At the May 22, 2004 meeting Brad Stave, President of the Antelope Valley Woodturners Association, presented an outstanding demonstration of the many different techniques he uses for surface decoration of his turnings. Then, after a quick lunch break, he led us through a hands on workshop where we could try many of the methods that he had shown. It is not possible to give details of all of his tricks but I have listed the subjects he discussed followed by photos from the demonstration. If you have questions about the detailed application call one of the members who attended the meeting.
Topics included: Use of milk paint; water based acrylic paint in regular, extra thick, and very thin viscosities for both coloring and texturing; burning with copper wire and wood burning pens; piercing and carving with pneumatic hand held carving tools; texturing with the ArborTech™ tool; use of alcohol based aniline dyes; and simple permanent colored marking pens.
Of particular note is his use of burned lines to prevent the bleeding of colors from one area onto another both with the acrylic paints and with the aniline dye.