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!**