Do you add color to your fretwork?

[no1texan]

For all the scrolling work I have done, I don't believe I have ever added color except to ionize Walnut to get a black color. I add a clear protective finish. But now that I plan to do lots of fretwork / Christmas ornaments, I am wondering about the lighter woods, Maple, Basswood, and others, will a clear finish be okay for ornaments scrolled from these woods? I am tempted to try adding some kind of stain but I really don't want to. I have always held to the natural color regardless of the wood.

Would be interested what some might do with stains, particularly ornaments.

Thanks

[jrpeteo]

I add color to lots of things especially Chistmas ornaments usually cut from 1/8" BB plywood. Stains or paints and then spay glitter.

The flat ones are BB ply, the compounds are poplar.

[tbolt]

I don't think stain to darken something is bad or painting but painted stuff doesn't sem to sell as well in my area most people seem to like the natural look plus painting takes more time and I'd rather be cutting

[EIEIO]

I've used watercolor paint to add tint to some projects. It makes a transparent color that lets the grain through, and sometimes has an antiqued look to it (like the paint faded a bit). I like it.

[Becky]

Personally, I don't use color.  But then I use solid wood for my ornaments and pretty much everything else and I don't think it needs color.  At the end of the day though, I think this comes down to a matter of personal taste.  If you don't think your wood speaks for itself, try the color.  I'd experiment on uncut wood first myself to see if I liked the look before putting my already cut pieces at risk.

[crupiea]

I cut out the fretwork pieces, paint them and put them back in.

[EIEIO]

Crupiea - that looks slick. Gives the impression of leaded glass. Is the black painted on or is there a black backer? Did you paint before cutting or after?

[crupiea]

the black is the border that I leave.  i cut out all the pieces around the border if that makes sense.  Sort of like an outline.  thats where i drill my holes.

I paint them and put them back in then glue the whole thing to a backer.