Finishing Your Pieces - How to Use Wood Dye for Color

 
Water based wood stains or dyes for birch plywood laser cut pieces - red, orange, merlot, green, blue, and yellow.
 

Want to add a pop of color to your laser cut birch plywood pieces? We love using water-based dye and stain to add color to birch! We offer it as one of our finishing services, but if you're a DIYER, you might just want to try it yourself! We like to use General Finishes in our shop, it’s a water based dye.

 
Water based wood dye for finishing or adding color to laser cut wood or plywood
 

SUPPLIES NEEDED:

Wood Dye

220 Grit Sandpaper

Stir Stick

Damp cloth or paper towel

Brush, cloth or roller

STEP ONE: Sand your pieces with 220 grit sandpaper.

 
SandingWoodSquare.jpg
 

STEP TWO: Clean the surface using a damp cloth or compressed air to remove any dust.

STEP THREE: Stir dye and add water if you want to dilute the color - we recommend testing the dye on sample pieces first. If you want a couple sample squares to practice on, just let us know!

STEP FOUR: Apply the dye - you can do this using a cloth, foam or synthetic brush, roller or even spraying it on. For most pieces, we use a foam brush. Try to apply evenly.

 
Merlot Wood Dye being brushed on a laser cut wood square.
 

STEP FIVE: Let dry for about 2 hours and apply another coat (if necessary) The nice thing about dyes is that you can build up layers of color for more intensity.

STEP SIX: Finish with a clear top coat to seal in color. We prefer to use spray top coats!

MATERIALSRebecca HewittLaser Cut CoWOOD