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Woodworking

Dyed Poplar Drawer Fronts w/ Airbrushed Vignetting

Using dye and airbrush vignetting to make poplar look like it costs ten times more.

This was more about experimenting with dyes than it was about making drawer fronts, but here’s how it turned out.

We have this IKEA setup in a little maker space room of our house. A few months ago I put a custom Ash counter on it, and I recently completed the drawers + fronts.

I really wanted specific dimensions of drawers for quick access to small parts, so custom drawers became the answer.

Wood: Poplar.
Dyes: TransTint and TransFast.
Finish: Dewaxed Shellac, Deft Lacquer (gloss), Deft Lacquer (satin)

If you look close you can see that the blue dye isn’t quite as smooth as the other colors. The blue is TransTint; the other colors are TransFast (as well as the black “ebony” vignetting on all). All were diluted with distilled water.

Dyed poplar drawer fronts installed
Airbrushing the vignetting
Airbrushing the vignetting…
Subtle vignetting complete
Subtle vignetting complete
Finished drawer fronts in place