Wood

Question for anyone who has used cherry and understands finishing the carving. I've read that stain shouldn't be used on cherry to obtain that nice red color associated with cherry projects. The internet insists that the sun is the reason cherry turns red, and you should just leave it out in the sun for maybe a couple weeks to get the end product. I've been doing just that with a project that was sanded, and then placed on the windowsill for a couple weeks, and while it has darkened it hasn't done much of it.

Unfortunately, I need the project completed in a couple weeks, so I don't feel comfortable waiting. Any recommendations for a stain to achieve the results?

I would not stain the Cherry at all, time and UV light will change the color of the wood naturally, if you stain it to darken it for the here and now it will get really dark down the road, to the point of being near black and none of the red characteristics of the Cherry.
For an example this piece when I carved it, the wood was almost a pink color but now it is very much darker:



It does not take that long for the wood to react to UV light. I once worked on some model homes for a Home-A-Rama, in this particular house the hardwood floors were Cherry and the builder decided to cover the major paths that the workers would use to get around in the house doing their work. So on the eve before the home show they took all of the paper protective sheeting off the floor when all the work was done and the floors had the light colored "path" everywhere the paper had been because the paper had blocked the light from hitting those areas. They had to scramble to get someone in to sand and refinish the floors overnight.

Rick, why don't you try a black light bulb it is after all emitting ultra-violet light which is the spectrum of light that causes the cherry to change color.

Ended up, on a salesman's advice, going with a plant growing bulb. It is supposed to be the closest thing to sunlight, he said better than a black light. I put the piece under the light for the past 48 hours, and think I'm getting pretty good results for a two day trial. Since I have a month yet, I'll just keep it going until I reach the best I can hope for. This is all good, since we had two days of rain and no sunlight......and today is another overcast day with zero sunlight.

Should I continue to darken the wood first, or can I go ahead and varnish it to protect the wood?

Bob, isn't there a tanning tax now from Obamacare? I think I'll just keep the wood under my plant lamp, maybe a cherry tree will grow and I'll have more wood to work with.

I had a similar story, but have avoided going back to work. When I retired, my health insurance (I only have to buy for me, wife is on disability) was $436 a month. Last year, it was $987 per month. With United Healthcare dropping individual policies, I had to go under the health care network and got an "ok" policy for this year at $803/month. Luckily I turn 65 in November and will drop down to under $200/month for next year.