Lee, that first one was a refinish job. The bow had a light brown dye job and tru-oil finish on it that I gently sanded out as much as possible. Now since the dye and oil from the original finish kinda gets into the wood it won't all come out, good base for one of those experimental finishes I mentioned.
I then blended some black leather dye, or maybe it was umber earth pigments (can't remember), mixed with alcohol and applied lightly then partially rubbed out and blended into areas with a alcohol dampened rag leaving some black here and there. After that dried I went over all of it with some green leather dye that I had added a little black or brown dye to in order to tone down. It's hackberry and I find this wood takes colors differently than some other white woods.
One way to get this layered color effect when using dyes or pigments is to put a thin coat of tru-oil on between the different colors, allow it to dry and then gently rub it out in random areas with fine steel wool before overlaying the next color. You can also do the same with fresh bare wood by starting with a thin coat of tru-oil before any color is added, steel wool it out, then layer colors , oil again, steel wool again and layer colors, repeat. Hope this makes sense.
