Fun with Food Coloring

[splinter99]

dyed theese curly maple blanks with food coloring
jade green cigar

"roses are red, violets are purple, sugar is sweet and so is maple syruple' Abbot and Costello

Thanks for looking

 

[lwalden]

Very cool. You going to share any details on, or tips/hints on concentration, drying times, colorfastness (when applying finish), penetration (if doing any sanding after color application)?
Thanks for sharing. Looks like this opens up all kinds of customization possibilities.

 

[Ligget]

[:0][:0][:0][8D][8D][8D][8D][8D]Thats better, now I have my shades on those are fantastic colours!
I love each and ever one of them, well done![]

 

[splinter99]

Easy as can be..turn the barrels to size..sand..micromesh..apply the food coloring with a peper towl..keep going back over it until its as dark as you desire..let it dry for a coulpe minuts..wipe it with blo..do your ca finish .. the food coloring is a liquid paste used by commercial bakers..one bottle of this stuff would do thousands of pens..

here is a link to their site
http://sugarcraft.com/catalog/coloring/liquid.htm

 

[wudnhed]

You can get it at Micheals in the cake baking dept. and I think at Wally World's craft dept.too. Thanks for the tip Harold, I'm gonna go dig out my colors in my cake decorating kit.

 

[LEAP]

That is amazing, what a sweet bunch of pens, guess I'll be stopping by Michaels very soon.

 

[bigworm]

Guess I am not the only one thinking of this. I have been thinking about this for a few months. Guess you just beat me to it. Looks like I have to make the trip now. Great job!

 

[splinter99]

Just make sure it doesn't have sugar in it..I have tried the brand carried by our local michals and wallmart and neither one worked for this application..however other areas may carry something different

 

[JudeA]

Gooooood thinking. Been wanting to do some dyied pens but the dye was too expensive this should be much better. Thanks for shareing

 

[johncrane]

they look really good Harold .[]

 

[twoofakind]

Very sweet looking pens.
Andy

 

[Dario]

I strongly suggest that you conducts some colorfastness test before proceeding. How long the color stays (without fading) should be a major concern.

The pens look great and the color are very rich...I hope they stay like that for a long time.

 

[Stevej72]

Harold, great job on all of them. I need a certain shade of green and didn't want to spend a lot of money, this should work quite nicely. Thanks for aharing the idea.

 

[Jim15]

Good looking pens.

 

[splinter99]

I first tried this on a few pens about a year ago, one was my "work pen" for about 6 months., the other one is still being used by a coworker..neither has faded..however..both have a ca finish..If someone would do this with a friction polish finish, Im not sure it would hold up after the finish wore off

 

[wudnhed]

Probably a really dumb question Harold but........why can't we use the one with sugar in it?

 

[GaryMGg]

Harold,
These just look like too much fun. [] Keepers. [8D]
Gary

 

[splinter99]

Becca They just didnt work for me..they just got sticky when you apply them with the lathe running..but try them..you may come up with a way to make them work

 

[wudnhed]

OK sticky I can handle, just didn't want my pens to be eaten by ants or something[]

 

[MDWine]

...and to think I spent 6.00 on fabric dye!! Geesh!
(sure is pretty tho)

 

[NavyDiver]

Great! Something else I have to put on my "To Do" list. []

 

[Keithlmartin]

Hey guys, splinter is right. i tried dye that my wife had for cakes and it had sugar in it. didnt work out at all. not nice to work with. I will be looking for non sugar added dye for my next one.

Thanks for the great idea splinter

 

[Grizzlyss]

I got intouch with the company listed and they said all food coloring don't contain sugar. I asked them about Wiltons as I know they do. They replied that they neve knew that food loroing do contain it, and they are not sure know if theirs do or not. I still haven't herad anything back from them.
Sheldon

 

[ahoiberg]

i'm gonna go check out the wilton's tonight at a local store. i'll report back if i find sugar listed in the ingredients.

 

[gketell]

Wiltons definitely does!! I have about 20 different colors from doing cake-bakes with the kids and every one of them has sugar.

the stuff I just ordered/received that does not have sugar is called Baker's Preferred.

GK

 

[huntersilver]

Nice strong colors, good job[]

 

[jahlg]

I have one of harolds dyed pens from the PITH, and the color is fantastic!! My question is do you have to blo it or can you dye it, then ca?? Does the blo give more depth to the finish??

 

[splinter99]

I dont think you would have to blo it but for me it just works out better that way..but straight ca should work too..buck eye burl works fantastic with this because different parts of the grain absorb the dye at different rates. You can also sand some back off to let the grain show better

 

[johnkepka]

River Ridge has some powdered dye kits. wood2@rrpwhite.com
You just need to add DNA.

 

[toolcrazy]

I love the colors, great pens.

 

[ahoiberg]

just as an added note to this thread, i ended up just buying some silk dyes from a local art store that were quite cheap. 3 bucks per ounce bottle or something like that. they worked real well also... as greg noted, the wilton's did have sugar in it and i didn't want to wait for the internet order, so i shortcutted it and the fabric dye seems to work nicely as well.