Paint/finishes on baby toys

[chiba]

I've bought a couple of Naef wooden toys recently for my baby son. They're really nicely designed and beautifully made. Naturally, they use non-toxic colouring as a finish, when not bare wood. I read that the finish uses similar ingredients to that used in cosmetics. I love the vivid colours that Naef use, and as I'd like to make some toys myself, does anyone know of a vendor for this type of finish? I'd also be interested in any child friendly wood recommendations.

This is Naef:
http://www.naefspiele.ch/inh-produkte3.html

 

[DaveL]

Hi Chiba,

You need Terry who works for Chestnut. They make a whole range of child safe finishes. Check out their web site, I am sure Terry will be along soon.

 

[Terry Smart]

Hi Folks

Read this the other day and forgot to come back and post a reply, sorry!

We can't really help with the coloured stuff I'm afraid, our Spirit Stains don't meet the requirements to be Child Safe; we're trying to reformulate but it is proving difficult to do so and retain the brightness of our colours. It can be done but it will dramatically affect the price which would then make them unattractive to non-toy makers. For this I'd suggest some of the nursery paint finishes that are available. Most paints no longer have lead in them but these tests cover other chemical additives too.
I sometimes wonder about using Food Colourings for staining wood...

Clear finishes we can help with: we have had all of our products that we think are suitable for use on toys tested to EN-71 (The toy regulations for Europe) and they all passed with flying colours. The products are:
Cellulose Sanding Sealer
Acrylic Sanding Sealer
Acrylic Sanding Sealer (aerosol version)
Shellac Sanding Sealer
Melamine Lacquer
Acrylic Lacquer
Acrylic Gloss Lacquer
Acrylic Satin Lacquer
Finishing Oil
WoodWax 22 Clear

These products should be labelled accordingly, but if the label is missing don't worry, we haven't changed the formulation on these items for many years (if ever) so the can you've got should meet the requirements.

Hope this helps!

 

[Alf]

I sometimes wonder about using Food Colourings for staining wood...

I use them for parrot toys and they're not bad. Might work out a bit pricey though. Isn't Rustins stuff all supposed to be toy safe?

Cheers, Alf

 

[Gill]

I once knew an artist who painted pictures and names onto childrens stools and I asked her about paint safety. She assured me that all artists acrylics were suitable.

Gill

 

[dedee]

I use the Liberon Pallette Wood Dyes which are acrylic water based, and finish with danish oil. Both are marked as safe for toys.

Andy