OK......*I* am not bleeding, but my cookies are!

I made some cookies with my daughter's school logo and colors that did not come out as planned. The colors are maroon and gray. To give you an idea, I've uploaded a quick pic of my daughter's notebook logo that I took with my phone. The colors are actually much darker than the picture shows. So for the cookie, I used a 5-point sheriff star cutter. I outlined and flooded with maroon RI and let that dry for over 24 hours. It seemed like I had to add an awful lot of Americolor gel just to get the perfect color, so that may be part of the problem. When they were dry, I piped the gray RI circles/border around the star like you see in the pic, as well as the writing in the middle with white RI. I'm not kidding.......within maybe an hour the maroon starting bleeding into both top colors and it was horrendous! Any suggestions on how to do such a tough color combination? I REALLY want to make these for the staff, but there is no way I want to give them bleeding cookies!

Sorry to hear that you are having problems with these cookies. I have been trying to think of something you could do to fix this, but I'm stumped. Hopefully, someone else on here has had this same problem and will know what to do. Good luck.

I wish I could help to, It's happened to me as well but I thought it was because I didn't let my base coat dry enough, obviously that's not your case. You should pm GeminiRJ. I bet she has the answer

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Kelly, but I'm not sure I have the answer! I can give you a couple things to try, though. It helps to add some bright white to your icing before you add any colors. I use Americolor brand, and the company representative told me it helps the colors to "bond" to the icing. Very intense colors are just not a decorator's friend! It also might help if you mix up the dark colors ahead of time and letting it sit. It will darken over time on its own, so you won't have to add quite as much color as when you mix it up right before you use it. Hope that makes sense!

Thanks for the tip! I will definitely be trying that because I am anxious to get this cookie made properly.......not to mention that my daughter and her friends will be so surprised!

Have you thought about using fondant? It might be easier on you with the dark colors.

I ditto what Gemini says. I finished typing before I read everything written, but to prevent bleeding on my reds and dark colors, I mix my RI a day or two in advance, adding less gel than I think I will need as it will darken, so right along the lines of what Gemini does.

I don't know if this would work for maroon, but for a deep red, I start with pink first and then add red. That way I use less of the red in the end. Again, though that is with the red.

Edited to add that I let my deep colors dry overnight before doing any top outlining or accenting, if that helps.

if you can go the fondant route, I think that would be a great alternative too. Cover whole thing in the dark fondant and do the royal accents of grey. As long as your grey is going to be raised anyhow right?