Food (child) safe coloured pens for turning

[SimonStevensCanes]

I'm making spinning tops and want to colour them, but I'm finding the crayola pens that I'm using don't work well on beech. Are there recognised pens for use with wood turning? Searching for such a thing is horribly polluted with pen turning, so I'm struggling to find out for myself, and so I turn to the forum hive mind.

I suspect paint/dye is unsuitable due to the banding nature of the colouring I want to do, and requirement for fast/instant drying.

 

[akirk]

I have had success with poster paints (pretty child safe)but otherwise I would I think be looking at acrylic paint pens

 

[Stigmorgan]

What about Sharpie? Seen loads of youtubers using them.

 

[Lefley]

What about Sharpie? Seen loads of youtubers using them.

 

[Tris]

Some of these:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Refillable...cphy=1006886&hvtargid=pla-1233995446685&psc=1
Filled with something like:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Village-Gr...cphy=1006886&hvtargid=pla-1635858612439&psc=1

 

[SimonStevensCanes]

Some of these:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Refillable...cphy=1006886&hvtargid=pla-1233995446685&psc=1
Filled with something like:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Village-Gr...cphy=1006886&hvtargid=pla-1635858612439&psc=1

Thanks for the tip on the ink pens, that's great. I doubt the stain is going to be vibrant enough, and I don't see it marked as food safe which is a hard no for me. I'm going to be selling these and inevitably they will end up being gnawed on by a child at some point.

 

[Stigmorgan]

Have you thought about using food dye?

 

[SimonStevensCanes]

Have you thought about using food dye?

not a bad shout with those reusable pens

 

[Stigmorgan]

not a bad shout with those reusable pens

It might not give you a solid colour like ink will but it will colour the wood, I've used watered down red food dye on oak in the past and really liked the reault.

 

[Robbo3]

FYI: colouring with flowers (starts at 3m 20s)

 

[SimonStevensCanes]

Once again, I am relearning the lessons of "asking for advice on the internet". The lesson being, be specific, only I have all the context in my head. Forums are such a wonderful demonstration of how everybody's response to a question is coloured (excuse the pun) by their context, and not mine. That said...

"don't work well" is pretty vague . Specifically the issue I have with the crayola pens I've been using, is that they aren't vibrant. I'm looking for really bright bold solid colours that penetrate into the wood fibres well, rather than skimming over the surface leaving the tiny indentations untouched.

 

[Tris]

I guess 'bright' and dyes don't go together on many woods. I've used chestnut dyes successfully on pale woods, but in narrow bands I don't think you'd get a good contrast between the bands. Not sure if they'd be toy safe but Jo Sonja paints come in some great colours, otherwise Rustoleum do some called Painter's touch that are toy safe

 

[Inspector]

I find it odd that kids old enough to play with tops eat them too and they probably have a box of the same pens to draw/colour with. The tasty treats given to them by their parents.

Getting bold colour with hard definition lines is not going to be easy. Best suggestion I have is to use pre-dyed wood like Specraply to make the tops out of.

Pete

 

[akirk]

As I mentioned above Acrylic paint pens are generally considered to be child safe - though they are not technically food safe - i.e. you wouldn't choose to eat them, but it won't kill you if you do... worth exploring as it will give very vibrant colours... Also I believe there is generally a difference in toys aimed at below 3 and above 3 - I would have thought like Pete above that if old enough to play with them they won't be eating them...

 

[Ollie78]

The most vibrant Colours I have used are the Chestnut spirit stains, they behave very much like the inks I used to use for airbrushing, they were acrylic based Aero colour is one brand, could try those.
I wonder if you could just use artists acrylics, they are fairly pigment dense and can be thinned as required, should be pretty kid safe when dry.
The other way is to buy some pigment powder and try it in different solvents or carrier paints.

If you want pens specifically look at Molotow markers or Posca acrylic pens. look on this link they have empty pens for your own ink and loads of pen options Graffiti Markers| Paint, Ink & Chalk Marker Pens | Graff-City

Ollie

 

[KT -andy]

I don't think any colouring pen or ink could be sold if it was poisonous or harmful to anyone .
The amount you'd use colouring a bit of wood would be tiny !
Splinters would be more dangerous .