I made some dragonfly cookies yesterday and used Toba's Glace on them. I outlined them in a light gray and flooded the wings with pink, blue, green, and yellow. Then about 2 hours later when they felt "set", I used brown glace - thickened to outline consistency - to make the body part. Yes, I piped the body over some of the glace on the wings. This morning they looked really good. Then this afternoon, the brown was bleeding into the pastel wings. What am I doing wrong? It has a cool look, but it's NOT what I was trying to do. The cookies are gone and I didn't get a picture before my husband took them to the Garden Club meeting.

I want to make some white and yellow chicks and pipe black eyes and orange beaks and feet on them but now I'm afraid to do it. I certainly don't them to run! IF I use royal icing on the glace (for the eyes and beak), will that make a difference or am I not waiting for the glace to dry sufficiently? I am using Wilton paste colors - it's the only thing I can get in my little remote area.

Thanks in advance for any help with this! I see such beautiful cookies here!

Two hours isn't enough to wait if you are piping over another, especially lighter, color. Kneadacookie uses Toba's for all her decorating and she doesn't have any problem with bleeding. As far as anyone can tell.

Here's one of her pictures, but check her gallery. Her cookies are amazing.
http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1255643

Another way to go is AmeriColor food color markers. Once the icing is good and dry, you can draw on the eyes or other detail.
http://www.countrykitchensa.com/catalog/product.aspx?T=3&ShopId=44&CatId=535&SubCatId=1210&productId=626162

You could try adding some brite white food color to your icing when you mix it up. This seems to help a bit. Mostly, you just have to let the icing set before adding another color that is dramatically different. I usually will do all my decorating on the same day, leaving the final outlining and details for the next day. I have had very little problem with bleeding, and I use Toba's exclusively.

Thanks for the replies. I greatly appreciate it. This is a learning experience for me.

I have to say that I LOVE Toba's Glace and the taste the best of all I have tried. I will try the chicks and wait a day to add the details and see if that helps my problem. I was afraid I had added the body to the dragonflies too soon. Oh well! They were all consumed and everyone LOVED them so I guess nothing was lost. Actually, the way it bled into the pastels looked cool - sort of like shading. I should have taken a picture. I bet I couldn't get that affect again if I tried!

Thanks again! You guys are so helpful and appreciated!

thanks for the shoutout honey!

i actually do all my detail work right away. i have found that if my colors are really oversaturated with color they will bleed a lot. if i'm in a rush and run out of color half way through a project, i have to make more. sometimes i'm afraid the color won't darken while on the cookie, so i make it a little darker. those are the ones that most of the time will bleed. red and black are the worst. so, now when i'm doing an order, i'll make the icing, make the colors and use those colors to make my outline/detail icing. if i run out, i try to use the fill icing to make more detail icing. if you make all your colors at one time, it gives the color more of a chance to set before you need to use it. HTH

yes, i do have cookies that don't make it out alive. you guys just get to see the good pictures...lol! next time i'll take pictures of a couple of cookies together...the good, the bad and the ugly!

OH...looks like I found one....here goes my reputation....

thanks honey...i needed that!!