivid as that .. looks great! =D>

 

[shedhead]

Welome Paul

Thanks for both comments.

I will keep this suggestion in mind the next time i am working with some plain wood. I think that adding a small amount of tint to a piece of wood that has not got much grain deffonation brings it to life.