Aniline Dye Experiment

hoji

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I think this turned out nice. It's definitely not in the traditional fine wood finishing camp, but more of a modern wabi-sabi, rough and handmade look. This started as a quick poplar and spruce experimenter, so the quality of workmanship is below my standards. For fun, I decided to try something I'd been wanting to play around with ... water-soluble "aniline" wood dyes. I'm pretty happy with this, and I think it may be a style I want to explore. It reminds me of the lazure painting style, and I think it would be popular with some people.

The finish over the dyed wood is a few coats of shellac and then a thin coat beeswax, buffed.

The photos don't quite capture the intensity of the colors.



 
I like it!
 
Hoji,

I have some experience with aniline dyes. I have been making briar pipes for smoking tobacco for 20 years or so. In that field here's what we do. Typically we take a dark dye and rub it on with a rag. Then we set it on fire and burn the dye off. Then we apply a light yellow/orange/ochre dye which fills in the space between the striations of the grain. That's how we get an eye-popping optic. I don't know if this works for ukuleles per se, but I have applied this methodology to my wife's desk which I dyed black with red dye to off-set it.
 
Not sure this would work well for ukuleles. The effect would be great but short lived.

I agree, but I do want to point out that we're burning the dye and not the instrument. It is not like the 70's where people took propane torches and singed all their pine furniture to give it that stripey look. We're burning the aniline for five seconds to darken the grain of the wood and then applying a lighter-hued aniline to make the grain pop out. But ukes are not tables, which are not briar pipes. It may not be practical. I was just throwing it out there.
 
I recall my kid's sixth grade history class where the assignment was to produce an ancient looking document and burning the edges of the paper was one of the popular methodologies. Some students learned it is best if that is the first step, before doing all the ancient lettering and not the last step, when a misstep might result in them having to start over again.
 
Burning the edges and staining the paper with tea.
Now we're completely off topic
Miguel
 
Will this analine stain fade in years yo come?

Yes... aniline dyes are subject to UV degradation.
Fortunately, guitars and ukes do not typically see a lot of outdoor action, so fading is relatively slow.
I am not sure why, but reds seem to suffer more than other colours.
 
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