re: maple

You can be in the drivers seat with a dye. The possibilities are limited by your imagination. A fine example of that is seen above by Shipwright depicting the ocean.
In no way is this an apples to apples comparison to the level of craftsmanship seen above. I am an amateur woodworker and find that dyes are relatively easy to use to create the effect you want. I used a slightly diluted concentration of dye and distilled water to fill in and pop the curl in this project. Top coated with several coats of lacquer, then later rubbed out to a high gloss.