How to Dye Uncooked Macaroni

Look for different sizes of macaroni to use for dyeing.

Macaroni pasta is tube-shaped, which makes it useful for stringing onto thread. Add some color to the otherwise plain macaroni to create inexpensive and funky beads for jewelry. Dye uncooked macaroni with your child as a craft project. Then encourage the development of her fine motor skills and imagination by giving her some yarn so she can design her own line of jewelry. Dyed macaroni is also ideal for gluing to objects, such as paper, glass jars or crafting tabletops.

Things You'll Need

• Rubbing alcohol
• 16 oz. plastic cups
• Assorted colors, liquid food coloring
• Plastic spoons
• 1 lb. white macaroni, uncooked
• Slotted plastic spoon
• Paper plates

Instructions

1. Pour 1/2 cup of rubbing alcohol into a 16 oz. plastic cup. Add the same amount of alcohol to as many cups as you need for all of the different colors of macaroni you are making.

2. Pour 10 to 15 drops of liquid food coloring into each plastic cup. Use more than one color to form a new color if desired; i.e., 5 drops of yellow and 5 drops of red will make orange.

3. Stir the food coloring in the rubbing alcohol with a plastic spoon. Clean the spoon before using it to mix separate colors, or use a new spoon for each one. Add more color if desired to make a bolder hue.

4. Pour 1/2 cup of uncooked white macaroni into each cup. Swirl the cup so that the liquid covers all of the pasta. Leave the macaroni in the liquid for at least five minutes or until the pasta is the desired shade.

5. Remove the pasta using a slotted plastic spoon to drain away the excess liquid back into the cup. Rinse the spoon between the different colors of pasta.

6. Place the drained macaroni in a single layer on a paper plate. Use a different plate for each color of macaroni you have colored. Allow the macaroni to dry for at least three hours or until it is no longer dripping with dye.

Tips & Warnings

• Use a slotted plastic spoon that you do not use for serving food as the spoon will become stained.

• Do not use a metal slotted spoon as the metal may react with the dye.

References

• Make and Takes; Coloring Pasta and Making Necklaces; Marie LeBaron; September 2008
• Fun-Frugal-Mom: Make Rainbow Colored Macaroni Beads