Hi everyone!! How do you paint your cookies? Any advices in what kind of food coloring should I use? Can I do it with just water? Thanks!
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I use my gel paste food colors and water ... depending how dark or light you want your color is how much water you would use. Just drops of water and then extra to rinse your brush between colors ... but I just dip my brush and dab most of the water off on a paper towel.
Thanks for that! I've been struggling all this time most likely because I was using the gel paste straight from the bottle... sometimes it'sthe simple things. Off to see if that'll prevent cracking!! :-D
Originally Posted by Amber @ A Cookie Family:
I've done the same color and a little water. It's a great activity for kids to do as well.
You have to be careful how much water gets on your cookie when you paint. Make sure you have a towel by to dab the water off. I use Americolor gel paste.
I also paint by extending petal and luster dusts with alcohol-based extracts. The alcohol evaporates quickly so you rarely have to worry about getting a cookie too wet with water and dissolving the underlying icing. However, the paints made with dusts, even luster dusts, dry with a more matte finish than does food coloring extended with water or extract. The latter always dries a little shinier, at least that's been my experience.
Arty McGoo needs to weigh in here. Arty, woo hoo, where are you?
Arty McGoo did a Q&A on FB a few days ago and this came up. You may be able to post chase it to find all her goodies! She said she actually lets her gel colors dry on the palette...then uses a small cup of water to wet her brush. Reminds me of the old school waterpaints from elementary school. I cant wait to try!
Liz, that's exactly what I was thinking when I was writing my first reply, it's like my kindergarden pictures but now I know to use MUCH less water!
@Julia, I also use Vodka with my luster dust etc. ~ I learned the hard way when I first started and the luster dust didn't have instructions ... so from experience (and a ruined beautiful set of cookies) NEVER USE WATER WITH LUSTER DUST! What a memory that is! ;-)
I'm quite new to painting cookies and I use vodka to thin the gel paste in the same way I use vodka with luster dust. I found it very helpful to view Arty McGoo youtubes as well as SweetAmbs. I have also experimented with the Crystal Colors powdered food color (hydrated with vodka). I used them with a stencil and paint brush - very vivid color resulted.
Originally Posted by Debbi Hook - The SPI Flip Flop Foodie:
I'm quite new to painting cookies and I use vodka to thin the gel paste in the same way I use vodka with luster dust. I found it very helpful to view Arty McGoo youtubes as well as SweetAmbs. I have also experimented with the Crystal Colors powdered food color (hydrated with vodka). I used them with a stencil and paint brush - very vivid color resulted.
Interested to try this! I used water with my first cookie painting, and I think vodka might be my preference!
I always use gel colors or dusts with half water and half alcohol. I get some problems with white, which often comes out too grainy when dries out...Arty McGoo, where are you? We need your help...I saw the piretes and mermaids and i'm wondering which colors you used on them...
I paint dry on fondant with petal dust and usually add a luster dust in either pearl or white lightly over the color. It is just my personal preference.
I used alcohol too,the color goes allot further, but I don't like waiting for drying and again the fondant consistency is compromised.
My setup goes something like this:
*I prefer Wilton as it has a more paste-like consistency rather than gel and I think it dries better.
*I prefer to put my colors out on a palette and let them dry so I can use them just like watercolors, but I will use fresh.
*I don't dilute the colors in the palette. I dampen my brush and take on the color as needed. Darker, more opaque colors needed? I take less water onto my brush, sheer, lighter colors: more water.
*I HATE HATE HATE white food coloring! 
For me they never dry, it muddies up everything and I do not use it. Did I mention that I hate it? 
One of the very rare exceptions for painting with white is the blackboard cookies. On those I use CK powdered white food coloring which works amazing and actually dries. I also use water with that.
*The black can be a "problem" color and I will put that in my palette and pour alcohol over that so it dries it out better. If there is ever any smudging, it's from the black so I find this helps. I also will use powdered black if I'm worried.
I hope these tips make sense! There are several ways to paint, and this is just the way I do it. I know a lot of people use white, but for some reason, it doesn't work well for me. If there is white in my design it is because I've either worked around the background white of the frosting or do a wet on wet white.
The mermaid cookies: Those are all wet on wet, except the outlines were painted in a dark brown.
One other thought: cookies can take a lot more water abuse than you would think I have painted, "erased" by brushing off all the color with a damp brush, repainted, and even repeated that process again before on a single cookie. I think the key is that your royal icing has some corn syrup in it. It helps to make a nice canvas that is more "waterproof".
as far as fondant painting goes I am completely clueless! 
In Europe the majority of the these people using a colouring in paste of the English brand SUGARFLAIR. Using this one very much one great professional of the painting on fondant/royal icing that is Natasha Collins. If you want to see his works I leave you the link of his web site. It has to the sale enclosedly a course online.
Thank you every one for your tips!! I will try them in my next set of cookies
This was an ace topic to read about. I'm not a natural traditional artist at all, and so painting is quite scary for me, but I do want to give it more of a go, just to mix things up a bit.
After all your advices here are my fist painted cookies!! 
I ended using tequila because it was the only thing at home 
. I think the turned out great. Thank you so much!!
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I think it looks great, too, Cocoa Cucu.
Those cookies came out great!
Is there a certain type/brand of paint brush everyone uses to paint on cookies? How about sizes? I've never painted on cookies and I'm amazed at what people can do.
Originally Posted by Royal Icing Diaries:
Those cookies came out great!
Is there a certain type/brand of paint brush everyone uses to paint on cookies? How about sizes? I've never painted on cookies and I'm amazed at what people can do.
Hi, Royal Icing Diaries, Kim Coleman talks a lot about paint brush choices in this recent Cookier Closeup: http://cookieconnection.juliau...-in-the-truest-sense
I would also suggest that you start a new forum topic on this subject since it is a different question than the one at the top of this forum - typically it's best practice to have one question per forum so questions and answers can be easily found later. Thanks.
Originally Posted by Royal Icing Diaries:
Ok, thanks Julia!
I set up the topic for you, since I didn't see that you had posted it yet. You can track answers to your brush question here: http://cookieconnection.juliau...for-painting-cookies
Thank you Julia. You're the best!
Hi, can I ask a further question related to painting on cookies.... It's something I never tried but I will in a near feature... it's becoming an obsession!
Can you mix gel colors in the palette (almost the same way you mix it in the RI) to create a new shade?
Or the result could be a mess????
Thanks for all these amazing tips of this topic!
Jenny
I've been mixing them until I get the color I want. I put a drop of each on the palette and then mix them in a separate area, taking a little of each on my brush until I get the right shade or color.
Originally Posted by Jenny's Cookies:
Hi, can I ask a further question related to painting on cookies.... It's something I never tried but I will in a near feature... it's becoming an obsession!
Can you mix gel colors in the palette (almost the same way you mix it in the RI) to create a new shade?
Or the result could be a mess????
Thanks for all these amazing tips of this topic!
Jenny
Originally Posted by PublicDisplayofConfection Liz:
Arty McGoo did a Q&A on FB a few days ago and this came up. You may be able to post chase it to find all her goodies! She said she actually lets her gel colors dry on the palette...then uses a small cup of water to wet her brush. Reminds me of the old school waterpaints from elementary school. I cant wait to try!
I have my colors in an Styrofoam egg tray (sanitized) and let the colors dry too. I use vodka and now and then water. I tap the end of my brush on the side then tap on a towel too.
Arty McGoo posted:My setup goes something like this:
*I prefer Wilton as it has a more paste-like consistency rather than gel and I think it dries better.*I prefer to put my colors out on a palette and let them dry so I can use them just like watercolors, but I will use fresh.
*I don't dilute the colors in the palette. I dampen my brush and take on the color as needed. Darker, more opaque colors needed? I take less water onto my brush, sheer, lighter colors: more water.*I HATE HATE HATE white food coloring!
*The black can be a "problem" color and I will put that in my palette and pour alcohol over that so it dries it out better. If there is ever any smudging, it's from the black so I find this helps. I also will use powdered black if I'm worried.
I hope these tips make sense! There are several ways to paint, and this is just the way I do it. I know a lot of people use white, but for some reason, it doesn't work well for me. If there is white in my design it is because I've either worked around the background white of the frosting or do a wet on wet white.
The mermaid cookies: Those are all wet on wet, except the outlines were painted in a dark brown.
One other thought: cookies can take a lot more water abuse than you would think
I hate white paint too, but I found that using the mate dust powder and a little vodka or water works for me better than liquid white paint. I use it only for hand paint details.
Hello everyone,
I am trying to "watercolor" one iced cookie that I dried overnight, but the icing is dissolving under the water color and my smooth surface is gone : did I use too much water ? Or, is the icing not the right one for this type of job ?
Thank you for any suggestion
I made my first icing painted cookie using this forum and it worked exactly as described! Huge thank you. It was my first icing, and I kept thinning it as time went on so that it would continue to spread on 24 cookies. Very painful btw. As a result, some were soft icing and some harder, or maybe I just didn't wait long enough to dry as it spread pretty thick. Using americolor gels on a dining plate for a palette and 3 small model paintbrushes from a pack from Michaels and two small bowls of vodka to clean brushes and thin gel as needed. Two bowls because one was muddied from cleaning and the other more clear to thin the colors risking less cross contamination...or I could've just used one bowl per color but it didn't seem necessary. I didn't let the gel dry. In fact it was easier to use it wet, as when it started to dry I had to be careful not to have little clumps and I was going for a softer look anyway where I wanted to brush it on. On the soft icing the slightest pressure would start to indent dissolve it so I was very gentle, but it worked with every cookie. For the deer I just googled reindeer clip art and picked a silhouette I liked. I hope this helps other experimenters out there. Oh, also I drew it on the plate first so I would know how the gel behaved and what the layout might look like. I might use it to paint messages on people's dinner plates sometime it worked so well LOL. So here's my first painted cookie attempt. Also, for context I'm a novice mediocre artist a la Bob Ross painting level, and obviously terrible at icing which I hope never to make again, so it wasn't too hard with a little bit of talent to nevertheless impress friends. Even the first cookie turned out well, because with this technique and gel colorong it worked and felt and looked exactly like using acrylic paints on a palette. Thanks for the help!
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Congrats, @Amy101; they look great! Please feel free to post this image into our Clips area, where it will flow through the home page feeds (for a while) and be more likely to be seen.
I am just trying a paint your ow. Cookie for Easter and wonder if I need to use the Americolor AIRBRUSH he's or can I use the regular gel colors by Americolor to work; and would you suggest I add or do anything different if I use this type of gel? Your input is greatly appreciated!