Explorers

Everybody knows that Sharpies are “permanent” markers—and permanent means once the ink is on something, it’s nearly impossible to get it off, right?

Well, not quite. The Explorers learned in April 2010 how to do a variation of the classic tie-dying activity with Sharpies and rubbing alcohol.

The key to this activity lies in the fact that, while permanent markers are indeed relatively permanent in the face of water (and soap), that is not necessarily so when it comes to other substances. Rubbing alcohol has the ability to dissolve permanent ink, at least the kind found in Sharpies—so when it is dripped onto an ink mark made on fabric, it spreads out and carries some of the ink molecules along with it.

At an initial meeting the Explorers played a bit with different colors and patterns, using white handkerchiefs to experiment. They found that many abstract patterns can be made by stretching a bit of fabric over the open mouth of a cup, securing it with a rubber band, and making small dots or shapes of ink near the center—then dripping about ten or so drops of rubbing alcohol onto the ink. The more alcohol that is dripped, the more the ink spreads (but also the more it fades). Eventually some of the students started investigating writing letters or symbols, along with attempting to make pictures.

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At the next meeting, everyone brought along a white shirt. After Mr. Ramsey reminded them that once a pattern was on the shirt there really wasn’t any way to change it, everybody went to town on designing their own shirts. We ended up with some really cool shirts in the end, and with a whole lot less mess than is produced by the usual method of tie-dying. If you do this activity at home, just be sure you have some windows open, at least if you have multiple kids making shirts at the same time. The rubbing alcohol creates quite a smell!

To see some photos of our two tie-dying sessions, check out the Gallery.

To learn more about this experiment, click on the links below. The second one includes some video of some young kids doing the activity under adult supervision.

Sharpie Tie-Dye directions

Sharpie Tie-Dye Videos