Ok! After much trial and error, I think I might have something working right now as I type this. I redid all the wiring and connections with brand new Al wire and my piece is bubbling quite nicely in the bucket. I had a bit of a scare with possible exposure to the acid, but everything feels ok after a good 5 minute rinse, lol.
The only dye that we have access to at this moment in time is Rit "wine red" or something similar to that. I'm going to try using that even though I'm not sure I believe its the best choice. Hopefully, even if the dye doesn't take, examination with the light microscope will show a nice oxide layer. Then we can move forward and try doing this with some real anodization dye from the shop!
(Btw, we had to scrounge up an old kit belonging to a previous class because the shop couldn't take our work this week. I'm about 85% sure that its the basic kit sold on this website.
)
--EDIT--
I'm so totally stoked at how good this looks right now. I really, really hope this works so that tomorrow morning I can show off the pretty red chunk of Al that I made all by myself.
