You can apply stains before the epoxy step. CW is to use water based stain and to do a test first. Analine dyes penetrate deepest and therefore reduce the likelihood of delamination. It would be tough to get a crisp design with dyes though because they tend to bleed. Also, the stain only penetrates a fraction of an inch so subsequent sanding would result in uneven color. I stained my S&G boat with a Walnut color gel stain (see http://www.chipsandresky.com/Stitchnglue/images/oohahh.jpg ).

: what about wood burning a design.

That would be Roger Nuffer's folder pictured below. The wood burning detail is really cool. There is a lot more to talk about with this boat; maybe I've just missed the conversation but it is really, really ingenius in several ways...

: on the same note, does anybody have a picture of a completly random naturally
: stripped boat with no pattern at all?

Random strips can be cool. Sort of like the boat on the right in this extraordinary pair of kayaks built by Rod Tait http://www.orcaboats.ca/images/full/2kayaks.gif I like the way the [somewhat] random strips on deck are contrasted with the light stripe.

I hope this was helpful.
www.ChipSandresky.com