I decided to use a "rag applied" sunburst on my almost finished F5 project. I experimented on some test wood and came up with something I liked using TransTint dyes. I used a base color of Honey Amber and then an overcoat of Reddish Brown. The picture of the small piece of wood gives you the basic idea. Note: The entire piece was covered with amber first.
I mixed a new batch of Honey Amber and shakily applied it to my mandolin. I think I must have mixed it stronger than what I used on my test piece (was doing it by drops in 3 oz of water). On my test pieces, I used 4 "coats" of amber, applied with a rag. However, I stopped at 2 coats on the real thing and it's a much more intense yellow.
I think I can reduce the intensity by either a weak wash of light brown (not the reddish brown) or maybe sand it down a bit before the reddish brown. Or, maybe after there is much less of the amber left after applying the reddish brown, it won't look so "wow"?
Whatcha think?
Thanks,
Bookmarks