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You Will Need

- PROJECT BUDGET
- Almost Nothing

Macaroni Necklace

Macaroni...it's not just with cheese!

No, I'm not regressing...but this is a really cool update on an old school medium...macaroni!
We're going to color them using some common household supplies. You can use the finished beads for jewelry or make a funky collage out of them. The one thing you must keep in mind is that these will not be edible once they have been immersed in the rubbing alcohol. Real alcohol maybe, but not this time. Seriously, for those who might want to do this project with kids, do not let them put these things in their mouths. Yucko.

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Add a handful or so of macaroni into the cups. If you want to make more beads, add more. Pour a small amount of the rubbing alcohol into some of the cups. You do not need a lot. I didn't measure, but be sure to put enough in to cover the macaroni.
Choose your colors. Here is where a little color theory comes in. Remember your primary colors? They are red, yellow and blue. Actually, they are magenta, yellow and cyan. But no matter. This is macaroni beads we're talkin about. Add more or fewer drops depending on how intense you would like the colors to be. Mix the colors together for more shades. Get crazy if you want to.
Here is a mini-color guide to refer to (it came from the back of the food coloring package...thanks, Durkee!

Orange: 2 drops red, 3 drops yellow
Turquoise: 1 drop green, 4 drops blue
Lime Green: 3 drops yellow, 1 drop green
Salmon: 3 drops red, 2 drops yellow
Violet: 2 drops red, 2 drops blue
Pistachio: 1 drop yellow, 4 drops green

Swirl the cups around the get the drops good and mixed and the macaroni saturated. Let them sit for at least 30 minutes. This would be a good time to get your supplies ready for whatever you're planning on creating with the macaroni. Check the cups every so often and mix the macaroni to make sure they are getting evenly colored.
Drain the macaroni into a colander or strainer and arrange them in a single layer on paper towels to dry. This could take several hours to dry thoroughly, but mine seemed OK to work with within an hour or so. Perhaps I was a little impatient, but they were fine.

All the pretty colors: Clockwise-red, orange, yellow, lime green,
kelly green, green-yellow, blue, violet. Note: the colors are much better in real life
than on the computer screen.
There you have it! You colored your macaroni and you get a gold star :)

Here is my finished project using my colored macaroni~ Macaroni Twist Bracelet.