Hi Jerry,
Ferric nitrate will dissolve in alcohol to make a less grain raising stain and in water. I use water because alcohol dries too fast for my taste. A good place to start is 5 parts water to 1 part ferric nitrate by volume. Let me emphasize that as a good place to start but I strongly urge you to test on scrap wood. I varied that a lot depending on the wood and my objectives. Theoretically, ferric nitrate does not need to be neutralized with a base after blushing. However, I wipe the stock with ammonia or brush on water and baking soda just to be sure. You can use other stains on top of ferric nitrate to modify the color just as you can with iron dissolved in nitric acid. You can also use tannic acid before applying ferric nitrate to darken the figure if you desire.
dave