The same cold water, fiber reactive dyes from Dharma Trading Co. that I have long used for dyeing textiles also dyes wood. Above you can see some 1/8 in. maple slices. I love the way the color accentuates the grain. At right are 1/8″ birch plywood samples. The tiles shown in the ring were cut and decorated before dyeing. 

We’ve been too busy the last few years to do our Annual Dyeing Days, but this year we just might. We’ll see how the weather and circumstances develop! Till then, it was lovely to get a good strong dose of color. This test batch of wood was a much smaller event, held indoors at TinkerMill with just three of us, some wood samples, and half a dozen small buckets. Next up comes experiments with topical applications of color as well as immersion, and adding sealers like modge podge, polyurethane and epoxy resin. Inlays are like ahead as well! 

The pendants shown here are  a small part of my new line of wooden components, available just in time for Spring and Summer! I’m busy testing different wood and putting together 24 designs that work well with this technique, and I’m ready to do some production time next week. Look for these to be available in my etsy shop and through Facebook groups before the end of the month.