stabilization and color

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elody21

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Dec 30, 2004
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I am having fun stabilizing blanks. Had a few issues but I finally got things working right.
I tried to color the C Juice with alumilite red color and ended up with more of a blush color in the wood.
How many drops would you use in a pint of liquid to get a dark red, blue etc...?
it is spalted Cottonwood
Alice
 
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Hi Alice,

I don't have the most experience with this, but here are a few of my thoughts:
1) the amount of colorant you need varies with how soft/punky or hard the wood is.
2) I stopped counting drops - now I go by 1/3 of the bottle or 1/2 of the bottle
3) Or, when you can barely see some of the blanks in your chamber because the blue looks like black . . .

I learned to be patient. If the color/blanks really matter, just do one, then see how it turns out and make adjustments. Eventually you will get a "feel" for how much to use.

Dave
 
You need lots, the Alumilite dye in the Cactus Juice require a fair amount of dye to get a fairly dark colour of the shade you are after.

After multiple tests, I got the best results by adding a full small bottle of Alumilite dye into a 1 gallon container of juice, there is a lot of dye that stays inside the bottle so, scraping it out and then flashing it out with multiple 2/3 fillings with the juice, shake the living life of of it and after 4 or 5 times, you may have a clean dye bottle..!

Another thing that I noticed is that, the blue, even with a lot of dye, doesn't seem to ever get dark enough HOWEVER, if you add 10% or so of red into it, you get a nice dark red, and if you put a little too much red, you endup with a dark purple colour.

Hope this helps...!

Cheers
George
 
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Thanks guys.
Since C Juice is water based could I use paste food coloring? I am a cake decorator.
the paste is very concentrated.
 
Ok, Why do you clean up your containers with soap and water?
I have a powdered candy color that is concentrated also?

PS KEN, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Alaska!
 
Ken is correct, Cactus Juice is not water based. It actually has no solvents of any kind so it does not have a base per se. It is semi soluble in water which is why you need soap. It acts similar to oil but is NOT oil based either!

I would avoid any kind of water based dyes.
 
MesquiteMan said:
Ken is correct, Cactus Juice is not water based. It actually has no solvents of any kind so it does not have a base per se. It is semi soluble in water which is why you need soap. It acts similar to oil but is NOT oil based either!

I would avoid any kind of water based dyes.
Click to expand...

Got it!
I tried a lot more alumilite red and the blank still turned out pink. I think I will stick with clear!
 
The final color of the wood depends on what color it is originally, the density of the wood, and the concentration of dye. Obviously, light holly or maple will dye more easily than dark walnut. Soft spalted wood will dye much more easily than dense hardwood. Different colors will work better than others, too. For example, with soft, spalted poplar, Alumilite green or violet in Cactus Juice at 1/2 teaspoon of dye per cup of CJ does great. That same ratio with red yields a lovely pink. I've even heard of a full ounce of dye per quart of juice being used for hard maple.

Your mileage may vary.
 
I have been using spalted cottonwood. You can't get much softer and open grained than that.
Alice
 
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