Can anyone offer suggestions for a painless-as-could-be-expected way of staining birch plywood a deep, intense red color? Something almost cartoony red or maroon, as opposed to the reddish-brown colors one would expect from wood. Sample color:
I'm an amateur, so grinding my own dyes with a mortar and pestle or similarly complex solutions may be beyond the scope of the current project.
As an aside - I'm living in New York City, and have pretty limited access to retailers of stuff like this. Any general suggestions for good woodworking supply shops in the NYC area would be most welcome. I went to Home Depot today, and almost had a brain aneurysm, their selection was so bad.