A few months ago, I made this wall hanging and the feedback was amazing.   It is one of my most popular projects and everyone wanted to know what I used to add the colours.  In this post, I will share how I coloured the Shou sugi ban and what products I used.

When I posted the Shou sugi ban wall hanging, I did mention the products I used but there is more to the story. The process is not as simple as adding a particular colour paint. A few factors affect the final colour results eg, how it is applied, how the wood is prepped and sealed. I am no expert on how to colour the Shou sugi ban but I am happy to share with you what products I used how I used them.

How to add colour to Shou Sugi Ban

How to prepare the wood

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I am starting this step after the wood has already been burnt and sanded, here is the tutorial if you missed it. The image below is how your wood should look after you have burnt and sanded it. The deeper you sand into the wood the lighter the wood will become and the more vibrant the colour will be.   I like to have a mixture of both light and dark wood in my wall hangings because the results are more dramatic.

On my first test, I just poured some Unicorn spit onto the surface and spread it around with a foam brush. Big Mistake!

The wood absorbed the pigment even though I spread it straight away, the initial application stayed behind. This ruined the look and I had to go back and burn and sand the wood again.

The best way I found was to wet the surface first.  I used water in a spray bottle and soak the surface first. Leave the water on the surface until you have added the colour.

I found less is more when adding the colour.  I added a small amount of paint to the sponge and moved the sponge over the surface.  The idea is not to add paint to the entire surface leave some areas plain.  The water will allow the colour pigment to spread around the surface.  I left the paint to sit for 3 to 5 minutes before wiping it off with a dry cloth.

How you wipe it off the paint also affects the colour, in some areas you can rub really hard to remove more colour.  This will give you a bigger variety of colours.

What products do I use

I did some test runs using a few different products to see what the results would be. All the colours were applied to the Shou sugi ban, in the same way as using the water as mentioned above. I have combined a few products per photo in order of left to right.

Alcohol inks

Alcohol inks are a great product to use.  I diluted a small amount into a tub with some water and applied it with a foam brush.  The sponge was pulled across the surface and the excess was wiped off.  I found the inks simple to use and the colours were all very vibrant.

Acrylic Paint

I was really surprised at the results of this cheap acrylic paint, the colours were just as bold as the alcohol ink.

Unicorn Spit stain and glaze

Next, I tried unicorn spit stain and glaze which I really loved. The colour range is very vibrant and easy to use. The only downfall is unicorn spit dries with a light powdery finish. So you do not get a true representation of the colour until the wood is sealed. To seal the wood you must use oil-based polyurethane or furniture oil to make the colours pop. It was one of the top products that I used in the end.

Unicorn spit and mica powder

Unicorn spit has a sparkling version of their product which I tried to replicate by adding mica powder. This effect was really pretty it does not show up very well in the photo but the surface has a shimmering effect on the surface. This colour was really beautiful once sealed.

Metallic acrylic paints

The metallic acrylic paints were a real surprise because the colours turned out nothing like the colour in the bottle. The final colour on the wood looked like the colour had separated into two different colours.

Pigment powder

I added half a teaspoon of pigment powder to a small amount of water and applied it to the wood was the sponge brush.  I believe the results will differ depending on the amount of pigment that you add.  The colour was really bold.

Poster paint

Poster paint is great if you don’t want a deep colour. I added two coats and the colour still stayed very light compared to the other products I tried.

Alcohol ink and mica powder

This combination worked well but I think the wood used will also affect the colour you get.

The first image below is what you will get if you want the plain look.  While this piece of wood looks really boring, this picture frame I made turned out stunning.  For the next two, I used regular wood stains.

The colours did look a bit boring, but once I added the polyurethane the colours came to life.

Combining colours

Another method that I tried was combing colours on one piece of wood.  I added a drop of the colours on the sponge and dragged it along the wood.

This was the result that I got, I found it interesting and a great way to get more variety in the colours.  The next test was to try alcohol ink on pallet wood.  I burnt the wood in the same way and the results were very dramatic, I loved it. The last one in this image was another cheap acrylic paint.

Interior wall paint

And for the grand final, I saved the best for last.  I was making a wall hanging for my sister and she wanted some of the paint colour in the hanging that she used on the walls.  Instead of trying to match the colour, I tried this paint and the result was awesome.

This wall hanging was made up of a few different types of wood. It was mainly pine, knotty pine wall panelling, pallet wood and a few others I could not identify.  I added the same colour to each piece in the same way and got all these different colours. I hope I have covered everything.  If you have any questions please feel free to ask.

More project ideas for you

Steampunk Mixed media Mannequin

I made this Shou sugi ban barn quilt.

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