I got around to putting the last coat of stain on two of my boxes using my own wood stain that I made using steel wool and white vinegar. I made the mixture in October as I saw some good results of what it can do on Pinterest and I didn’t really want to go out and buy wood stain as it would be a waste of money because I would probably never use it again and more chemicals.
In a jar I poured in some white vinegar and broke some pieces of fine steel wool and put them in and that was it (no lid on the jar as there was a chance it could explode due to built up gasses, some tutorials say leave a lid on, some say don’t and I didn’t want to take any chances) and left it. Online I saw that after a few days the steel wool would disintegrate but mine took forever, at least a month but I read somewhere sometimes the steel wool can have a coating on and will take longer. the longer you leave it, the darker the stain will get, plus you get this lovely rustiness in the jar:
you can try it with apple cider vinegar, balsamic vinegar, rusty nails to get different results. I found the longer I’ve left the stain the browner it got. you can also make it come out darker if you pre-stain the wood with tea as the stain reacts with the tannin in the wood and the tea adds more.
A few days ago I started another sketchbook, this time of Egyptian items that I have but this time, they are just quick sketches. I wanted them to be quick sketches as I spend too long on one drawing and I had quite a lot to draw.
