Heljestrand MK#31 in yellow heart (Bill, it did pop without CA!)

[onimaru55]

I really like those scales!

Yup, What he said !

Great to see the use of natural materials like turmeric.
Now I'm thinking cochineal might have a use too

 

[honed]

Do you have any pictures of the un-coloured wood to compare with the coloured one? There's a difference I know but I'm curious to see how much "yellow" the wood absorbed.

I tried to capture the straight sitting on the original untreadted plank of yellow heart the scales came from.
Not much success. Need some daylight & we don't get much of that yet...

But if I would try to describe it it's a pale yellow with whiteish grain when untreated & a much brighter yellow when oiled.
The Turmeric enhances the yellow mostly making it warmer but also accentuates the grain a whole lot.
But on my scales both the linseed-oil & the shellac adds to this warm yeallow tone.
That's the beauty of natural coloring, it never conceal, only enhances what is allready there.

 

[honed]

Yup, What he said !

Great to see the use of natural materials like turmeric.
Now I'm thinking cochineal might have a use too

It certainly would!

My favorite red agent is Dragons Blood, but it's really expensive & rather irritant.
Alkanna root is another favorite, much lighter coloring but really brings out the red in anything very nicely.
Never tried cochineal, but now I might have to

Another good thing is that you don't have to get locked into matching colors, you can play around & maybe find a very neat combo!

Here is a little experiment I did a while back.
Basswood dyed with alkanna-root/linseed-oil.
Since basswood is so soft, they are sealed with epoxy resin.
But the interesting thing & what I was after was that the softness of the basswood made for a very good absorption & the grains turned a lot redder then the rest, creating a pretty neat effect on the otherwise kind of boring basswood.

Allthough basswood really can't be recommended for scale-making because of it's softness, it was great to work with, sawed & sanded a set of scales in no-time
No wonder that carvers loves it.

 

[onimaru55]

Nice effect ,brought the grain right out

 

[Luc]

I tried to capture the straight sitting on the original untreadted plank of yellow heart the scales came from.
Not much success. Need some daylight & we don't get much of that yet...

But if I would try to describe it it's a pale yellow with whiteish grain when untreated & a much brighter yellow when oiled.
The Turmeric enhances the yellow mostly making it warmer but also accentuates the grain a whole lot.
But on my scales both the linseed-oil & the shellac adds to this warm yeallow tone.
That's the beauty of natural coloring, it never conceal, only enhances what is allready there.

Looks like you will need to take a walk outside Jens! Thanks for the picture, I see a slight difference... I love using Turmeric, specially the fresh root!

 

[honed]

Looks like you will need to take a walk outside Jens! Thanks for the picture, I see a slight difference... I love using Turmeric, specially the fresh root!

Well it's currently -24 Celsius outside.
The gray mush above doesn't really qualify as daylight..

So I rather sit here, thank you very much

 

[Joe Edson]

Well it's currently -24 Celsius outside.
The gray mush above doesn't really qualify as daylight..

So I rather sit here, thank you very much

So.....your saying that vacation I was planning to Sweden I should put off a couple months

 

[honed]

So.....your saying that vacation I was planning to Sweden I should put off a couple months

You should wait until spring, Bandini, oh I mean Joe (bonus points for those who get it...)

Two different countries really depending on what time of year.
Winters are harsh, dark & brutal while summer is warm, pleasant & the sun only sets for 2 to 4 hours a night during the whole summer.

But if you wanna go now, I can tell you next week is gonna be fairly mild.
The "warmest" we've had for some time now

http://www.klart.se/v%C3%A4der-stockholm.html

 

[Joe Edson]

You should wait until spring, Bandini, oh I mean Joe (bonus points for those who get it...)

Two different countries really depending on what time of year.
Winters are harsh, dark & brutal while summer is warm, pleasant & the sun only sets for 2 to 4 hours a night during the whole summer.

But if you wanna go now, I can tell you next week is gonna be fairly mild.
The "warmest" we've had for some time now

http://www.klart.se/väder-stockholm.html

High of 4 °C.....not bad. I could probably handle that

 

[danjared]

Ah, cochineal. What a beautiful dye. But I am probably biased. (It also reminds me of art class in middle school, when my art teacher showed me how to grind and use it.)

That makes me wonder, though. Anyone here use mesquite wood for scales? It is an extremely hard wood. I imagine it would make beautiful scales, though. (Hey, it's good for more than just burning.) Maybe I'll drive out a bit to the desert and try to find some that is dead and dry to use.

 

[honed]

Ah, cochineal. What a beautiful dye. But I am probably biased. (It also reminds me of art class in middle school, when my art teacher showed me how to grind and use it.)

That makes me wonder, though. Anyone here use mesquite wood for scales? It is an extremely hard wood. I imagine it would make beautiful scales, though. (Hey, it's good for more than just burning.) Maybe I'll drive out a bit to the desert and try to find some that is dead and dry to use.

I had to google mesquite (not much desert trees around here )
Nice wood!
Some further googling made me think it's not a common choice, but I did find this razor, a Charlie Lewis custom in red dyed mesquite

Good luck finding a nice piece & you all reday know what type of red dye to use

 

[danjared]

Wow, that is more beautiful than I imagined. I just need to find a Shumate that was made in Austin, Texas, (I think they were for all of four years...) that needs rescaling, and I'll have a Southwest treasure. Oh, and of course go hunting for some prickly pear with bugs. At least I'll have a nice snack when I find them (aceituna, or prickly pear fruit... tastes kind of like watermelon). It's partly cloudy with a high of 72F on Saturday.