Food Color Dye Clothespin Coasters

Did you know you can dye wood with food color? I tried this method out on clothespins and turned them into coasters that I gave as gifts.

You’ll need:

A bowl

A measuring cup

Food coloring

vinegar

clothespins

*for coasters – adhesive of your choice.

Pull apart your clothespins. This is to prevent your metal from rusting in the vinegar water.

Put boiling water in a bowl. For this recipe I’m using 2 cups boiling water per bowl.

Add 1 tablespoon vinegar per bowl.

Add enough food coloring drops to make the color you want. You can mix colors too. I’m doing red, blue, and purple.

Stir and add your clothes pins in. I put in about 20 clothes pins per bowl.

Let them soak for 24 hours.

Pull the clothes pins out and let air dry. This took about 2 days stacked they way they are in this picture.

When they are dry the color fades a bit and gives them more of a stained wood look.

For teacher appreciation week for all the dance teachers I work with, I used these to make coasters. I used hot glue to adhere them, but you could use a glue of your choice.

Mix and match your clothespins for different coaster designs. I used about 6 clothes pins per coaster.

Once the glue has dried they’re ready to use.