The first option was bleaching. I am not talking about your laundry's chlorox, but industrial grade wood bleach. It comes in two parts that are mixed in equal amounts to create a very strong bleach. It is just evenly brushed onto the wood and allowed to dry. Over the next 20-30 minutes it will noticeably lighten in color. If you start with a light colored wood to begin with like bass or maple it is very possible to get the wood to be sheet white with repeated applications.
The second option was using leather dyes. Leather dyes that are in denatured alcohol are very good at permeating the wood and can give a rather wide range of colors. As my brother can attest to, it is almost impossible to find stains in colors like red. However leather dyes come in a whole rainbow of colors. Black is a common option if you want to turn your piece very dark and make it look like ebony. The wood retains the appearance of wood but takes on a very drastically different color. One word of caution, it is impossible to control where the dye spreads in the wood so only use it if the entire piece needs that color. However you could choose to dye the piece before assembly if you need different colors.
One of the cooler coloring (and also sometimes texturing) technique that he showed us was that of using a blow torch. Through the careful use of fire you can cause one of several things to happen. The first is the changing of color of the softer wood in between the grain. The grain is harder and burns at a different rate than the rest of the wood. This can greatly accentuate the pattern of the grain with a light and dark pattern. This is done with a light and rapid application of fire to the wood. Another option is the more intense and longer application of fire to the wood. This chars the soft wood in between the grain to the point that it can be brushed away with a wire brush or steel wool. This leaves all of the wood darkened but also leaves the grain raised compared to the softer wood. This gives a very intense texture on the wood. You can also use steel wool to remove some of the char on the raised grain to increase the color contrast as the wool removes the grain and lightens the color of the wood again. Note it is smart to keep a large bucket of water nearby in case things get out of hand.
The last coloring technique that was discussed is using paint. You can get the largest variety of color with paint. You can use almost any type of paint, from acrylics from the local craft store to hand made paint using really high quality components. If acrylics are used it is often as simple as thinning it down with a little water and painting it on. Make sure you add only a little water to the paint at a time. If you add paint to the water it will stay as globs in water and not mix well. Professor Tom Eckert has also been pioneering a technique that is based on mixing powder pigment into a water based lacquer. Water based lacquers were popular before the environmental standards were relaxed and most people returned to solvent based lacquers. I know that this does not sound all that awesome, but you will be blown away when you check out the link below. If you took all the time to read this post you have to take at least another 2 minutes to check out the link that exhibits the use of pigmented lacquer to simulate silk with a wood carving.
For some unbelievably amazing pieces of art with wood as the medium check out http://www.public.asu.edu/~eckert33/gallery.htm
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