This weekend my dad and I were discussing the very sorry state of available commercial stains. An idea he had, which I put into action last night, was to use acrylic paints in water based polyurethane. Since the resin in water based polyurethane is acrylic, it will bind very well with the pigments in the paint.
The really great part was that I could mix whatever color I wanted. Two of my four colors weren't that great, but two were fantastic. My client had been at least as unhappy as I was with the commercial stains, but they were pleased enough with this selection that even though I didn't have exactly the color they were looking for, they agreed that we were close enough to go ahead with the project.
1/4 cup of urethane was probably enough to stain a very large piece of furniture. It didn't take a lot of paint to color it pretty strongly.
Application was to put it on with a foam brush, let it sit for a while, then wipe it off. The longer it sits, the more concentrated the color. The really nice thing is that this finish dries very fast. I think it was dry within an hour. Fast drying means less opportunity for dust to settle in. Unfortunately it means that you need to be thorough in getting out brush strokes, because they won't settle on their own.
This finish sits on the surface, and isn't dependent upon being absorbed by the wood. This is good if you have blotchy wood, or you have a fair bit of filler. This stain is also a finish, because the carrier is water based polyurethane.
If you try this yourself, you will probably want to put an additional untinted layer of water based polyurethane over it. This will seal the pigments in. The acrylic in the stain is probably enough to bind the colors securely, but you don't want these pigments to leach. They are concentrated, and will merrily stain anything, not just the furniture. All of the pigments I chose are also non-toxic (professional artists colors are named for their pigments, so you can look it up), but I noticed a lot of colors based on salts of cadmium. An additional layer of untinted water based urethane over the dried stain will lock it down tight with no risk of leaching. The resin in this finish is acrylic, the material in plexiglass, which is very good at sealing things up good and solid.