Adding Color to Chip Carvings

Many first-time chip carvers experience issues with color bleeding out of the chips and into the surrounding wood when staining projects. Here’s what you can do to keep the color inside the chips. Once you master adding color to chip carvings, test it out on some summer-themed coasters.

When your carving is finished, first seal the wood completely. Apply several light coats of spray satin lacquer, matte acrylic, or shellac-based sanding sealer to the entire carving—front, back, and edges. If your carved item is quite thin, avoid a penetrating sealer, as this will cause the wood to cup. 

With the wood properly sealed, brush a gel stain into the recesses of your carving and wipe off the surface with a cotton cloth. Gel stains do not absorb into the wood like penetrating oil stains. Let the stain dry overnight and spray on a final topcoat to complete the finish.

If you try to color the chips with a penetrating oil stain or dye before sealing the wood properly, the colors will bleed.

Marty used the technique outlined above on his “Chip-Carved Ball-Foot Box” from the fall 2019 issue (#88). 

Marty Leenhouts is the founder of MyChipCarving.com with over 30k subscribers and 200k hours of watch time. Courses, videos, patterns and more are available at  his website. He and his wife Shelley, also run Red Barn Retreats in Garden City, Minn.