How do you mix small quantities of dye?

[Gordon Harner]

I am trying to do a color test with transtint dyes and don't want to mix up quart quantities. What measuring equipment can I use to mix up 1/2 pint or less quantities? Also where can I acquire the measuring tools?
Thanks!

[ben searight]

I use syringes from the drugstore. It works pretty well, it's graduated down to 0.1 ml which is somewhere around 1/50th of a tsp.

[John TenEyck]

I use a graduated cylinder to measure the water or alcohol, and just count the drops of dye from the bottles. I typically make up a half ounce mix (roughly 15 ml), which is plenty for my color testing.

[Prashun Patel]

Just count drops. It's not totally scientific, but it is accurate enough.

[Sam Murdoch]

Just count drops. It's not totally scientific, but it is accurate enough.

Agree, I use an eye dropper – well several.

[Prashun Patel]

Transtint comes in dropper lid bottles already. I snip the ends off with scissors, but if you want a more uniform dispensing you can pierce the tip with a fat pin instead.

[Chad Bender]

I take a different approach that may work for you, depending on what your end goal is. I tend to mix up about a pint of dye at the full strength recommendation. I then cut small quantities of it down to the dilutions I'm interested in. I find it easier and more repeatable to deal in larger quantities of the raw dye, and this procedure allows me to make up a bunch of test dilutions and then quickly replicate the best one in large quantity even if my initial dye measurements were off a little bit.

[Jim Rimmer]

I went to the dollar store and bought a set of measuring spoons and I also picked up a Pyrex measuring cup at flea market. I start with the smallest spoon and 1/4 or 1/2 cup alcohol. I make several small dye mixtures this way progressing from light to dark. I have a sample board that has been through the same sanding cycle as the project boards. I tape sections off and put on the different colored dyes and then proceed through the finishing cycle - sealer, varnish, etc. to be able to present the options to LOML. I take careful notes on each color mixture and then I am able to increase the volume and arrive at the same color as the sample.