Post by Skipper on Oct 3, 2004 18:47:34 GMT -5
OK, this has been a long time coming. Lots of pix. The objective was to dye some howlite blue. Apparently, when done right, it is a reasonable stand-in for turquoise. Here's the process I followed accordingly to info I found on the web.
1. Tumbled howlite through 60/90 and 220 grits (full week on both)
- despite the softness of the rock (3.5), I still needed the full week to get the shape I wanted
This first pic gives a good sense of the whiteness of the rock - very pretty as is
These closeups look blue, but the rock is NOT tinted yet. Lighting issue.
Ready to be dyed
OK. For dyes, the recommendation was to use some of the blue stuff you put in toilets (2000 flushes) for disenfecting. I also bought some material dye from wal-mart - orange and red
I put the rocks in the oven at 200 degrees F for a couple hours to remove all moisture, then dropped them in the dyes for 24 hrs. I left some undyed. You can see the stain is very dark. It is also uneven. Not sure why. I immediately disliked the effect - looked too unnatural (well duh! you're dyeing them!).
Back into the tumber for prepolish and polish (titanium ox), both at 7 days. As you can see, the dye leeched out and blended across the rocks. Argh! But at least I had more natural looking rocks which I'm happy about. They are now slightly tinted which reminds me of easter eggs. Hard to tell, but the little one on the right is slightly orange, and the top right is blue. The others are blue or slightly pink.
I don't think I'd do it again, but was a learning exercise. I probably should have done the dying just prior to polish, or perhaps even after polish. Dunno.
Enjoy!
1. Tumbled howlite through 60/90 and 220 grits (full week on both)
- despite the softness of the rock (3.5), I still needed the full week to get the shape I wanted
This first pic gives a good sense of the whiteness of the rock - very pretty as is
These closeups look blue, but the rock is NOT tinted yet. Lighting issue.
Ready to be dyed
OK. For dyes, the recommendation was to use some of the blue stuff you put in toilets (2000 flushes) for disenfecting. I also bought some material dye from wal-mart - orange and red
I put the rocks in the oven at 200 degrees F for a couple hours to remove all moisture, then dropped them in the dyes for 24 hrs. I left some undyed. You can see the stain is very dark. It is also uneven. Not sure why. I immediately disliked the effect - looked too unnatural (well duh! you're dyeing them!).
Back into the tumber for prepolish and polish (titanium ox), both at 7 days. As you can see, the dye leeched out and blended across the rocks. Argh! But at least I had more natural looking rocks which I'm happy about. They are now slightly tinted which reminds me of easter eggs. Hard to tell, but the little one on the right is slightly orange, and the top right is blue. The others are blue or slightly pink.
I don't think I'd do it again, but was a learning exercise. I probably should have done the dying just prior to polish, or perhaps even after polish. Dunno.
Enjoy!
