Identifying Strands of Dough

Question

I'm trying to write up a how-to guide for braiding six strands of dough.

I figured that for comprehension I would instruct the cook to move the pieces of dough based on a color-coding scheme. E.g. I would say place the black strand between the blue and green strands.

However, in order to identify which strand is which, I need food-safe colored items that can be stuck into the ends of each strand of dough [to be removed after braiding is complete]. What are some items that can fit this purpose?

Answer

wooden toothpicks with colored ends, like the kind at cocktail parties? (like these? http://tinyurl.com/3pjf4kx)

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