Dying Rice

I haven't made it yet but my goal is to make a mosaic using colored rice. You can also use colorful beans, sand or pasta. I saw the idea on Martha Stewart's kids' crafting page but with beans. If it's a kids' craft, I'm pretty sure I can do it, too!

Thanks to google, I found out how to dye rice. Dying rice is a smelly but easy process. It's pretty simple to make and doesn't require much. You need a container with a lid, cookie sheet lined, strainer/sieve, vinegar, rice and food coloring.

Take 1/4 cup of vinegar and add food coloring. Then add 1/2 cup of rice. 

Now shake, shake, shake! Make sure the lid's on tight, too!
Shake until all the rice is evenly coated. Then let stand for 5 minutes.
Now, drain the rice over a sink. Have a cookie sheet lined with tin foil ready. After you've drained the rice, spread it out on a cookie sheet. Try to get one layer of rice.
Since I'm impatient, I put them in the oven on convection around 140 degrees. Check on these often! (I always forget there's a gust of hot air when you open the oven and stick my face right in the gust's way, so remember when you open the oven to stand back!) They only took about 10 minutes to dry out. You can also leave them out to dry or place in the sun to dry. No matter what, it isn't going to smell all that great unless you like the smell of vinegar :)
You can do all sorts of things with colored rice. Next week's post will be the mosaic...as soon as I figure out what to do!

**Any suggestions for what I should do for the mosaic? I'm stumped!**

20 comments :

Just Jaime said...

Looks cool! What do you want to do with the mosaic? Maybe you could spell "Pat"

Jordan McCollum said...

An Easter egg?

Brave Brooke said...

My face.

Aubree said...

Thanks for entering the giveaway! A mosaic sounds so cool. I want to see!!

Tracy said...

Oh this looks fun, cant wait to see what you create. As for the oven, we just got a convection oven and we still open the door with our faces right there, lol.

Anonymous said...

I'd love for you to share this at Fun For Kids Friday! This could be used for so many different projects.

http://smilemonsters.blogspot.com/2011/06/fun-for-kids-friday.html

Jo @ SmileMonsters

Jingle said...

I am looking forward to seeing what you do!!! With those colors...fancy mixed drinks come to mind! LOL!

Alison Agnew said...

very cool idea! thanks for sharing on fridays unfolded!

alison
stuff and nonsense

Heather Landry said...

Oh my gosh this is sooo cool! We used to fill in coloring pages with our dyed rice at the library when I was a little girl. Thanks for making me remember that!

The Iowa Farmer's Wife said...

A flip flop would be fun for summer! :) Great idea!

Ashleigh@Sincerely said...

I've never heard of doing this. So cool! I feel like the possibilities are endless. I can't wait to see what you do!

Maggie Lamarre said...

I would use them instead of pebbles in glass.
Maggie
http://passionatelyartistic.com

Lettie B. said...

I never thought of using colored rice for art. We have a bin bin of it that the kids play with, but how smart to dye some and MAKE something with it.

Lauren @ My Wonderfully Made said...

Very cute -- you must have enormous amounts of patience to create art with rice! Can't wait to see what you come up with -- thanks for this fun tutorial!

annies home said...

remember making rice mosaics in highschool may be a project for my teens this year

The Fall Creek Chicken Coop said...

I always wondered how to dye rice! Thanks for sharing! Going to have to let my cousin know for her daughter

Leslie said...

Oh, there are so many uses for this! Thanks for the great tutorial!

Leanne said...

What a fun idea. Theres so many different things you could make with these. Thanks for linking to the party.

AllieMakes! said...

Very cool! I am glad to know that you cando this with other things like sand or pasta, as we have a rice allergy in our house and can't even bring it in the house! This looks so fun and it looks like it would be a fun component for kid-crafts! SO fun!
Thanks for linking up to Making It With Allie! I can't wait to see what you have for next week!
AllieMakes.Blogspot.com

Unknown said...

I love the ideas! Cannot wait for more.
youmeandallthesekids.blogspot.com

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