Finishing The Panels
In this episode I show you how I dye curly maple with Keda Dyes and then take you through the process of mixing and applying milk paint to the other panels.

Dying The Maple Panel
Since the dyes I used are water based, I pre-raise the grain by spraying some tap water on the surface and then wiping away any excess using a dry paper towel. I then let the surface dry for a few hours. Once dry, I sand the surface with 180 grit sandpaper to smooth it back out.

The dye used in this video was the royal blue powder by Keda Dyes. It's a great looking dye, but I had some bleeding issues throughout the finishing process that will probably make me not want to use it again. There are better alternatives that won't cause me to have to clean my shellac brush after every coat. But enough about that, Lets talk about the finish.

I flood the surface with the blue dye, applying it with a paper towel. I let the dye stand on the surface for a few minutes before wiping off any excess with a paper towel. I applied a total of 2 coats this way and sat it to the side to dry before applying a heavy coat of boiled linseed oil. I flood the surface with the oil, applying it with a foam brush. I kept applying it to the surface for about 5 minutes, making sure to look for dry spots. If I saw any, I kept applying oil until it stayed wet. After 5 minutes I wiped the excess oil off with a paper towel. I kept an eye on the panel for the rest of the day, wiping any oil off that would seep back to the surface. It's important to do this so you don't have a sticky mess the next day.

Mixing and Applying Milk Paint

Milk paint is easy to mix and apply. It mixes with equal parts water. I mixed 2 table spoons of bayberry green with 2 table spoons of water for my cherry box and 1 table spoon of soldier blue with 1 table spoon of water for my walnut box. I mixed the paint/water in the container for about 5 minutes before letting it sit for 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes was up, I applied 3 coats of paint simply using a foam brush. After each coat, I would sand the surface smooth with 400 grit sand paper, including after the last coat.

A Simple Shellac Finish

For this project I decided to use a readily available shellac for the simple shellac finish so I chose Bullseye Sealcoat Shellac. It's a 2 pound cut in the can so I mixed some denatured alcohol to make it a 1 pound cut (equal parts alcohol to shellac from the can) and applied 3 coats. After each coat I would sand with 400 grit to remove any dust nibs.

Products Used (Amazon Affiliate links)
Gold Taklon Brush: http://amzn.to/21OwDzj
Soldier Blue Milk Paint: http://amzn.to/24GB6cr
Bayberry Green Milk Paint: http://amzn.to/24GB846
Keda Dyes: http://amzn.to/28NLvu4
1 1/2" Hake Brush: http://amzn.to/28U7MWr

My Dying Process

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