How to do an Oxblood or Eggplant finish?

[OaklandA]

Wonder if any of you know of the technique to achieve an oxblood or eggplant finish on a guitar?

If you haven't seen either, Oxblood looks to be black from a distance but as you get close there's a maroon or deep red tint to the finish. Eggplant is the same thing only more of a purple tint.

Gibson makes a Les Paul with the Oxblood finish, and I've seen the Eggplant finish on cars and motorcycles. Saw a chopper once that was Eggplant with a Creme trim and it was real sweet.

Anyway, wondering if any of you know how to do it.

TIA

[OaklandA]

The Gibson version, though it just looks black really:

http://www.gibsoncustom.com/flash/pr...54Oxblood.html

I think you really have to see it to appreciate the effect.

[OaklandA]

bump

Seriously, guys? No one knows this? With all the "experts" here that argue ad nauseum about the correct blend for blonde have no idea on this?

FWIW, I found one source that said to apply a base coat of a dark stain, like walnut, mixed with a dark cherry tint stain. Then shoot coats of clear mixed with about 20% of the cherry tint. This was to get an oxblood finish on furniture.

Sound like it'll work? Any other ideas? I suppose if it did work the same technique would work for eggplant only using a deep purple instead of cherry.

The eggplant finishes i've seen though have a metallic look to them.

Any thoughts or theories?

[Jack Wells]

Don't confuse me with an expert.

For the guitar in my avatar I was trying to match the Rickenbacker Fireburst. I thought Krylon Burgandy would match the darkest part. However I found it wasn't dark enough. I turned the can upside down and put a clamp on it to drain off all the pressure. I then opened the can and poured the paint into a container. I then sprayed Krylon black into the container until it matched my Ric 360-12. I used an airbrush to paint the burst.

You could probably do something similar adding black to purple.

......

[milkshape]

wow, you can do that? That was my first reaction. It makes me wonder if I can take Krylon Jade or seafoam and lighten it up with white to get surf green. Thanks for the tip. The tidal pool is too hard to find locally and if I have to pay shipping I might as well order from, well you know.

[reddogbass]

Damn Jack! That's way too funny.

I've always loved your "telebacker" and it's one of the best looking guitars I've ever seen.

Had I known you were down there in the desert draining aerosol cans to get paint, Ida loved it even more. Way cool! So... did you save the propellant too? Wouldn't surprise me.

[OaklandA]

Hey jwells, way to MacGiver a solution there. Sounds like the answer to this IS to blend the dark base cost with the tint you're trying to achieve.

Thanks.