Adding Color to Patterned Plywood 

Hey everyone, what do you want to see me build with these patterns, and what pattern should I use on that project? Thanks!

I love this stuff. The black one is also my favorite, not because of the color, but because of the center reversal and the through holes it creates. It makes me think of creating a partition or shoji screen using the basic idea cranked up so it's visually obscuring but airy and still lets light and sound through.

Soooooo good, I've been thinking about this for a few years now so fantastic to see someone who's actually done it. Great viewing, thank you

The 1/2" ply really brings it to the next level - lots of color pop. Looking forward to seeing them used in a project and some finish really bringing out the veneer.

Im really digging the black veneers.

I love this patterned plywood and just tried it out myself. I also put the final pieces on top of each other staggered to create a 3D effect. My favorite one you made was with the black and my favorite part is the zig zag in the middle.

Love that you added color to an already beautiful technique. It really makes the pattern pop. This could be on a number of projects. I’m seeing this as a drawer or panel door front on a chest or small cabinet, maybe apothecary style. No matter what you do with this, it’ll be stunning! 👍

They all look amazing! Added clarity to the design and another dimension. I thought you would stain some square dowels black and put them in the holes to complete the one panel. Same look but solid surface

Wow, this looks amazing! If you're worried about the strength of the pieces when using them on finished projects, it seems like you could put a thin layer of epoxy around it to reinforce the pattern. From making end grain cutting boards, I'm super paranoid about having missed a spot in the glue up and weakening the overall panel.

These are SOOO COOL!!!!! I love the idea of these for knife scales - my brother-in-law makes knives and I can imagine how amazing these would look on his knives. Along with that idea, it'd be neat to make a knife block with these designs. Thanks for sharing your process, tips and tricks you learned along the way and that big grin when you're finishing up your project. Keep creating Michael!

Those definitely are amazing, Michael. It's mind boggling how many different patterns can be had. Bill

love it man, the black veneer adds such a great dimension to the alpine scene, which is one of my favourite patterns! :)

Definitely one of the best looking patterns to date! I love this!

I like the black and the half-inch red. The multi-color was nice in theory but didn’t have quite as much of the pop of contrast. I’d love to see those patterns again in a higher contrast!

This is so pretty! I loved the style of the black one, thank you Ashley, but I prefer the red veneer. Combining the two would be perfection

Love the black, love the weave, love the chaotic red, loving your creativity as always!

Wow! Amazing end result 👏

Michael, again, many thanks for the great video. I am completing my first chevron pattern, a replacement top for my wife's TV tray, with matching coasters. As I was heading down the rabbit hole behind you I found some information I wanted to share, this has to do with wood glue open times. Much came from a WWGOA video, the rest from other research. Glue Open Time Comment Titebond Liquid Hyde 66 Dries brown Elmer’s Glue All (White) 37 Dries clear Elmer’s Wood Glue (Yellow) 20 Titebond II Extend 19 Dries Yellow Titebond III 15 Dries Yellow Titebond Original 11 Dries Yellow I use the Elmer's and feel it helps. Good Luck, Rickster

Super cool! I'm always impressed with how you bring visual art to woodworking. I'm getting ready to make some custom chisel handles. After watching this, I'm trying to visualise how to make a pattern blank and turn them into cylindrical pieces.

These are so cool! The black is my favorite, also. For the multi-colored ones, red and blue show up best - not sure if it's the camera, my screen, or reality, but the yellow veneer is pretty subtle when compared to the red and blue. I think the black one could just be mounted on a wall as is! Drawer facings would also be incredibly cool. (Also, hello Wintson!)

Wow! Really love it! Glad you kept digging on this. You really took it to the next level.

That is so cool! I love the colors! Such a great idea.

Can't wait to see it finished and stained!!

thanks for sharing this technique! i'm studying interior design and this just adds a new component.

They are all great patterns, and they all look away with the addition of colour. Great stuff as usual

I really like the look of the black version. I think it would be interesting to see something done in this style, maybe combining black and a dark green (?) and come up with something that looked similar to scales on a snake/lizard/dragon.

My favorite is the random one. I like that as you look at it, you notice many different ways they fit together.

This is like 3-D quilt piecing! Wonderful projects!

I like the black veneer the best. Look forward to seeing what you make out of these pieces.

Really really cool man! I've enjoyed watching the pattern plywood progression.

The last red one, random placement looks great. Just a thought for gluing up the 90 degree pieces, maybe create a small series of 45 degree pieces glued to your fence (or fence extension) to make placement easier. The Hex Pattern having facets against the fences seemed to glue easier than the black one. An end grain Tambour with the black would be mind blowing, especially with the gaps along the centre line.

These are so beautiful. I would love to see a project incorporating the random pattern.

Really cool, the veneers add a nice detail and highlight the patterns!

The black is also my favorite They are all insane results 😍

They turned out awesome. I liked the black one, because it has a really unique pattern when you reversed it.

The alpine with the black veneer looks so nice! I'm also really liking the yellow veneer. It's subtle but it stands out just enough to make a difference

Black & white is my favorite. Great ideas. Thanks for sharing. Be safe.

Awesome Michael. They all looked great but I’m with you on the black one. I’ve no idea what you should make with them but I can’t wait to find out. 👏👏👏

Michael, You always hook me in for these pattern plywood designs. I love the Red and Blue's the most but thought maybe a Green next time you make some. I feel a cutting board would be a unique gift, but I'm now sure how it would hold up under that situation. Another project might be an end table. Anything you create will be extraordinary, I'm sure. Thanks for sharing, my friend. Felix

Wow, they all look great.

Your videos are so professional looking. And the sound is awesome. Thanks !

The black pattern is really cool.

I liked the black better. As for a project to build with the black pattern with the flipped pattern that leaves the holes, I think some type of jewelry box with a solid wood frame painted a gloss or semi-gloss black would be a good match. Then for the panels inside the frame (either flush or slightly recessed) would use the black pattern. Might experiment with flipping the pattern continuously to give an even pattern of holes across the piece. Back the patterned plywood panels with a very thin plywood sheet either painted black or with a layer of black veneer so that the bottom of the holes are black (and mysterious). Alternately you could glue a shiny very thin sheet metal to the back and then the bottom of the holes would be reflective (and even more mysterious). A little bit bigger jewelry chest could have two doors on the front that swing open to give access to slide out trays with necklace hooks on the back of the doors. And the side panels could swing open to provide necklace storage hooks. A bigger project would be to make a chest of drawers in a mid-century modern style where the drawer fronts hide the frame cross pieces completely and form a flush and continuous face when the drawers are closed. And the best might be a tall and skinny 6-drawer lingerie chest where the fancy drawer fronts would be a good match for the fancy clothing it holds. The picture I have in my head is to use the patterned plywood as the drawer fronts so that when all the drawers are closed, the edges of all the drawer fronts form a continuous pattern. The width of a saw kerf is about the gap needed between drawer fronts in this type of flush faced chest of drawers. If you make a layup that is the size of all of the drawer fronts, glue it to the backing wood and then cut it into individual drawer fronts, the pattern is guaranteed to line up. And instead of a lot of flips in the pattern, just do one that will line up in the middle of each drawer front. Oh, and one last thought, definitely use some clear epoxy to fill all the holes in the pattern so that dust can't collect down in them. The epoxy polished to a high gloss would match the gloss black frame as well. Keep up the great work!

Well, those all turned out great! For me, I think I like the black veneer pattern best. It just helps define the pattern better as you said. I think the next step down this particular rabbit hole seems like it would be to make your own plywood to start from. Maybe something with darker wood layers and lighter veneers to highlight with. As for build and pattern ideas, I'm not sure about what to build but I think some kind of pattern that radiates out from a central hexagon to fill a panel would look very good. Perhaps for a door in a cabinet. Or, maybe, drawer fronts for a desk. Not really sure, tbh. One thing I am absolutely sure of is that I will be very interested in watching you build "stuff" that incorporates these new patterns you're making! Thanks for sharing this with us.

Black veneer all the way. The color contrast to the lighter woods makes it work. I'd love to see it with a finish on it, I'm sure the black will pop more! Even like a Rubio Pure. The reverse you did on the black is nice. You should do that throughout the piece (every other 2 rows flip it). Almost has a snake like pattern to it.

Love the originality! Great job sir! I'd love to give this a try someday.

I liked the Alpine pattern the best. Looks amazing with that reverse halfway through. Well done!

The black one is the most versatile one and love the almost open weave...

That first pattern is so elegant.

Forget carpentry, you're an artist now. Great creativity, experimentation and amazing work! Please keep it up. Love all the patterns, especially random red.

Looks amazing. I have a 5x5 that was slated for drawers to a Murphy bed, but now I just want to cut it up in patterns. I love your video and the Murphy bed I made was inspired by your video a while ago. Same Rockler kit. BYW, the shed looks great too.

Exactly what I need for my next project! Thanks for this video Michael!

Very fun. I do love the black!

Your favorite is my favorite, it reminds me of an Art Deco look. I imagine cutting it into strips again, and creating picture frames.

Really cool looking. Love it!

I think the contrast with the black and white is best and would like to see how darker primary colors look with it. Maybe a Maroon or a Navy Blue?

I think the black design with the holes at the center would look great as a room divider screen, if you repeated the center pattern for every other row, so that the holes appear evenly over the whole piece. Very nice work.

One thing I always wanted to do was use a wood glue that was colored/dyed to black to contrast the wood plies to make my own sheet of plywood. As I seen a table top done in a restaurant like that in my travels and I figured out that they had colored the glue on the plywood, but the scope of trying to make my own full sheet of plywood like that was out of the question at that time. But for a small sheets of plywood and using for a pattern would look good, or just doing the glue coloring for between the cuts of store bought plywood would work similar to the dyed veneer sheet.

I think they are all bad ass. I particularly like the black reversed alpine. Well done. Youve a new appreciative followers.

you are a wood artist! absolutely beautiful!

Michael, all of these are way cool, but the black one is the WOW factor

Parchment paper (silicone treated baking paper) is good for using as an ironing paper. This project was awesome; well done!

Color and patterned ply?! YESSSSSSS 👏🏼 Thanks Micheal, made my week

These are really cool! I just saw the video of the three offset handle nesting trays and I think they would look really cool with the hexagons, could do each tray with a different pattern depending on how you orient them.

Fantastic, Michael! Amazing patterns! 😃 Really awesome work! Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

The chaotic pattern is my favorite!!

I think they ALL look great!

Really awesome stuff. A thin sheet of that stuff would make a striking pickguard and/or headstock faceplate (or truss rod cover) for a guitar. You could even make an entire guitar top out of it. The red 1/2" made my favorite patterns.

Gorgeous!

Wow, the colours look really amazing! I agree, the mountain shape is really fun - there's a nice art deco vibe with it being flipped halfway through. Now, I'm wondering if you could do some sort of figurative display piece with different colours & patterns to represent elements of a landscape. Depending on the contrast levels and the plywood thickness, you could get really cool effects.

Michael they are all awesome, but the first one with the black is probably the favourite and the random red a close second for me. I think you should use them in a nice box using them for the lid and bottom. 😊

The Escher square pattern is gorgeous!

It would be really cool with the first pieces you made to come up with some sort of Celtic woven board

So I should be saying this on the video that was the demo of plain plywood pattern of this alpine design (my absolute favorite), but thank you for sharing so much knowledge, details, etc. This actually goes back to seeing Ashely’s workbench, you had filmed a short clip of these stunning alpine ply + walnut cutting boards that matched when aligned together bc of the outline of mountains (ply alpine) vs the night sky (walnut alpine) with I’m assuming, brass stars or maybe it was wood dowels… I don’t know but anyways that pushed me to this year getting through my fear of the table saw and creating this alpine design as this years cheese boards for my family members. I’d go with actual cutting boards but I have so much family… there’s no way in my timeframe lol. Sorry that was incredibly long winded of an explanation but for me to face kick back and whatever else can go wrong on a table saw is a big deal and I’m so appreciative that I have your channel and your knowledge and advice, inspiration to draw from. For my cheese boards I decided to do almost an ombré effect with the alpine shapes. I can’t find walnut but I sourced plenty of Mahogany, Purple Poplar (I’m not using much and it’ll be at the end of the cheese board), Hickory, Alder, and finally Maple to create this soft gradient of a fall themed alpine mountains or trees. I might try this pattern with the squares where it’s flipped upside down but in the center use scrap wood so it’s completely solid but same concept. I don’t know but thank you and I look forward to more builds

I want your puppy. I love that you've been adding color.

My dude, you're killing it with these patterned plywood vids.

The mixed colored saw dust at 13:35 is super nice ! I don't know why I like this shot especially 🤷‍♂️ The all video is awesome by the way ! I love thoses experimentation a lot, I found them very inspiring ! I'm dreaming of an complet conter top made out of pattern plywood... But I assume it'll be a heck lot of work... And I don't already know how, but I'm quite sure this technic can be scaled up and being used I architecture in a stunning way (with kerto, CLT or some kind of beam arrangement) in structural or just esthetic way... Thank for the video and the great work !

Really cool. I think I like the black one the best.

Black Fishscale with decorative line is marvellous. Would go with a minimalistic japanese inspired stool, little table. Keep pattern surface small. Random Red is awesome as well, like graffiti. Multi Coloured is very sweet too.

I'm loving the black - and the holes where the two sides of the patterns meet leave all sorts of creative ideas open to me. For some reason, I thought "Lampshade", but I'm sure you could come up with something much more inventive.

Michael this is the best yet. Now I have to re- think my drawer faces

Amazingly cool!

Superb patterns and some great ideas.Cheers from India 🇮🇳.

Very cool, thank you for all that wonderful information. Merry Christmas!!

I eliminated the cupping of veneers when I do this very same process by misting the opposite side with a little water before you apply glue to the side that's up. That way you have equilibrium in your moisture and both sides respond fairly similarly and the curl is gone.

I love the black veneer! I'd love to see your art deco pattern with it.

The hexagons [and someone's comments about a chess board] put me in the mind of a very fancy Settlers of Catan playfield. Don't play the game myself but have seen it around RU-vid. Also wonder if just regular cardstock would work. Easier to acquire, more affordable, more colors, maybe even easier to work with.

You're a big inspiration!

Speaker baffles will really showcase them. Oh and an idea, before the bandsaw glue on more veneers to complete the colour 360° for more awesomeness 👌

Insane results.

As always… super nice. Only suggestion that I could think of is by the hexagon pattern if two pieces form a long piece, the plywood is turned so the veneer doesn’t align.. maybe make that part out of one piece? That would make a double hexagon, very hard to do I guess.. or turn the piece in one of the hexes so that it align. Sorry if it’s confusing😂

Great job on the patterns Michael! it really turned out nice :) Thanks for sharing with us!💖👍😎JP

Wow!!!! That's too cool!!! Well done!!!!! Thank You!!!!!👍😎🤘

Thanks for sharing, I realy enjoy all of your videos. You can dye your plywood using cactus juice and a vacuum chamber, it shows off the pattern in the plywood very well. It does make the plywood very dense and a lot harder.

I like the black, random pattern at the end and that synth song.

you take my breath away man

J adore se que vous faites , et pour avoir fait une fois ce genre de truc, la précision est primordiale Bien à vous

I'd love to see if you can make a celtic knot-type pattern with this technique. Super cool technique. Thank you!

Between this video and your subsequent one with the bowl, I think it might be a good idea for you to pre-iron the veneer so that it can shrink evenly. This might limit the cracking and resolve the issue you had on the bowls where you got gaps where the veneers shrank away from eachother. Also, if you laminate the top and bottom of the plywood, the lamina should line up at the mitres...

I really like this, adds so much to the patterned plywood. And seeing you like Escher so much, you should visit The Hague and the Escher museum 🙂