Boils down (subtle bone dyeing pun!) to value. If its worth something and you plan to sell or give as a gift I would leave as is. If it were my knockaround play set I would paint.
Restoration of red and white bone staunton set
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Dont paint . Geeze .
@SquidDr - Re-dyeing is a huge undertaking only if you try to replicate the antique dyeing technique, which of course provides for the best results. One of these old techniques includes pre-bating in diluted nitric acid, bating in a diluted solution of stannium in hydrocloric acid and sulphuric acid, priming in a boiling decoction of 50 % wau and 50 % yellow wood and finally dyeing in a boiling diluted solution of carmine in ammoniac. It is obvious that this is extremely demanding and complex. There is a much simpler way, though, by dyeing the pieces in a standard dye from the supermarket which you would use for textiles. You can even mix different dyes to produce the exact tone of red you want to have, e.g. by mixing scarlet dye and cherry red dye. The pieces do not look as shiny and lively as the original, but the result is still ok and in my view preferable to painting the pieces. Here is an example of one of my bone sets, which I dyed by using a simple dye for clothes.
EfimLG47 wrote:
@SquidDr - Re-dyeing is a huge undertaking only if you try to replicate the antique dyeing technique, which of course provides for the best results. One of these old techniques includes pre-bating in diluted nitric acid, bating in a diluted solution of stannium in hydrocloric acid and sulphuric acid, priming in a boiling decoction of 50 % wau and 50 % yellow wood and finally dyeing in a boiling diluted solution of carmine in ammoniac. It is obvious that this is extremely demanding and complex. There is a much simpler way, though, by dyeing the pieces in a standard dye from the supermarket which you would use for textiles. You can even mix different dyes to produce the exact tone of red you want to have, e.g. by mixing scarlet dye and cherry red dye. The pieces do not look as shiny and lively as the original, but the result is still ok and in my view preferable to painting the pieces. Here is an example of one of my bone sets, which I dyed by using a simple dye for clothes.
Very nice job! I wonder if you could apply a spray coat of polyurethane after? Would protect the finish and you could then control the gloss level?
@StinkingHyena - Thanks! In fact, the pieces are made of rather coarse bone material, so I wonder if the gloss would not even come out more naturally if you had bone pieces with a bit more polish to it. Then you would probably not even need any additional spray coat.
Hi -
Let's say you had a red/white bone staunton set but the red side's dye had faded a lot. Re-dying is a huge undertaking and your (highly regarded, quite trusted) repair guy suggests painting it.
Is painting previously red dyed pieces a thing? IS that OK? Or is it better to leave it faded.
Thanks - looking forward to your thoughts.