Just for fun

[Rolf]

A Bruce Worthington design. 4" tall Segmentation 3/4 polar. Alcohol stains and some paint.

[Scrappile]

That is 100% cute!  So very well done.  Me thinks the alcohol stains may have got to him a little!!

Edited January 31, 2019 by Scrappile

[Scrolling Steve]

And a fun piece it is !...Very nice !

[Foxfold]

Just adorable

[don watson]

Clever little piece, well done you and Bruce

DonW

[spirithorse]

Nice work, Rolf,

Thanks for sharing and God Bless! Spirithorse

[meflick]

He is so cute. Great job on him and adding the colors. They are on my some day list, problem is I have too much now on there I may never get to it all.  thanks for showing.

[Tomanydogs]

Adorable Rolf. May I ask what”Alcohol stain” is?

[daveww1]

very nice job, it's beautiful

[Rolf]

9 hours ago, Tomanydogs said:

Adorable Rolf. May I ask what”Alcohol stain” is?

It is just that, instead of water or oil base it is an alcohol solvent. very easy to control the color intensity by thinning. It is used a lot by the wood turners. It really penetrates and makes the grain pop.

It really is amazing on curly maple.  Poplar doesn't show much. I used it on the tree and the red part of the hat.  The color variations are just because of the grain.

On the next one I will be more aggressive with the beard texture.

Edited February 1, 2019 by Rolf

[Tomanydogs]

@Rolf Do you by it that way or do you mix acrylic paint with rubbing alcohol? 

[meflick]

1 minute ago, Tomanydogs said:

@Rolf Do you by it that way or do you mix acrylic paint with rubbing alcohol? 

You buy alcohol inks already made up. It can be found in most craft stores. They also sell alcohol ink pens. Card makers, and other crafters use them a lot. 

https://www.amazon.com/s/gp/search/ref=sr_nr_p_89_0?fst=as%3Aoff&rh=n%3A2617941011%2Ck%3Aalcohol+ink%2Cp_89%3ARanger|Adirondack&keywords=alcohol+ink&ie=UTF8&qid=1549062309&rnid=2528832011

Also Copic ones https://www.copicmarker.com/pages/shop-all

[wombatie]

Oh I love him, hes adorable.  Great work Rolf.

Marg

[Rolf]

On 2/1/2019 at 6:07 PM, meflick said:

You buy alcohol inks already made up. It can be found in most craft stores. They also sell alcohol ink pens. Card makers, and other crafters use them a lot. 

https://www.amazon.com/s/gp/search/ref=sr_nr_p_89_0?fst=as%3Aoff&rh=n%3A2617941011%2Ck%3Aalcohol+ink%2Cp_89%3ARanger|Adirondack&keywords=alcohol+ink&ie=UTF8&qid=1549062309&rnid=2528832011

Also Copic ones https://www.copicmarker.com/pages/shop-all

Those are inks I am using the dyes, Not exactly sure how different they are, except that the ink is very pricey.  I bought the dyes, some in the smaller bottles and a few bigger ones. It is real easy to vary the intensity of the color by putting just a few drops into more alcohol.

https://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/p/50/6187/Artisan-Premium-Coloring-Dye

Edited February 4, 2019 by Rolf

[Wilson142]

Very nice little piece.

I use aniline dye in powder form a lot. Problem is some colors have a rather short shelf life after mixing. I think I may look into the liquid form. Seems it may be more convenient.

[Scrappile]

@Rolf, @Wilson142, do these dyes work very well on Baltic Birch?  I am going to try some new to me type stuff pretty soon after I finish some projects, and I want to use stains and dyes.  Also Rolf, what is the shelf life of the pre-mixed dyes?

[Wilson142]

18 minutes ago, Scrappile said:

@Rolf, @Wilson142, do these dyes work very well on Baltic Birch?  I am going to try some new to me type stuff pretty soon after I finish some projects, and I want to use stains and dyes.  Also Rolf, what is the shelf life of the pre-mixed dyes?

I just brushed some rather old dye (2 months) on some BB. The red and the yellow seem OK. The shelf life problem is mostly with the blue for some reason. I think I would sand the plywood a bit to get  consistent blotch free coverage. The old dyes are still pretty vivid and still allow the grain to show through. The aniline dye I use is "Keda Dye Powder" and is mixed with both water and alcohol. It does raise the grain a bit and needs some sanding. The 5 colors that you get allow you to mix any variations you can imagine. Water clean up, no VOC's and are non toxic.  I mostly use them on Japanese style  puzzles made from 3/4" poplar. The ones that are of dogs or horses etc. with the pieces made of many different animals.

[meflick]

3 hours ago, Rolf said:

Those are inks I am using the dyes, Not exactly sure how different they are, except that the ink is very pricey.  I bought the dyes, some in the smaller bottles and a few bigger ones. It is real easy to vary the intensity of the color by putting just a few drops into more alcohol.

https://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/p/50/6187/Artisan-Premium-Coloring-Dye

Rolf, best I have been able to ascertain, the popular brand “alcohol inks”, like Copic, Ranger, etc. are using dyes with alcohol to create their “ink.” So while they may be called “inks”, they are simply dyes mixed with alcohol like the one you shared.  You are right however,  the ones sold to “paper crafters” thst I linked to are indeed expensive and come in small bottles. I was unaware of other “wood working” sources like the one you shared. It is good to know and know there are cheaper options. I have found over the years that there are often “cross over” products in different types of crafting, wood working, sewing, etc. In one, it will be called one thing, and be inexpensive, in the other, it will be labeled something different but be much more expensive. That’s why it’s good for us to all discuss and share information so we can figure these things out. That is one reason I am always wandering through the hardware store, the craft store, the auto parts stores, etc. and looking for items that can be used for something then its original intended use or which is the same thing as something else, just labeled differently. I learned this while my kids were in school and we moms were always working on some projects for the classroom, the school fair, plays, etc. 

This  was one article I found and thought provided good info. on alcohol inks being a “dye” based medium.

  https://thebluebottletree.com/pigments-vs-dyes-difference/

i will definitely check out the ones you posted as well as the site in general since the hubby does some turning. Thanks for sharing.

 

[amazingkevin]

Good job!!!

[Rolf]

I can't imagine there being a shelf life issue. Unless the alcohol evaporates. You would just add more. The pigments will settle over time so you have to shake it before using it.

As far as how it works on baltic birch,  Great!

Thank you Melanie for the great link.

Edited February 5, 2019 by Rolf

[Badgerboy]

Hey @Rolf, sorry to pull this post back up from so long ago.  I purchased the Artisan dyes you noted above and have a question.  I love the deep red you created on the gnome piece you posted here.  I cannot seem to achieve the same deep red, maybe I am thinning too much with Denatured Alcohol.  Do you happen to recall your mix ration or formula to get that beautiful red?  Thanks!

[Rolf]

On 8/4/2020 at 5:56 PM, Badgerboy said:

Hey @Rolf, sorry to pull this post back up from so long ago.  I purchased the Artisan dyes you noted above and have a question.  I love the deep red you created on the gnome piece you posted here.  I cannot seem to achieve the same deep red, maybe I am thinning too much with Denatured Alcohol.  Do you happen to recall your mix ration or formula to get that beautiful red?  Thanks!

I initially used it straight, but that was too deep a red, not sure what I ended up with. but the different woods absorb  the color differently so I play with different mixtures. I rather start light let it dry and add more if needed.

[Badgerboy]

3 hours ago, Rolf said:

I initially used it straight, but that was too deep a red, not sure what I ended up with. but the different woods absorb  the color differently so I play with different mixtures. I rather start light let it dry and add more if needed.

Thank you