I want a very dark, nearly ebonized finish on some maple end tables, so I have been doing experiments with aniline dyes and tinted varnish.
Right now, I use a dark brown aniline dye to get the wood fairly dark.
Then I mix some black oil paint with some varnish and thin it a little, and rub that on with a cotton pad. A coulpe coats of this makes a nice, semi-transparent build that still reveals the grain underneath, and the brown of the dye. Then I do 2 more coats of clear varnish to get a nice level gloss finish.
– are there any problems with this method? Should it hold up fine over time?
has anyone else out there used oil paint to tint varnish and make a glaze/stain?
I will try to add a photo soon of the sample
Vincent
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IMO, your method is fine. The higher oil content will make for a longer cure, but so what.
I have ebonized using dyes if I wanted to see some grain. If I'm not that concerned with grain but don't want "paint", I'll add some artist's oil paint color to the finish (which essentially becomes a glaze).
No problem. Oil paint is nothing more than varnish with opaque pigments added. The base is the same so they can easily be mixed.
great- thanks!This opens up some very nice possibilities for dye/glaze layering. Does anyone have a favorite varnish brand/type to work with?
You can also use specific manufactured glaze base if you are doing this a lot. It's advantage is that it usually offers quite a bit longer working time to apply and wipe, etc.
this is just for one project, and I really like the idea of being able to mix my own glaze because I have so many oil paints leftover from a painting class... thanks for the info- if I ever need a lot of one color I'll look into those.
The varnish/oil paint will work just fine. And, if you have a lot to do, the glazing medium does come un-tinted for you to add your own pigment.
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