How to Dye Clothes Black With a Sharpie

How to Dye Clothes Black With a Sharpie
Written By
Donna Tinus
Donna Tinus
Published: Jul 23, 2011
Updated: Jan 10, 2019
1 minute read
...
Hemera Technologies/PhotoObjects.net/Getty Images

A Sharpie will dye parts of clothes black, and is useful when tie-dying clothing. It cannot dye an entire piece of clothing a solid color, though. Theoretically, if you draw over the entire piece of clothing with a marker, you may be able to dye it black, but this would be a very time consuming ordeal. If you draw on clothes with a Sharpie, then spray the drawings with alcohol, however, the color will bleed, and spread, creating black accents against the background color of the shirt.

Cover your work surface with several layers of newspapers. If the marker bleeds off the clothing, the newspaper will absorb it and protect the surface.

Begin drawing on your clothing item. Draw stripes if you're going for maximum coverage. Draw the stripes 1/2 inch apart from each other.

Pour rubbing alcohol into a spray bottle. Spray each stripe so it bleeds and spreads across the material. Saturate the Sharpie drawings with the alcohol spray.

Place the clothing item into a hot dryer for 15 minutes to set the ink.

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Donna Tinus

Donna Tinus has been a writer since 2005. She has a background in medical terminology and has written articles for various websites on topics such as family, finance, medicine, health, pets, gardening, beauty and relationships. Tinus holds…

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