Use of aniline dyes

[FrankEV]

For Intarsia work, is it legit too use Aniline Dyes to enhance wood colors like, Green, Blue,and Silvery Grey, that are not found naturaly in available wood?

If yes, any recommendations for brands?  

And, Powder vs liquid?

Edited August 2, 2024 by FrankEV

[dgman]

You can do what ever you want to do to achieve the color you want. Is it legit to use dyes? What makes something legit or not? There is no rule book for Intarsia, however, when I make an intarsia piece, I always use natural wood tones for my colors. Again, there are no rules.

[Hawk]

Well, here's my 2 cents worth. There are those who prefer to stay with natural occurring color woods, and that's wonderful if that's your thing. For me, if I need to "enhance" the wood to achieve the desired results on a project, then I'll do that. In my opinion it doesn't take away from the craftsmanship it took to make the project, just the artist interpterion and what they felt makes it match their minds eye. 

I use whatever I need to, dyes, paint and such, to get the result I'm after I guess what I'm long windily saying, Like @dgman said, there are no rules.  

[Wichman]

It is my understanding that Intarsia is a subset of segmentation. Segmentation being any design using segments. Intarsia is segmentation using natural wood colors only, no coloring of the segments. This would only matter if you were entering pieces for a show or demonstration that has clearly defined rules about what is or is not allowed. Another issue is if you are selling the completed projects, as long as the process is clear, there should not be a problem, but if a customer thinks they're getting one thing "pure (undyed wood) intarsia", and they can clearly see the wood has been dyed ( unnatural colors, i.e. neon ) then there may be a problem.

If you are making these for your own or gifts, then anything goes. If it's commercial, then beware.

[barb.j.enders]

I agree with dgman.

You are overthinking things.  This is your art.  If you want to use dyes to enhance the colours, then do so.  I had asked about ebonizing wood to get a black.  Someone said they used a sharpie on the eye or other small pieces.  Posted a piece that had won first place using that technique. 

[FrankEV]

5 hours ago, barb.j.enders said:

You are overthinking things...

No, it is too early in the game to be overthinking it.  Just thought an answer to the question was going to be helpful in my future approach.  

As I said I have not done any real research on the subject before jumping in.  I can tell by what I see others have done, there is the purists and then there are those that don't mind giving the wood a helping hand a bit.  Because I like to add color to my work I think I will be trying to use dye in some future projects so as not to eleminate the wood grain but just enhance a color, like green for leaves.  

BTW, I'm lazy, so by asking a question here I get many answers, while Gogel may only give me the "one" considered correct answer.

Thanks  

[preprius]

I went through the question. 

The guy at woodcraft says all wood will fade to grey. Some faster than others.  He said a customer made beautiful purple heart dining table.  They had it on display. That maker decided to help the wood stay purple by lightly staining it. 

Sometimes I assist the wood also.  Depends on the project.

 

[meflick]

Judy Gale Roberts, the queen of Intarsia, use to only use light, medium, and dark pieces of cedar when she first began doing her intarsia (see "past commissions" (one of a kind link below) on her website near the bottom for some examples).  Using the different shade levels, grains, and shaping to distinguish and enhance the different pieces in a project.  Then, she started using different types and colors of wood to get the "color" and used the grain along with the different tones and shades for the depth and the dimensions that were enhanced by her sanding and shaping of the piece.  She primarily only uses the different woods for her work but she has stated that from time to time, you may find a need to enhance the wood with a bit of color when you need a "color" - think of the American Flag and the  blue color you would need.  Judy created this masterpiece for NASA.  She used blue pine that she added Dye to to get the blue color needed as noted in the notes.  She also used some thermally treated poplar in the piece. Then she created a commissioned piece for a Senior Dog sanctuary and she used wood dye to color the rainbow. (See on her website under current commission pieces.) I think the main key is that you acknowledge using dyes or whatever so people don't misunderstand.  Its your art, you create it as you wish.  Some colors just can't be found in wood, and as noted, many "colors" fade away over time in natural wood.

https://intarsia.com/pages/intarsia-apollo-11-50th-anniversary

https://intarsia.com/pages/current-intarsia-projects

https://intarsia.com/pages/intarsia-commission-one-of-a-kind

She also teaches to use internal rising shims to help give depth and dimension to pieces and using "sanding shims" to help shape and better contour pieces that need to "flow" together even if different types of wood are used. You can see her article on sanding shims here: 

https://intarsia.com/blogs/news/using-sanding-shims and this article also on using sanding shims from her website 

[Norm Fengstad]

I use aniline dyes many times. Only source I found was at Lee Valley. These dyes are top quality and they promptly ship orders. as to regulations on coloring wood for intarsia, well one can always ask for forgiveness if coloring wood becomes an issue.

[barb.j.enders]

Aniline dyes are also available from Wood Essences.  https://www.woodessence.com/

[BadBob]

Amazon has them.