AHow do you paint royal icing? Without it dissolving the icing?!

I tried using extracts and vodka and it just eats it away. Am I doing something wrong?

AYou can't introduce moisture to a royal iced cake as it will melt it, at least, I'm completely unaware of a way. Though apparently you can airbrush. Not tried it myself but have been told it works ok.

I paint over RI with gel color diluted with water, it works fine. I have found that if I add a table spoon of corn syrup it give it a nice sheen.

*edited to add link

This site helped me out a lot when I first started decorating cookies with RI. Look under "how to paint cookies" for some nice tips.

http://www.universityofcookie.com/

* sorry, I meant if you add a tbs of corn syrup to any RI recipe, it gives it a nice sheen.

I mix my gel colors with alcohol (vodka) and make sure my brush is not dripping wet. I then paint it onto the RI items I want. You need to be sure your brush is not dripping with the color as I said and you may find it better to do 2 light coats in order to get the desired color or value of that color.