Dying wood

Jumpingtadpoles

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We are looking for a bird for our family. It's very much like we are pregnant and waiting for the day the new addition comes to the family!
I'm trying to dye some wood blocks to use on Rico's toys, but they dye isn't taking.

I've used Wilson's gel food colouring and alcohol. I don't know why it's not taking. I have two jars. A red, and a teal. The red is light pink and the teal is very light, too.
 
I don't know why the dye isn't holding.... but I have heard that VitaCritter dye is great for dying wood and rope.


Sorry I'm not of much help! :o
 
When I tried using the gel dye the coloring didn't mix very well- if you use the liquid food coloring it should work better
 
They been soaking for days, and barely have any color, darn it. I will try regular food colouring next. I want to give him more toys. He NEVER plays with anything. I was so excited to see a piece of wood missing off of a toy made for small birds this week. The only thing he chews is a bridge I bought from bosleys.
Here I thought I'd be going through more toys then I could keep up with.
 
Just plain old food coloring mixed with a bit of water to cover the wood and soak til desired color worked for me. I love making toys:)
 
I've had great success with regular old food coloring & alcohol.

Where is the wood from. Could it be treated with something, or have a clear coat on it?
 
Try using more of the dye also, when i was trying to dye pine i had to use a ton of the actual colorant to make it stay, if you add more you should be able to see a noticeable difference.

the red in mine took the best, but that was also the one i had most coloring in, i used what i had left in the bottle for the red

image_zps65a2f078.jpg
 
Not treated, I got it from a lumber store :) my wood looks pretty much like yours,Mariah. But I seen someone... I think birdymomma or maybe momtopercy dye wood that took amazing. I know she was using the stuff made for bird toys, but I tried to find some, and couldn't. Then I read Wilson's food dye worked just as well for someone, so I went that route...
The gel is supposed to more concentrated.
It was food colouring and alcohol :-/
I'm a little disappointed. I don't mind the plain toys, but I thought Rico would like brighter toys.
 
I just used water to dilute the food coloring and then soak the blocks over night and the next morning they were beautiful.
 
If you have a white bird, just be careful of misting them around the blocks.... Ivory had a blue block on the outside of her cage and when Victoria sprayed her, we noticed a blue streak down her chest. She had been swinging upside down from her hoops and had rubbed against the block. Thankfully she was still wet and I was able to get the blue off of her, but we joked we could start a new trend of tie dye cockatoos :)
 

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