Metal Complex Powder Dye 9pk
9 Colour dye pack
- Powdered dye for interior woodworking projects, available in a wide selection of wood and rainbow colours
- Dissolves in water or alcohol - synthetic methanol is recommended, such as found in Metho or Acetone.
- Metal complex dyes have the best lightfastness of all of our powdered dyes and will only very gradally fade when exposed to UV
- 14 g makes approximately 1 litre of dye
- Colours can be mixed to make your own custom shades
Metal Complex dye comes as a powder that you dissolve in water, alcohol, or petroleum solvents, depending on the formulation
Colours available: Rosewood; Mahogany;Yellow; Teak; Red; Brown; Violet; Blue; Black
Chris Pytlik used to thin the dye with denatured alcohol, but found the pieces would often crack, as the alcohol has a high water content. He has now switched to thinning the dyes with acetone.
Changing or enhancing the color of wood while letting its grain show through has been a favorite finishing technique for centuries. Today we often accomplish this with pigmented stains. But before the 1950s, most wood coloring was done with dyes. Dyeing wood became popular early in the 19th century. The natural dyes available then, extracted from roots, berries, bark, and even insects, yielded beautiful, clear colors. But they weren't lightfast, so the dyed wood faded or changed color over time. In the 1850s, a British chemist accidentally produced a strong purple dye while working with aniline, a clear, oily, poisonous liquid. Subsequently, scientists synthesized other dye colors. These synthetic dyes delivered the same sparkling colors as the natural ones and were lightfast to boot. They were cheaper, too. Derived mainly from coal tar, synthetic dyes in general came to be known as aniline dyes, and a new chemical dyemaking industry sprang up around them.
The dyes are fine powders. When mixed with Alcohol or water, Metal complex Dyes are colour fast meaning they do not fade and offer an attractive finishing choice today. Pigmented stains, which some people characterize as thinned paints, may mask the wood's figure and can lend wood a muddy look. But transparent dye colors, even dark ones, can bring out the grain and add depth. Metal complex dyes are a superior dye for Brilliant colours. The dyes are made up of microscopic transluscent crystals which allow the light to pass through them creating the brilliant Colour and shimmer.
