Comments on: How to make Homemade Liquid Watercolours with Dried Out Markers

By: R

Wed, 20 Jan 2021 04:59:25 +0000

Another idea… We use leftover Easter egg dye for water color painting.

By: Momapennington

Momapennington — Sat, 15 Aug 2020 14:42:16 +0000

Awesome idea next time instead of soaking the markers pull the tips place in tiny container then take the ink hold it up and using a dropper or syringe place one drop at a time on to the top u can watch it bleed all the ink completely by the time u finish the tips can be removed from the container and i let the small container dry to save a little for just in case

By: Celeste Clevenger

Celeste Clevenger — Mon, 16 Sep 2019 16:55:22 +0000

Jackie thank you for emailing me and letting me know keeping the watercolor paints in sealed, clean jars worked best. My story hour group at the library will be painting with vibrant red, yellow and green watercolor pictures of apples. tomorrow.

By: Celeste Clevenger

Celeste Clevenger — Thu, 12 Sep 2019 16:56:30 +0000

In reply to Jackie Currie. Hi Jackie, I'm finally getting a chance to do this. Amazing how much color comes out of these dried up markers. I noticed in one of the comments you mention not to seal the jars to prevent mold, so I was wondering if I have mine in glass mason jars should I store them with their lids? I'm thinking from the edit you made, yes, but thought I'd check.

By: Sandy

Sandy — Wed, 24 Jul 2019 14:36:07 +0000

In reply to Beth. Add a couple of drops of vinegar to the water to prevent mold from forming.

By: Jackie Currie

Jackie Currie — Mon, 24 Jun 2019 14:50:02 +0000

In reply to Celeste Clevenger. Thanks for the heads up, Celest. I had the heading in the post for how to store them, but somehow the sentence below was edited out. I've added it back in. Yes, I store mine in lids with jars. I use baby food jars.

By: Celeste Clevenger

Celeste Clevenger — Mon, 24 Jun 2019 12:17:20 +0000

Such a great idea! Can’t wait to try it. The part of the post was missing about how to store the paints. Should they be stored in sealed jars?

By: Jackie Currie

Jackie Currie — Tue, 14 Aug 2018 16:32:44 +0000

In reply to Denise. You're welcome, Denise! I'm so glad you love your paints!

By: Denise

Denise — Tue, 14 Aug 2018 16:01:57 +0000

Thank you so much for this great idea! Have been using to make watercolors for my preschool class and they turn out beautiful (and no expense!)

By: happyhooligans

happyhooligans — Tue, 11 Jul 2017 02:28:26 +0000

In reply to Katie. If you set them in the sun, they'll dry in that amount of time. They're watercolour paints, so they're going to take the same amount of time to dry as it would if you painted the paper with a brush dipped in water.

By: Katie

Katie — Mon, 10 Jul 2017 19:10:06 +0000

How long did it take for the watercolors to dry on the paper? I’m thinking about using these in spray bottles on canvas at a birthday party and would like for everything to be dry after about an hour. Is that possible?

By: A

Mon, 27 Mar 2017 21:27:33 +0000

I made these myself a few months ago and went the extra mile. Instead of just taking the cap off the markers and sticking it in the water, I used pliers to open markers to collect the ink cartridge out of the barrel and remove the tip. I put each in bags and sorted them by color. When I pulled apart all my markers, I put the cartridges and tips into solo cups with some water in them. I tried to put in only enough water to cover tips and cartridges so the colors would be more concentrated. I found out through experimentation that you can cut the plastic casing off the cartridge and if you wet the cloth inside with a stream of water, it could completely drain the color off and make the cloth white! I think it only works on ones that were from crayola markers, but you’ll still get some color out if you do that. A similar thing sometimes happens to the tips. What I do is carefully put a cup under the faucet to collect the water and quickly turn the water on and off while holding the tip/cartridge over the cup. Even if they don’t turn white, you can still get color from them by putting them in the cup with the others. I did that for all of them, even when they turned white. I left them to soak for at least a week. To store them, I put them into tiny water battles and label the cap and bottle with the color I have in there. If the color is too light, I put it outside so they evaporate. Since they soaked in a solo cup and the mouth of the water bottle is small, I use a funnel to get it all in. The colors are beautiful!
I also used my liquid watercolors when making play dough. Since the recipe calls for water and food coloring, I decided to see what would happen if I used my liquid water colors instead. The result turned out pretty good, however you need to be careful with how much liquid water color to put in. I used some that weren’t very concentrated and ended up with a lot of water in and I had to add more and more flour and salt and everything just to keep it from being watery goop. I made orange, green, purple, and blue. The orange came out great and I still have it (it’s been like six months as of now and still soft and mold able). The blue was way too watery and goopy and grew mold. The purple and green were a little too wet. I ended up throwing away all of them except the orange. It was a fun experiment and I cant’ wait to make more liquid watercolors.

By: happyhooligans

happyhooligans — Mon, 13 Mar 2017 07:09:13 +0000

In reply to Khepri. We LOVE painting with coloured ice!

By: Khepri

Khepri — Sun, 12 Mar 2017 22:45:50 +0000

In reply to Angie. I'm way late with this comment, but this makes me think of "popsicle paints." You could freeze them in a plastic popsicle mold and then paint with the "popsicle." (So long as the child painting knew the score.)

By: happyhooligans

happyhooligans — Mon, 04 Jul 2016 11:11:12 +0000

In reply to Joyce. Wow! That's fantastic, Joyce! Good thinking, asking your teacher friends for their spent markers! I'm so glad my post inspired you to make your own paint! I hope your patients enjoy them!

By: Joyce

Joyce — Sun, 03 Jul 2016 21:15:27 +0000

I have been waiting to try this for a long time ! I am a retired teacher and now working at a home for handicapped adults and they like using water colors, but water colors are rather expensive. So when school ended this year I asked my teacher friends who were still teaching instead of throwing out the dried up markers to save them for me. This batch I used 300 assorted markers and got anywhere from a half pint to a pint of each color. I did pink, red, orange, purple, green, yellow, blue, brown, black. I have another set to do and figure I just might as well put the pink and the red together since there is not that much difference. I was astounded at how much more color came out when I removed the inserts and squeezed. Thanks for such a great idea !!!

By: Saraswati Mantra

Saraswati Mantra — Sun, 19 Jun 2016 03:14:19 +0000

It really does work. We combined some to make “new” colors.

By: happyhooligans

happyhooligans — Wed, 15 Jun 2016 14:56:52 +0000

In reply to Cindy. I'm glad you enjoyed this one, Cindy! It's a money-saver for sure!

By: Cindy

Cindy — Sun, 12 Jun 2016 23:24:35 +0000

Thank you so much for sharing. We have a tight budget and so ideas like this are really helpful!

By: happyhooligans

happyhooligans — Tue, 08 Mar 2016 00:05:03 +0000

In reply to KD. Yes, you want to use water-based markers for this, KD. Water-based are usually washable, as opposed to oil or alcohol-based markers.

By: KD

KD — Mon, 07 Mar 2016 03:05:38 +0000

Does it matter whether the markers are washable or not?

By: happyhooligans

happyhooligans — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 02:57:52 +0000

In reply to Beth. How strange. We've made it dozens of times, and it doesn't mold. You're not covering it to store it, are you? That would prevent the paints from drying out, and would likely lead to mold. You need to leave them completely uncovered, and store in a dry location so any moisture evaporates.

By: Beth

Beth — Thu, 24 Dec 2015 04:40:43 +0000

In reply to Kevin.

Hi Kevin,

The same thing happen to me. I used clean plastic containers. Have you figured out how to avoid growing the mold??
Thanks Beth

By: Louisa

Louisa — Fri, 06 Nov 2015 07:01:25 +0000

In reply to happyhooligans.

We did it!! My boys LOVED this activity, especially the 6 year old. It was the first thing he’d say every day when he came home from school – “I wonder how our watercolours are doing!”- and we had a big countdown to the day they’d be ready!! Such a lovely idea and nice and eco-friendly too. I hate waste, so will be doing this for years to come, I’m sure. Thank you so much. I’m sharing your post on FB.

By: happyhooligans

happyhooligans — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 18:26:45 +0000

In reply to Louisa. Yay!!

By: Louisa

Louisa — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 09:04:14 +0000

This is fabulous! I’m soo trying this with my kids. We always seem to have a ton of dried-up lids-left-off markers… :-/

By: happyhooligans

happyhooligans — Fri, 04 Sep 2015 03:24:08 +0000

In reply to Eva Nell Hunter. What a clever idea, Eva! I've never thought to add liquid watercolours to them! Thanks for sharing!

By: Eva Nell Hunter

Eva Nell Hunter — Fri, 04 Sep 2015 02:51:56 +0000

Our church library is the supply center for our church. We ask teachers and other leaders to return to the library the markers when they no longer work. We remove the top of the markers and using a medicine dropper fill them with several drops of matching liquid water colors. They are then ready for use again. This has saved lots of money and the process works well.

By: happyhooligans

happyhooligans — Wed, 15 Apr 2015 16:56:52 +0000

In reply to Kevin. I'm sorry I can't help you there, Kevin. We've kept ours in sealed baby food jars for over a year now, and they've never developed mold. There would've had to have been bacteria introduced from somewhere/something in order for mold to grow I think.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Wed, 15 Apr 2015 15:41:23 +0000

Quick question. Has anyone else done this and had the jars start to grow mold in them? I bought mason jars and they were sealed tightly over our spring break. Came back and they were globs of whitish mold in them… I was planning on using them as sprays for quick projects but cannot anymore. Tips?

By: Dana

Dana — Mon, 30 Mar 2015 04:35:57 +0000

This same trick can be used to make colored glue. Just buy some cheap white or clear school glue, drop in a marker insert or two, and voila! You’ll have pretty glue to use for decorating or fun projects.

By: danielle

danielle — Sat, 31 Jan 2015 16:06:40 +0000

I found this to be easier and quicker (great for older childer) to use eyedroppers! Take out the felt ink cartridges and dripper water into the top and it pushes the ink out quickly leaving behind only white felt.

By: gayezimhuycke

gayezimhuycke — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 20:02:31 +0000

I saved all the dried out markers in my Preschool class and we just made the vibrant watercolours. I can’t get the boughten ones in Canada, but have wanted them. And now we have them. THey are glorious, I thought they might be less hand stainy than food colouring and indeed they took less time to wear off my skin than usual. The babies and I enjoyed painting with them. We made stunning coffee filter designs with our pipettes. Also we did some tie dye with woven paper. Thanks for all the suggestions.

By: Trish

Trish — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 18:00:14 +0000

This is a great idea to pull even more fun out of markers. I especially like how you say it works even on markers that seem to be out of ink or dried out. This may save some markers that my kids left the top off of.

By: d'Arci

d'Arci — Sun, 19 Oct 2014 17:35:09 +0000

GORGEOUS COLORS!! ;:^D

By: Margie Turner

Margie Turner — Wed, 01 Oct 2014 19:13:52 +0000

Wow I could have used this 50 years ago when I had 6 wee kids, but I don’t remember having markers then, it’s a lovely idea and I’m passing it on to our grandkids and to our Sunday School teachers too.

By: caitlinshappyheart

caitlinshappyheart — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 23:21:41 +0000

This is so cool! Hubby won’t be impressed that I’m keeping yet another broken thing though! He really doesn’t get recycling for play. (I have cried before when he threw out a large pile of shoe boxes!)

By: Teressa

Teressa — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 04:28:53 +0000

I wish I’d have seen this last week…we just cleaned out all our markers! I’m considering going out to the dumpster to reclaim them for this project. But perhaps I can wait till more markers “dry up” in a few months or so. 🙂 Thank you!

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Sat, 23 Aug 2014 06:41:05 +0000

I did this but kept the insert whole. Whe I was done.soaking.I dripped water slowly through one end while holding it my jar. I tell you those inserts were white. I got every last bit of color and my paint is very vivid! Thank you for sharing your method!

By: Angie

Angie — Sat, 16 Aug 2014 18:16:34 +0000

You can also freeze the leftovers and pop them back in their coordinating color jar 🙂

By: Gude @HodgePodgeCraft

Gude @HodgePodgeCraft — Sun, 27 Jul 2014 22:06:37 +0000

Wow, this is so helpful! Thanks for sharing 🙂

By: happyhooligans

happyhooligans — Tue, 01 Jul 2014 12:43:26 +0000

In reply to Heather. I wonder if there was some food residue in the jars, Heather? The only way I could see mould developing is if there were some bacteria introduced to either the jars or the paints themselves. Strange!

By: Heather

Heather — Tue, 01 Jul 2014 12:18:31 +0000

I did this a fee years ago. Unfortunately my paint started to get moldy stored in the jars. I ended up freezing the leftovers in ice cube trays so I didn’t have to throw it out.

By: Erica Loop

Erica Loop — Sat, 31 May 2014 02:16:57 +0000

I love this! Such a simple idea, but so creative. I spent years teaching art in a museum’s children’s studio. We threw out dried up markers all the time (with 100s of kids using them, the caps were often left off). We could have been reusing them for water colors instead of tossing them.

By: Anna m

Anna m — Wed, 09 Apr 2014 12:41:07 +0000

This is great! We have so many left over markers, I am going to make time to try this the colours look so pretty 🙂

By: Sara

Sara — Sat, 08 Mar 2014 18:21:49 +0000

That’s a clever idea! Now to go dig out the old markers we have in storage. Thank you!

By: Let kids be kids

Let kids be kids — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 15:41:42 +0000

Great ideas. I love the look of that paint 🙂

By: Kate

Kate — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 02:05:56 +0000

I love this, as I’ve been wanting to buy a full set of liquid watercolors but holding off because of the price. Will definitely try this first!

By: Vicky @ Mess For Less

Vicky @ Mess For Less — Thu, 27 Feb 2014 21:55:32 +0000

You are a genius! Seriously, Jackie this is awesome and I am probably way more excited about it than one should be – LOL! I have not wanted to splurge on liquid water colors but this is a great alternative. Thank you!

By: winegumsx

winegumsx — Thu, 27 Feb 2014 15:17:06 +0000

This is fantastic! We’ve tried it before but gave up as the colours were so weak, never thought to leave them in so long! Will definitely be trying again now 🙂 x

By: Dizzy

Dizzy — Thu, 27 Feb 2014 10:21:25 +0000

fantastic idea, what a great way to make use of the pens that would otherwise get thrown away. Might be a good way to show colour mixing by putting red and blue pens together to get purple etc.

By: Hannah Johansson

Hannah Johansson — Thu, 27 Feb 2014 07:03:00 +0000

Wow wow wow! The kid in me is super excited! lol! I'm definitely going to try this out for the super kids at my home day care. They will be so excited to do this technique as they love colors!

By: childcentralstation

childcentralstation — Thu, 27 Feb 2014 04:44:05 +0000

We’ve been doing this for years too :). I even recycle the caps and the body of the markers! I started out using just the markers dipped in the water, now I pull them apart immediately and add the insides to our jars. We seem to have a continuous supply! It also dyes wood beautifully :).

By: happyhooligans

happyhooligans — Thu, 27 Feb 2014 04:40:06 +0000

In reply to Rita Neve. The koolaid is a great idea, Rita! That would smell so good!

By: Ginny

Ginny — Wed, 26 Feb 2014 19:24:16 +0000

Love it!

By: Rita Neve

Rita Neve — Wed, 26 Feb 2014 18:23:12 +0000

Jackie I have been doing this all school year. Yesterday we added an off-brand kool aid packet in the appropriate color to each jar of paint. We got more vivid colors and scent.

By: Lauren

Lauren — Wed, 26 Feb 2014 16:03:28 +0000

I love the extra step! We’ve made watercolors with the markers, but they weren’t as bright as I’d like. We’ll be trying this soon as we have a ton of dried out markers!

By: Marilyn Kok

Marilyn Kok — Wed, 26 Feb 2014 15:17:00 +0000

You are a genius. Recycle, reuse experiment, awesome. Congratulations smart lady.. ?? It.

By: Kristin

Kristin — Wed, 26 Feb 2014 13:54:34 +0000

Can’t wait to give this a try, thanks so much for all your hard work posting and sharing! You are so inspiring 🙂

By: Sue Agnew

Sue Agnew — Wed, 26 Feb 2014 09:05:41 +0000

What a great idea, excited to find old pens & have a go ! Great money saving new idea to try at Topcliffe Playgroup – THANK YOU & keep those ideas coming x

By: laughingkidslearn

laughingkidslearn — Wed, 26 Feb 2014 07:56:26 +0000

You are so clever Jackie! Great post! 😀