Mixing dry dyes with water based lacquer?

[wood]

Has anyone tried tinting water based lacquer with dry dye? I'm thinking of trying it but, before I do, I thought it might be prudent to just ask. I have some dark mission brown Homestead Dry Dye and some Deft waterborne gloss lacquer. What are your thoughts?

 

[oldnamvet]

Never tried that but I have used varnish that had stain in it. It didn't really turn out that well. Get it on a little bit thicker and it is darker -- tended to cover the grain and looked muddy. Ended up stripping it off and staining first. When I had what I liked, I then put on varnish. Looked much better. I have a feeling that you would run into the same things with dye and finish. Try a little on some scrap -- just be sure it is a fairly large piece of scrap to get the full effect. My bet is you won't be happy and opt to put on the dye first and then put on the top coat.

 

[SageMother]

While I haven't tried it, I know that artists and crafters will dye wood before applying lacquer.

There's a place call Dharma Trading that carries a huge selection of dyes and there may be one that is specially formulated for the use you have in mind.