multi-color staining

[masker001]

I just finished making a wedding plaque for my nephew and want to stain it.I want to do it in oak for the background,red cedar for the heart and walnut for the hands.Is there anyway of doing this with out having the stains running together???
Any help will be greatly appreciated.{The plaque is made of basswood.}
Mark

[Colin-Partridge]

I have done this on some of my carvings and to some degree of success. I would do it piece by piece using a small brush dont thin the stain any and wait untill the stain is completly dry before applying the next stain. You might want to used a small artist brush the flat type and be very carfull not to go onto the next piece you want to stain. I would do a prototype roughly on a scrap piece before you actually stain the main carving this way you will know how it will go.

All of the above and before applying any stain apply minwax pre-stain wood conditioner to the whole carving. It's available at your home center or probably any place minwax products are sold.

I have a friend that stains basswood at times. He uses gal stains rather than liquid stain. Seems to have good luck using more than one stain on a piece.

I have used the Gel stains and you can control where you want it, I used a Q-tip to put it on the small area I was working on and it worked fine

[ArizonaPaPa]

The pre-stain wood conditioner is a must if you are going to be using more than 1 color of stain , especially on basswood or some of your other softer woods. The softer woods will soak up the stain unevenly and possibly bleed onto the other stained areas.
As always, try out on a scrap piece before trying on the carving, you may decide you want to try something else like an oil paint wash for the hands.

PaPa

[masker001]

Hi folks,just want to thank everyone for their input.I finished the wedding plaque and {if I do sayso myself}it looks great.Thanks for your help.
Mark