Sunday, January 30

Homemade Wood Stain

I really didn't want to go to Home Depot today and spend $8 on a pint of maple stain. I found a "recipe" at eHow.com. It uses plain ole vinegar and watercolor paint. That's it.


I just used the Crayola paints I had. If you have tubes of watercolors it would be easier. I used brown, black, a bit of red and just mixed them up in some vinegar.

I tried my mixture on several different kinds of wood to see how it would look.

Then I dry brushed some black paint over the first coat of stain. The piece on the left below is closest to the color I want. It's still a little light but I'm thinking one more coat and it will be perfect?

I found that a sponge brush works best for applying the stain. I'm hoping that the wood won't warp. I'll let you know how it goes.

So far, so good.


It's kind of like dyeing Easter eggs! :D

5 comments:

Susanne said...

Thanks for the tutorial, Kathi, it´s nice that it is so simple afterall ;-)
Love, Susanne

BiWuBär said...

Vinegar - I would never have thought of that. Thank you, very interesting - and the result looks pretty.

Greetings
Birgit

Kathi said...

I weighted the pieces of wood and let them dry. The color turned a bit pink. I may have added too much red? I'll give it another coat and see what happens.
I may need to seal the wood first. But that would require a trip to Home Depot. Still trying to avoid that. LOL

rosanna said...

Thank you for the tip, it's very useful! I shall treasure it. Rosanna

Kim said...

wow- it looks great in the picture. I didn't know this tip- thanks Kathi!