I wonder if you are putting in too much dye and weakening the mix?You could try putting in less dye perhaps. I have used powdered colorants, but more often will stain or paint the end result.Perhaps you could do a topical finish on your leaves.
Cindy

I had the same experience with the liquid color. I kept adding to get the color I wanted, when I dumped it out of the mold, it crumbled. I went back and read the jar and from what I read was using way to much for the mix.
Rhonda

What kind of liquid color are you using and how much? The Quikrete stuff from my local Depot seems to work ok, but the colors are totally lame. And you do have to read the lables on the dry colors. The ones I use warn about not putting too much in. TKOC

I, too, am very interested in color. I have no experience with coloring hypertufa yet, but my experience with other media yielded this: it seems more effective to find what the medium allows rather than to try to make it "look" like a specific desired color.

We once painted every room in a house the same color, but it looked very different in each room. I've typically been most satisfied when I did not have too strong a preconceived idea in the first place and often come up with something much better than what I had first intended. Keep good, detailed notes so the good results can be repeated.

Now, some of you folks are truly blessed with that rare attribute called talent. I'm really looking forward to being educated by you.

David

Hey Mudslinger, if you haven't already, go to the second page of this forum and read the thread "to stain or not to stain" and see if it helps. Sorry, I can't figure out how to link it.
Good luck,
Rhonda

OK all, thanks for the replies. I think i was tring to bend the medium to fit my idea of what I wanted instead of what it was capable of giving me. I will try to use only a little of the stain and see what happens. There has to be a way to color concrete vibrant colors without ruining it. The quickrete stains I am using aren't doing what I was hoping. Off to the laboratory for more Frankenstinian experimentations...

TheSixBarrellMudSlinger

SOme of my more "colorful" results were by mixing wet & dry pre-mix colors into a mix, but you got to be careful not to overdo it. Too much will cause it to do what you said...crumble. And it seems to be different for different brands so that makes reading the labels even mor imprtant.
TKOC

Colorants that are readily available like Quikrete products don't give you the vibrant colors that are available professional. If your pieces are crumbling it's due to using too much colorant. Billie

I agree, too much colorant. I have had really good success with the dry powders used in conjunction with white portland. They are much more vibrant, and you don't have to use as much colorant. Just a thought.

Kevin

Does anyone know if you can mix water with the colorant to get a deep color and use it as a stain on a finished product or won't it "soak in"?

I have painted some of my items with the Quick crete liqiud colors and it worked great, you just have to seal it, or it washes off a bit. It goes a long ways, I watered it down a bunch. I am posting a pic, but it's not a good pic for you to see the true color, but for some reason I can't get my photobucket pic to work, sorry.
bonnie

Here is a link that might be useful: stain

Very interesting..using the colourant to paint.
I have used the quikrete dyes - mixed right in the concrete and they seem o.k.
The roof on this house has the terra cotta colour in it - it has been out in Canadian winters for 5 years now and is still the same. I just used the Buff colour this summer in a large rhubarb leaf and it also looks fine, no pic of it yet.
Laurel

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:71875}}