Food coloring?

[hawkeye10]

I have read that some of you guys use food coloring to give color to your puzzles. I think this is mainly for kids. Can you explain how you use it? I know some color theirs very lightly and others have a bright and solid color.

[DWSUDEKUM]

Food coloring is water based generally.  While people friendly it takes a bit to get used to using.  SO if you take a small amount of water say 1/4 cup to start and start adding the coloring to it  and when you think your color is what you want try it on a test piece, you generally will find that it will be very light on the first try.  Keep adding and testing until you are satisfied on the color.  Word of warning however food coloring while being water based it will raise the grain.  There is a technique that will help minimize the grain lifting and that is to dampen the piece to raise the grain then sand it smooth.  This will make it so that the grain that would be standing will not be so proud. 

 

To make the food coloring + water stain dry faster you can add a small amount of Denatured Alcohol.  A word of caution though a little goes a long way and if you add too much it will be difficult to get an even coloring.

 

Other considerations for staining your work, watered down acrylic paint or clothing dyes, there are even some commercially available stains out there that are sold as a powder and you make it yourself.  I suggest that you try the food coloring process on a test piece and see if you like it before you attempt to do it on you work.

DW

[WayneMahler]

DW about summed it up. I use plain damp water to raise the grain, then lightly sand the surface then apply the water based color. When lightly sanding you want to remove just the raised portion, if you sand too much you will have to repeat the process. As always it is best to place a test piece or two to help in the learning process.

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

I have colored wood before using Rit dyes and they are powder. I mixed in alcohol so no grain raising and they penetrate deeply. Then top coat to keep looking new. Never on puzzles as I mentioned i do not do puzzles.

[Paladin]

I have colored wood before using Rit dyes and they are powder. I mixed in alcohol so no grain raising and they penetrate deeply. Then top coat to keep looking new. Never on puzzles as I mentioned i do not do puzzles.

John, I've heard of this technique before.  What kind of proportion do you mix it in?  I was thinking of trying a packet of powder in a large mason jar of alcohol?

 

Steve

[Scrolling Steve]

I did not ask the question, but , Thanks for all this info.....One of the reasons I love the village !

[orangeman]

I've used food colors for 7 years now and I'm still perfecting the technique. Some day I plan on writing up my technique which incorporates some of the ideas above but many more as well. For starters I use only soft maple and it has to be of certain hardness to prevent bleeding. Therefore I take a durometer and test every piece of wood before I buy it. Alcohol was mentioned above but that comes with restrictions on several colors as it interferes with the color quality. For example, mixing alcohol with black will get you green every time! Other colors behave similarly. And don't forget to seal the colors. A child's wet hands on a piece of unsealed colored wood is very interesting; raindrops too.

 

Visit my website to see my colored puzzles which were colored exclusively with food colors.

 

bb

 

www.pickenspuzzles.com

Edited December 30, 2016 by orangeman

[Iguanadon]

Hey Hawkeye, I use food coloring to color my dinosaur puzzles.  

 

First of all, I use DISTILLED WATER in order to avoid any mold or mildew growth since I mix up sizable batches that sit around waiting to be used.

 

It's trial and error as to the intensity of the color.  I tend to use a little extra coloring to get the most vibrant colors.  Check out my dino's on my website.  www.woodcraftbyscott.com

 

My dino puzzles are made from pine and it being a softer wood, it absorbs the color nicely.  But it also requires that you wipe off any excess after dipping them in the color so that the color doesn't build up around the edges of each puzzle piece.  That's the only annoying thing about doing it with water based coloring.

 

I buy food coloring from Amazon in 16oz bottles.  It's rather pricey but a bottle lasts a while.  I do blue, green and red.  I tried making my own purple by mixing blue and red and I failed rather miserably.  I then found purple food coloring but it's only available in 1 oz bottles unfortunately.

 

Good luck,

Iggy

[Iguanadon]

I've used food colors for 7 years now and I'm still perfecting the technique. Some day I plan on writing up my technique which incorporates some of the ideas above but many more as well. For starters I use only soft maple and it has to be of certain hardness to prevent bleeding. Therefore I take a durometer and test every piece of wood before I buy it. Alcohol was mentioned above but that comes with restrictions on several colors as it interferes with the color quality. For example, mixing alcohol with black will get you green every time! Other colors behave similarly. And don't forget to seal the colors. A child's wet hands on a piece of unsealed colored wood is very interesting; raindrops too.

 

Visit my website to see my colored puzzles which were colored exclusively with food colors.

 

bb

 

www.pickenspuzzles.com

 

Beautiful work Brian.  I love the colored puzzles.  I may have to take the time to experiment with your process so that I can offer more color variations on mine.  Thanks for sharing.

 

Iggy

[orangeman]

Iggy,

 

I also failed at mixing purple!; now I buy from LoRann Oils. Like you I get excess off asap via sponge, paper towel, etc and also use a hair dryer with diffuser to dry the pieces, thus helping prevent  bleeding.

 

bb

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

John, I've heard of this technique before.  What kind of proportion do you mix it in?  I was thinking of trying a packet of powder in a large mason jar of alcohol?

 

Steve

Steve, I have a bunch of the small baby food jars that I was doing this in. It really was no ratio thing. I would just pour some powder and add the alcohol. The thing I noticed that no matter how much color or alcohol you add the color is what the color is and no more is absorbed. In other words you can not make the color lighter or darker. Then all the crystals remain on the bottom of the jar and can not be reused. The crystals do not dissolve in the alcohol. 

[Lucky2]

All I've ever used to color wood puzzles is clothes dye Rite brand. Using it, I can get whatever tint I want the wood to be, bright or dark. I mostly use pine, as my puzzles are made more for decorative purposes.

Len

[amazingkevin]

Food coloring?

Posted by Iguanadon on Yesterday, 12:10 PM in General Scroll Sawing

Hey Hawkeye, I use food coloring to color my dinosaur puzzles.  

 

First of all, I use DISTILLED WATER in order to avoid any mold or mildew growth since I mix up sizable batches that sit around waiting to be used.

 

It's trial and error as to the intensity of the color.  I tend to use a little extra coloring to get the most vibrant colors.  Check out my dino's on my website.  www.woodcraftbyscott.com

 

My dino puzzles are made from pine and it being a softer wood, it absorbs the color nicely.  But it also requires that you wipe off any excess after dipping them in the color so that the color doesn't build up around the edges of each puzzle piece.  That's the only annoying thing about doing it with water based coloring.

 

I buy food coloring from Amazon in 16oz bottles.  It's rather pricey but a bottle lasts a while.  I do blue, green and red.  I tried making my own purple by mixing blue and red and I failed rather miserably.  I then found purple food coloring but it's only available in 1 oz bottles unfortunately.

 

Good luck,

Iggy

[Paladin]

I have used alcohol-based leather dye a few times with good results.  It gives a very deep black, but the grain remains visible.

 

Steve