can anyone tell me why i would mix food coloring and vodka. also what is the ratio that i mix them.

is there a recipe or something that is advising you to?

I mix vodka with the luster dusts.....

ditto. Vodka + dusts = edible paint.

I mix the gel pastes and vodka to paint with on fondant/gumpaste. I don't have a ratio, i just add a little at a time so it is not overly thinned down otherwise it will look like watercolour and not hardly any either otherwise the colour takes a long time to dry and can stay shiny

i usually use almond flavour to make an ink out of the colour paste but i've heard you can use vodka also

i was reading alot of the posts on this site and i noticed most people were doing it. i have no formal training in cake decoration. im learning on my own so i hope my questions dont sound elementry. anyone who gives me their advice or constructive critisism i really apriciate it. when i post pictures yall will see all of your advice at work. thanks for taking time to help me.

Usually I will use vodka to paint it. Alcohol will evaporate faster than water and so your painting will dry more quickly. I will also use it as a glue to attach fondant/gum paste pieces together - again quicker drying is usually my friend.

Just wanted to add that you can successfully mix extracts with dusts to make "paint".

I didn't want to buy vodka just for the little I would need for a cake I was making, so I checked my extracts and saw that orange had the highest alcohol content (80%)...I tried it and it worked really well, it dried very quickly.

I buy the little "airplane" bottles at the liquor store and they actually last me quite a while.

I use the airbrush colors a lot, and if I want it to be a lighter shade, I will mix everclear (vodka will work too) with it to lighten the shade. The higher the alcohol content, the faster the dry time.