Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Monday, July 7, 2014
Food Color Cross Reference
Over the past few months, I have mixed MANY colors using Americolor food gels. I want to share my mixing knowledge with ALL bakers, not just the ones who use Americolor as their brand of choice. So...I have made cross reference charts for each popular brand of food colors. This way, you will know your brand's equivalent to Americolor and you can mix the same colors shown on my blog...the correct way.
The Americolor Color Bias Charts (Below) are a reminder as to which color belongs to which color bias group. This is important information to know folks!!! If you know what groups your colors belong to, you will mix the right colors all the time.
The Americolor Color Bias Charts (Below) are a reminder as to which color belongs to which color bias group. This is important information to know folks!!! If you know what groups your colors belong to, you will mix the right colors all the time.
Each chart (below) has the brand of color you are using to the left and the Americolor equivalent to the right. Some brands have more colors than others. If your brand doesn't have a color you need, you will need to create it in order for the final color to be accurate. For example: If you need Egg Yellow, but you only have Lemon Yellow, you will have to mix some Orange into the Lemon Yellow to create Egg Yellow. (Color Tip: Electric Blue is a mix of Royal Blue and Sky Blue...both are blue-green bias) **Click on the chart for a larger view. Please feel free to save it and print it out for a handy cheat sheet**
Now here comes the fun part!!! My good friend Rebecca from The Cookie Architect, has asked me to be part of her "Practice Bakes Perfect" challenge over at Cookie Connection. The theme is Summer and I am thinking "vintage"!!!
So here it is...your color palette!!! You must use at least 4 of these colors, but feel free to use all five of them. Use your cross reference charts (above) to help you mix these colors if you are using a brand other than Americolor. If you don't have the color in the formula, use what you have learned in my previous post on Color Bias to mix your colors the proper way by using my Americolor Color Bias charts (above). Please note, there is no ratio listed for these formulas because there is no way to accurately measure food gels. One drop from my bottle may be a different drop from your bottle and some don't even use squeeze bottle food colors. Painters use their eyes to measure ratios and blend until they see the desired color. This might be challenging for some of you, but it is the most accurate way of mixing colors. Just give yourself time and patience . . . and you will get it, I promise. The best way to mix icing, is to start with your lightest color and add the darker color a little at a time until you reach the desired color (Mixing Tip: I use a knife to dab color into my icing...never drops. This prevents over coloring your icing and going too dark). Please note that saturated colors will deepen over time (a few hours to overnight), so try and be patient before adding more dark colors to your mix.
My color inspiration came from these beautiful vintage beach posters (below).
Just remember the most important thing about mixing is to have fun with it. I can't wait to see these colors come to life, so get baking and mixing...and good luck!!!
Have a wonderful and colorful week:-)
Friday, June 20, 2014
Grays and Browns - Mixing Muddy Colors . . . On Purpose
I'm back and ready to mix some colors . . . WHOO HOO!!!
Awhile back, (which seems like FOREVER ago) I talked about using the color bias trick to avoid mixing muddy colors. Well, this time we are going to learn to mix muddy colors. Yeah, that is right . . . on purpose! Mixing two complementary colors together will create a neutral color. The color wheel (below) shows the colors that are complementary to each other.
Even though we are playing with mud today, the color bias theory will still play a HUGE role in getting the right neutral color. The complementary color chart (below) will help you remember which two colors are directly opposite of each other on the color wheel.
What if we mix a red-orange with a blue-green?
Holy icing samples Batman . . . that is 224 colors for this week!!! Who says that browns and grays have to be a pain to mix??? You now have the options of creating the neutrals you want . . . and it doesn't even have to come from a bottle of brown or black.
Awhile back, (which seems like FOREVER ago) I talked about using the color bias trick to avoid mixing muddy colors. Well, this time we are going to learn to mix muddy colors. Yeah, that is right . . . on purpose! Mixing two complementary colors together will create a neutral color. The color wheel (below) shows the colors that are complementary to each other.
Now, you're probably thinking "Why do I need to use the color bias chart to mix a muddy color . . . can't I just mix any two opposite colors?" I would love to say "yes", but the answer is "no" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Our food colors are made of more than one color and they are color biased, so the same rule that we used to make pretty and vibrant colors will be used to make our neutrals.
For example, let's make a brown by mixing two complementary colors, such as red and green. Think back to the color bias charts (your good ole BFF) from my previous posts "Choosing the right "Primary" Colors" and "Mixing Tertiary Colors The Easy Way".
Your red will be either a red-orange or a red-violet and your green will be either a yellow-green or a blue-green.
If we were to mix a red-orange with a yellow-green, it would be orange because red and yellow (which makes orange) are dominate in the mix and it cancels out the red and green. Yellow and orange are not complementary colors.
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| Tulip Red (Red-Orange) + Electric Green (Yellow-Green) |
What if we mix a red-orange with a blue-green?
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| Tulip Red (Red-Orange) + Teal (Blue-Green) |
We will get a true neutral color of course, because red and green are complementary and orange and blue are also opposites. If the two colors you mix aren't exactly across from each other on the color wheel, then you won't get a gray or brown . . . you'll get a muted version of a secondary or tertiary color. On a positive note, you might get a super cool color that you weren't expecting . . . which is always a plus in my book.
I made icing samples (below using Americolor Soft Gel Paste) by mixing complementary colors to show you which colors create a neutral. I also added a touch of brown to each second set of colors to show you how many different variations of neutrals you can make by simply adding it to a set of complementary colors.
(Red + Green)
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| Super Red mixed with greens (1) Electric Green (2) Mint Green (3) Avocado (4) Leaf Green (5) Forest Green (6) Teal |
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| Super Red mixed with greens and Chocolate Brown (7) Electric Green (8) Mint Green (9) Avocado (10) Leaf Green (11) Forest Green (12) Teal |
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| Red Red mixed with greens (13) Electric Green (14) Mint Green (15) Avocado (16) Leaf Green (17) Forest Green (18) Teal |
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| Red Red mixed with greens and Chocolate Brown (19) Electric Green (20) Mint Green (21) Avocado (22) Leaf Green (23) Forest Green (24) Teal |
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| Tulip Red mixed with greens (25) Electric Green (26) Mint Green (27) Avocado (28) Leaf Green (29) Forest Green (30) Teal |
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| Tulip Red mixed with greens and Chocolate Brown (31) Electric Green (32) Mint Green (33) Avocado (34) Leaf Green (35) Forest Green (36) Teal |
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| Xmas Red mixed with greens (37) Electric Green (38) Mint Green (39) Avocado (40) Leaf Green (41) Forest Green (42) Teal |
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| Xmas Red mixed with greens and Chocolate Brown (43) Electric Green (44) Mint Green (45) Avocado (46) Leaf Green (47) Forest Green (48) Teal |
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| Holiday Red mixed with greens (49) Electric Green (50) Mint Green (51) Avocado (52) Leaf Green (53) Forest Green (54) Teal |
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| Holiday Red mixed with greens and Chocolate Brown (55) Electric Green (56) Mint Green (57) Avocado (58) Leaf Green (59) Forest Green (60) Teal |
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| Burgundy mixed with greens (61) Electric Green (62) Mint Green (63) Avocado (64) Leaf Green (65) Forest Green (66) Teal |
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| Burgundy mixed with greens and Chocolate Brown (67) Electric Green (68) Mint Green (69) Avocado (70) Leaf Green (71) Forest Green (72) Teal |
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| Maroon mixed with greens (73) Electric Green (74) Mint Green (75) Avocado (76) Leaf Green (77) Forest Green (78) Teal |
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| Maroon mixed with greens and Chocolate Brown (79) Electric Green (80) Mint Green (81) Avocado (82) Leaf Green (83) Forest Green (84) Teal |
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| Turquoise mixed with reds (85) Super Red (86) Red Red (87) Tulip Red (88) Xmas Red (89) Holiday Red (90) Burgundy |
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| Turquoise mixed with reds and Chocolate Brown (91) Super Red (92) Red Red (93) Tulip Red (94) Xmas Red (95) Holiday Red (96) Burgundy |
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| Terracotta mixed with greens (97) Electric Green (98) Mint Green (99) Avocado (100) Leaf Green (101) Forest Green (102) Teal |
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| Terracotta mixed with greens and Chocolate Brown (103) Electric Green (104) Mint Green (105) Avocado (106) Leaf Green (107) Forest Green (108) Teal |
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| Turquoise mixed with oranges (109) Terracotta (110) Electric Orange (111) Orange (112) Copper (113) Peach |
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| Turquoise mixed with oranges and Chocolate Brown (114) Terracotta (115) Electric Orange (116) Orange (117) Copper (118) Peach |
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| Copper mixed with greens (119) Electric Green (120) Mint Green (121) Avocado (122) Leaf Green (123) Forest Green (124) Teal |
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| Copper mixed with greens Chocolate Brown (125) Electric Green (126) Mint Green (127) Avocado (128) Leaf Green (129) Forest Green (130) Teal |
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| Peach mixed with greens (131) Electric Green (132) Mint Green (133) Avocado (134) Leaf Green (135) Forest Green (136) Teal |
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| Peach mixed with greens and Chocolate Brown (137) Electric Green (138) Mint Green (139) Avocado (140) Leaf Green (141) Forest Green (142) Teal |
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| Electric Purple mixed with greens (143) Electric Green (144) Mint Green (145) Avocado (146) Leaf Green (147) Forest Green (148) Teal |
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| Electric Purple mixed with greens and Chocolate Brown (149) Electric Green (150) Mint Green (151) Avocado (152) Leaf Green (153) Forest Green (154) Teal |
(Yellow + Violet)
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| Lemon Yellow mixed with violets (1) Violet (2) Regal Purple (3) Electric Purple |
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| Lemon Yellow mixed with violets and Chocolate Brown (4) Violet (5) Regal Purple (6) Electric Purple |
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| Electric Yellow mixed with violets (7) Violet (8) Regal Purple (9) Electric Purple |
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| Electric Yellow mixed with violets and Chocolate Brown (10) Violet (11) Regal Purple (12) Electric Purple |
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| Egg Yellow mixed with violets (13) Violet (14) Regal Purple (15) Electric Purple |
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| Egg Yellow mixed with violets and Chocolate Brown (16) Violet (17) Regal Purple (18) Electric Purple |
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| Gold mixed with violets (19) Violet (20) Regal Purple (21) Electric Purple |
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| Gold mixed with violets and Chocolate Brown (22) Violet (23) Regal Purple (24) Electric Purple |
(Blue + Orange)
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| Royal Blue mixed with oranges (1) Terracotta (2) Electric Orange (3) Orange (4) Copper (5) Peach |
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| Royal Blue mixed with oranges and Chocolate Brown (6) Terracotta (7) Electric Orange (8) Orange (9) Copper (10) Peach |
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| Electric Blue mixed with oranges (11) Terracotta (12) Electric Orange (13) Orange (14) Copper (15) Peach |
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| Electric Blue mixed with oranges and Chocolate Brown (16) Terracotta (17) Electric Orange (18) Orange (19) Copper (20) Peach |
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| Sky Blue mixed with oranges (21) Terracotta (22) Electric Orange (23) Orange (24) Copper (25) Peach |
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| Sky Blue mixed with oranges and Chocolate Brown (26) Terracotta (27) Electric Orange (28) Orange (29) Copper (30) Peach |
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| Navy Blue mixed with oranges (31) Terracotta (32) Electric Orange (33) Orange (34) Copper (35) Peach |
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| Navy Blue mixed with oranges and Chocolate Brown (36) Terracotta (37) Electric Orange (38) Orange (39) Copper (40) Peach |
(Brown + Neutral)
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| Chocolate Brown mixed with neutrals (1) Ivory (2) Warm Brown (3) Black Warm Brown mixed with neutrals (4) Black (5) Ivory Black mixed with neutrals (6) Ivory |
Holy icing samples Batman . . . that is 224 colors for this week!!! Who says that browns and grays have to be a pain to mix??? You now have the options of creating the neutrals you want . . . and it doesn't even have to come from a bottle of brown or black.
Have a wonderful and colorful week:-)
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