Beetroot juice

Has anyone tried using beetroot as either the main colour or the pop colour for the grain? I have plenty of beetroot in the garden ready willing and able to make the sacrifice for the sake of art.

do it man! should be fine as long as you give it plenty of time to dry

i used coffee to pop the flame on my sister's guitar, see link below

Give it a go on a piece of ply or pine, see what happens!

Hi Open G, as Swanny suggest see what it does to pine or ply. Not sure if it will be lightfast and keep its colour but would be a cool colour.
If it works I'll be using some betroot juice on a future build, love the colour !

Natural dyes can be problematic, as Woks so sagely pointed out it may not be light fast.

Having said that, I can remember my Nana using Beetroot to dye wool. (It made a nice earthy brown dye)
Apparently there is a thing called a mordant that fixes the dye colour, what that mordant for Beetroot is I don't know but if you hit one of the Secret Nana Buisiness websites I am sure they will tell you.

So, get in the shed and do some nutty professor experiments :)

vinegar or salt or alum can be used as a mordant, but i wouldnt have a clue which for beetroot, thats if it needs it at all. I would have to ask my hippy, natropath, tie dyed sister, shes into dying her own spun wool etc.

Definitely needs a mordant, Tony said alum and that's ringing a bell.
Just tried to call Nana, but being 96 she was having that all important afternoon nap :)

Done my google search. No mordant for beetroot. Cochineal is a colour that can be set with a mordant. Spent my xmas break tie-dyeing. The die I was using comes in a range of colours with the Alum mordant mixed in with the dye powder. Add cold water and use within 20 minutes. Let set for 24 hours in warmth and wash off excess dye. Might give them a go. They attach chemically to the cellulose molecules in natural fibres so should work well with wood. I will do the mad scientist thing tomorrow and report back.

Excellent stuff Gman!
Really looking forwards to seeing what your nutty professor experiments come up with.

Would the beetroot juice eventually oxidise and therefore change colour? Presume that is what the mordant is all about?

Most of the juice in canned beetroot contains that much vinegar and sugar it is ridiculous.