Blackish.........sort of.

[ScottR]

6 hours ago, Nicco said:

I see you Nicco.

Cheers!

SR

[ScottR]

4 hours ago, Muzz said:

Scott, the patterns on both sides are starting to really pop  

They are aren't they?

And they are approaching a nice shade of sun ripened cow flop.

SR

(really po(o)p

sr

[Bizman62]

2 hours ago, ScottR said:

a nice shade of sun ripened cow flop

THAT was the colour! I knew I've seen it somewhere!  Well, it's over a quarter of a century since the farmer's daughter divorced me...

[Charlie H 72]

It’s fascinating to see these kind of nasty colors that I know will become beautiful once you are through with the process. I think its a sign that you know what you’re doing.. seems like magic to me though. 

[ScottR]

1 hour ago, Charlie H 72 said:

It’s fascinating to see these kind of nasty colors that I know will become beautiful once you are through with the process. I think its a sign that you know what you’re doing.. seems like magic to me though. 

We used to have a guy around here that went by Bilious Frog.... funny how that name comes to mind.

SR

[JAK]

Really appreciate seeing the breakdown of the process and finishing steps, Scott. There's a number of different methods/processes/techniques everyone uses and it's all fascinating to me to see each approach.

The test piece looks slick. Since black inks/dyes/pigments are usually mixtures, I think it's really cool that you are doing the mixing yourself to help control the lustre/dynamics.  My understanding is TransTint can be mixed with different mediums to help it sink in better, etc.  Are you using them straight from the bottle or thinning with something like water, alcohol, or acetone?

- James

[ScottR]

7 hours ago, JAK said:

Really appreciate seeing the breakdown of the process and finishing steps, Scott. There's a number of different methods/processes/techniques everyone uses and it's all fascinating to me to see each approach.

The test piece looks slick. Since black inks/dyes/pigments are usually mixtures, I think it's really cool that you are doing the mixing yourself to help control the lustre/dynamics.  My understanding is TransTint can be mixed with different mediums to help it sink in better, etc.  Are you using them straight from the bottle or thinning with something like water, alcohol, or acetone?

- James

Cheers James!

Transtint is way too concentrated to use straight out of the bottle. It only takes a few drops per ounce to get a fairly saturated color. In this case I'm using them with acetone, because it dries so quickly. I'm only using these to create contrast and then smooth that out a bit with midtones. The major color will be created  by tinting lacquer. Acetone dries very quickly which can leave some streaks if you are planning to add the main color straight into the wood. Water is probably the best for getting even color and smooth transitions if you are trying to do that by wiping it on (spraying the dye mixture with an airbrush give the absolute smoothest). Alcohol falls between water and acetone in versatility.

SR

[JAK]

12 hours ago, ScottR said:

Transtint is way too concentrated to use straight out of the bottle. It only takes a few drops per ounce to get a fairly saturated color. In this case I'm using them with acetone, because it dries so quickly. I'm only using these to create contrast and then smooth that out a bit with midtones. The major color will be created  by tinting lacquer. Acetone dries very quickly which can leave some streaks if you are planning to add the main color straight into the wood. Water is probably the best for getting even color and smooth transitions if you are trying to do that by wiping it on (spraying the dye mixture with an airbrush give the absolute smoothest). Alcohol falls between water and acetone in versatility.

SR

Great info, thanks again! Love all the friendly knowledge, experience, and wisdom collected in this forum.  I have a couple follow up questions, if that's okay.

If TransTint can be thinned with any of those, does that mean wiping something else overtop could smear things?  I.e. If doing wipe-on finishing, and thin the dye with water, but then wipe-on shellac, will the alcohol lift and smear the dye? Would it need to dry for a day or few between?

I never thought about tinting lacquer as the main colour overtop of dyed wood. I'd guess this adds a bunch more depth and how you got the test piece so phenomenal?

- James

[ScottR]

9 hours ago, JAK said:

If TransTint can be thinned with any of those, does that mean wiping something else overtop could smear things?  I.e. If doing wipe-on finishing, and thin the dye with water, but then wipe-on shellac, will the alcohol lift and smear the dye? Would it need to dry for a day or few between?

In theory yes. In practice I have not seen that to be a problem. I believe it only needs to dry long enough for the carrier: water, alcohol or whatever to evaporate, at which point you only have dye remaining in the fibers and pores of the wood. I have done that and gone back and wiped the wood with a clean rag soaked in water or alcohol and while the rag did pick up some color, it did not move it around any( or enough) that I could see. If that is your finishing plan, it would definitely be a case where you'd want to test on scrap.

 

9 hours ago, JAK said:

I never thought about tinting lacquer as the main colour overtop of dyed wood. I'd guess this adds a bunch more depth and how you got the test piece so phenomenal?

Exactly.It adds a great deal of depth, which appears to be impossible to capture with a camera. At least, I've never mastered it. From the side that test piece shows that the clear layer is about a sixteenth of an inch thick. From above it looks like there are valleys a half inch deep and ridges a quarter inch tall. As you shift it the dark and light areas to not flip like you often see, but rather change in perspective. It appears you see the ridge from one side and as you move it the peak shifts away and you see it from the other side.

SR

[Andyjr1515]

That top is building up to be quite something @ScottR 

 

[Muzz]

Wondering how black it's going to be, as black as the blackest black pudding? 

[ScottR]

6 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

That top is building up to be quite something @ScottR 

 

Thanks Andy. It certainly is something.....evolving....may be the best word.

SR

[ScottR]

4 hours ago, Muzz said:

Wondering how black it's going to be, as black as the blackest black pudding? 

 

4 hours ago, Muzz said:

Wondering how black it's going to be, as black as the blackest black pudding? 

It will be a black burst. The edges will be black as night, some things will be visible in the right light. The rest will be .......blackish.

SR

[Drak]

The shoe on the other foot for a change.

Now I get to sit back and say 'Where the Hell is this going?

With full confidence that it is heading toward a spectacular ending, of course.

But the ride ...is interesting.

[mistermikev]

On 8/1/2021 at 4:34 PM, ScottR said:

All of these steps are to get some midtones in the figure, which really increases the three dimensionality.

SR

Wow, adding green really brought this to life.  Nice call.

[ScottR]

1 hour ago, Drak said:

The shoe on the other foot for a change.

Now I get to sit back and say 'Where the Hell is this going?

With full confidence that it is heading toward a spectacular ending, of course.

But the ride ...is interesting.

I expect most of the spectators are thinking pretty much the same thing.

SR

[ScottR]

1 hour ago, mistermikev said:

Wow, adding green really brought this to life.  Nice call.

Thanks Mike.

SR

[Muzz]

I love the blackburst on the Ibanez ART but your counterstaining technique is likely to take things to a whole new level, where the grain will sparkle and dance in different lights. 

[ScottR]

14 hours ago, Muzz said:

I love the blackburst on the Ibanez ART but your counterstaining technique is likely to take things to a whole new level, where the grain will sparkle and dance in different lights. 

You sir, have nailed the intent, hit the nail right on the head. I'm not familiar with that model but I looked it up, and it does look much like what I'm shooting for.

Now we have to see if I can pull it off.

SR

[Bizman62]

Looking at the ART made me think about the Cthulhu mythology (again) where unnamed figures start creeping from the dark depths.

[ScottR]

On 8/7/2021 at 12:06 PM, Bizman62 said:

Looking at the ART made me think about the Cthulhu mythology (again) where unnamed figures start creeping from the dark depths.

If I'd of used bookmatched burl instead of curly maple you'd even see those unnamed figures creeping from the dark depths.

**idea**

SR

[ScottR]

One more light wash with a navy dye mix, very dilute.

Ya'll may not even notice.....

And then finish polishing to bring the chatoyancy to it's highest level.....

S

....which , of course you cannot see in these pictures.

SR

[ScottR]

Next with gloved fingers, I spread medium CA thickly over everything. I use a light mist of accelerator to speed drying. Too much will cause it to cook off which gives you useless foamy bubbles instead of a nice clear layer.

SR

[ScottR]

Then I level it off with 220, carefully and leaving tricky areas and final divots for later. I'll sneak up on those with 320 and 400. I already sanded through once around the horns. I touched up the dye and slathered a bunch more CA on. This made it more work to level, but more comfortable to level too.

I did not get finished, so more of this next weekend. I swiped some mineral spirits over the matte to see what it would look like shiny....and not blackish.

SR

[Drak]

In one of my 'Ancient Text Documents', a Stew-Mac VHS finishing tape, Dan Earlewine does a blackburst.

He used Silver-Gray dye for the figure enhancement and black dye for the edgeburst.

I still have probably 4 full packets of that stuff I bought probably 25 years ago from Lockwood.

Cuz...I never did make a blackburst, tho I have enough dye to probably make 20 of them .