Alcohol- vs. Water-based Airbrush Coloring: A Brand Comparison

NEW COOKIE VIDEO! Having trouble with airbrush colorings being too wet and pooling on your stencils, or with white coloring being spotty and see-through? If so, this video has some solutions for you! In it, I distinguish between water- and alcohol-based airbrush colorings and reveal their pros and cons through five different performance tests on cookies! Warning: I go a little techno-geek in the video, but, if you do any airbrushing at all, I think you’ll find it worth the watch.

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The difference between the two components it's very, very interesting for me! I plan to get an airbrush gun in a while.

@Icingsugarkeks posted:

The difference between the two components it's very, very interesting for me! I plan to get an airbrush gun in a while.

It's a fun tool to add to your repertoire.

Thanks for sharing and the video!  It was fascinating!

@Econlady posted:

Thanks for sharing and the video!  It was fascinating!

Thanks - people don't watch my "tech" videos as much as my others, so I am always especially grateful when someone embraces the techy-geek stuff as much as I do. 

Very interesting video, thank you for sharing Julia!

Thank you so much for the informative airbrush color video! I have been wanting to try the alcohol based and now I’m ready to go!

Thanks, everyone! @sylviawilson, alcohol-based Spectrum Flow can be tough to find depending on where you live (I buy mine from The Cake Decorating Co. in the UK), but I do think it is worth the investment. Just tonight, I airbrushed some plain white petals that I am forming into one larger royal icing flower, and I wanted a really dark color. The water-based colorings just look too glossy (even hours later), and so I plan to use the alcohol-based ones instead. I vary what I use depending on the look I want.

@Julia M. Usher posted:

Thanks, everyone! @sylviawilson, alcohol-based Spectrum Flow can be tough to find depending on where you live (I buy mine from The Cake Decorating Co. in the UK), but I do think it is worth the investment. Just tonight, I airbrushed some plain white petals that I am forming into one larger royal icing flower, and I wanted a really dark color. The water-based colorings just look too glossy (even hours later), and so I plan to use the alcohol-based ones instead. I vary what I use depending on the look I want.

I tried to buy some from the uk and they wouldn’t ship it here.

@Econlady posted:

I tried to buy some from the uk and they wouldn’t ship it here.

Hmmm . . . maybe that's temporary due to the coronavirus.

@Julia M. Usher posted:

Hmmm . . . maybe that's temporary due to the coronavirus.

The Cake Decorating Co. site only shows that they're not shipping the water-based ones outside the UK; you want the colorings for chocolate and sugarpaste - those are the alcohol-based ones. See screenshot, far right.

Awesome info Julia!! I appreciate the "techno-geek" approach in order to achieve a much better understanding of the variables (and results) associated with water vs alcohol based airbrush colors.  Thank you for the time you've invested in order to bring us this comprehensive tutorial.

@Julia M. Usher posted:

The Cake Decorating Co. site only shows that they're not shipping the water-based ones outside the UK; you want the colorings for chocolate and sugarpaste - those are the alcohol-based ones. See screenshot, far right.

Thanks!

@Cookies Fantastique posted:

Awesome info Julia!! I appreciate the "techno-geek" approach in order to achieve a much better understanding of the variables (and results) associated with water vs alcohol based airbrush colors.  Thank you for the time you've invested in order to bring us this comprehensive tutorial.

Glad to hear it was helpful!

Thanks for the heads up on what to look for on the site- I can't wait to get them!

@sylviawilson posted:

Thanks for the heads up on what to look for on the site- I can't wait to get them!

Great! I hope they work well for you. Note: I have not fully tested any of their alcohol-based sheens, so I can't vouch for how well they pass through airbrushes.

Thank you for doing the heavy lifting with your research!

@Jae Jae posted:

Thank you for doing the heavy lifting with your research!

You are welcome!

Thank you, good to know for future purchases.

I did have a question, how is the blending between the water base and the alcohol base. AN example I was wondering about was if you did the royal blue water base as the background and used the alcohol base yellow for the stencil, do you get any blending? Or because the alcohol base dries so fast the color stays pretty true? Thanks again for all the wonderful info you give us in all these videos I have learned so much.❤️

@Mitzi Knight posted:

Thank you, good to know for future purchases.

I did have a question, how is the blending between the water base and the alcohol base. AN example I was wondering about was if you did the royal blue water base as the background and used the alcohol base yellow for the stencil, do you get any blending? Or because the alcohol base dries so fast the color stays pretty true? Thanks again for all the wonderful info you give us in all these videos I have learned so much.❤️

Can't say I've tested that, but my guess is that the blue coloring might bleed into the yellow some - not as much as it would if both colorings were water-based, but more so than if both were alcohol-based.