More lessons from the bench!!!

So I finally got around to putting finish on the bench I've been working on. It's being made for a friend and coworker and wanted it to somewhat match his existing table. I started with stain and some test boards only to find I was getting nowhere near the color I needed with the stains I have. I then turned to water based dyes. I found a red dye that looked like it would give the color needed after some tests I found the color I was looking for. As this is my first real finish job it took a couple days to get up the nerve to start laying down the dye. With the dye down i topped coated it with a one pound cut solution of shellac to give a little protection and shine. Hope these pictures allow the colors to come through.