My airbrushed designs keep smudging after a couple hours of being in a package. Is there anyway to avoid this? I've tried brushing with cornstarch, it doesn't help.
I use a powdered sugar/egg white mixture for icing and use AmeriColor airbrush colors.
Please help! Any info would be appreciated.
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Hi, KS Cookies, Congrats on making your first post. I look forward to many more to come!
My guess is you are putting too much color on. I’m not an expert on airbrushing.
I have never seen such a thing. Yikes - that's some bad smudging. Are you sure your cookies are really dry before you package them and that you haven't over-applied the airbrush coloring? Typically, the coloring dries VERY fast if not over-applied, but you might want to try waiting longer before bagging them. If you've over-applied, you can also accelerate the drying by placing them in a dehydrator on low heat or in front of a fan. Or box them instead, and then bag the box if you're worried about the box not being airtight.
Thanks for the responses!! I lightly airbrush, and I let these dry overnight! Atleast an 8 hour window before I heat sealed!! And brushed with cornstarch about 30 mins after color set, and left over night. 😬😬 Maybe it is just too much color? I try to do light coats.
Yeah, hard to say without seeing the cookies when they go into the bags. All I can suggest, if you think the coating is light, is to package them another way - i.e., box and then bag the box (or not bag the box) to avoid the cello from contacting the cookie surface.
@KS Cookies posted:Before packaging or brushing with cornstarch.
Again, hard to say. Perhaps you're trapping moisture in the bag in other ways, i.e., because the cookies are under-baked or the icing too soft and you're bagging them too tightly. Water-based airbrush coloring can get kind of glossy if exposed or re-exposed to humidity.
Maybe, my cookies are soft...ughhh. it's frustrating.
Thank you for responding ☺️
@KS Cookies posted:Maybe, my cookies are soft...ughhh. it's frustrating.
Thank you for responding ☺️
I wish I could be more helpful. I airbrush A LOT, but I do not bag my cookies. So I've exhausted my knowledge on this.
I can only imagine how frustrating this must be for you @KS Cookies!! I also airbrush my cookies a lot and package them by heat sealing the day after they've been airbrushed. Before I box and ship my cookies, I put each heat sealed bag (with ribbon) into an individual bubble out pouch to ensure safe travels 
. I have several clients who request my soft sugar cookie recipe along with my RI recipe that has a softer bite (doesn't dry rock hard so no rubber stamping on these guys).
I've never had this problem in the 4+ years of selling decorated cookies. Clients often send me pics of the cookies at their events so that I can see how they have been "presented" to guests. I love seeing that . What airbrush color brand do you use? I use Americolor and often use black. My lines remain clean, no smudging. When I use an edible food marker I will see some smudges if I touch the area where I used the edible marker.
Wish I could be more help! Do you live in a humid climate? I live in a very dry climate which may contribute to not having any smudging issues. I don't know 
. I wish you the very best in identifying and eliminating the issue. ❤️❤️❤️ Hugs...
@Cookies Fantastique posted:I can only imagine how frustrating this must be for you @KS Cookies!! I also airbrush my cookies a lot and package them by heat sealing the day after they've been airbrushed. Before I box and ship my cookies, I put each heat sealed bag (with ribbon) into an individual bubble out pouch to ensure safe travels
I've never had this problem in the 4+ years of selling decorated cookies. Clients often send me pics of the cookies at their events so that I can see how they have been "presented" to guests. I love seeing that
Wish I could be more help! Do you live in a humid climate? I live in a very dry climate which may contribute to not having any smudging issues. I don't know
She uses AmeriColor, so I doubt it's the coloring . . . it dries pretty darn fast if not over-applied.
@Julia M. Usher posted:She uses AmeriColor, so I doubt it's the coloring . . . it dries pretty darn fast if not over-applied.
Yep, it does! Quite a quandry...I so wish her the best in figuring it out. It's so much time plus the cost of ingredients to run into something like this (especially when on a deadline).
I am having this issue and have ruined nearly 40 cookies for a HUGE order. Ugh. they have been packaged less than an hour. I'm using white icing and blue colour for my airbrush that is from my Watson and webb machine. This is the 4th order I have used my machine for and the second time this has happened! I let my cookies dry overnight. Sprayed them this morning around 7am, it's now 2pm and this. Does the cornstarch really work? I can't afford to have any more cookies go wrong for this order. Maybe I need to let the base dry longer than overnight? Longer to packaging? Oven at low temp to cure and then cool & package? Any help would be great! 
@Just Sugar Cookies - In looking back at the original cookies posted by @KS Cookies, I think she had coloring bleeding under the icing, not smudging on top. Though hard to say from her photos. Yours definitely looks like smudging, as the coloring is all over the bag. Basically, BOTH your icing and coloring should be dry all the way through before you bag; otherwise you may trap moisture when you seal them this airtight, which can do strange things like this. You can speed-dry the icing and coloring in front of a dehydrator (but be sure your icing is fully set before you spray it, or coloring can bleed into it). Also, be sure you are working with quality colorings that set fast. I've worked with some recently that take a long time to dry, and if cookies with wet (even tacky) coloring are bagged, disaster will ensue as you discovered. Best of luck.
