Hi Forbes and welcome. A name or nickname would be nice. You don't want to color them unless you plan on staining the the light colored parts different colors so any water clear finish including water clear lacquers. Rattle cans from the hardware would work perfectly. If you do want to stain them then I recommend using Saman water based stains. They call them stains but I would tend to classify them more as being dyes. You can use any type clear finish over them. They are made in Quebec so you'll have to find a US dealer and mail order them but they are mixable and offer 128 different colors that way.