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How to Make Colored Markers From Vegetable Dyes

The next time you and the kids are home for a snow day or rainy summer afternoon, show them how to make color markers using the vegetables you have in the refrigerator. Many fruits and vegetables are naturally bright in color and this can be transferred into a dye to use for artwork or just an experiment to show how colors can be made naturally.

Things You'll Need

Beets, Yellow Onion, Red Onion
Cutting board
Knife
Saucepan
Stove
Water
Bowl
Strainer
2 Drinking straws
Ruler
Cotton cording, 1/2-inch diameter
8-inch piece of string
Small piece of clay

Instructions

- 1
  Choose the vegetable you would like to use. Make sure you have enough to cover the bottom of a saucepan.
- 2
  Chop the vegetable into pieces using the knife and the cutting board.
- 3
  Add the chopped vegetable to your saucepan and add water until the vegetable is covered.
- 4
  Bring the mixture to a boil, place the lid on the saucepan and bring to a simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. The color from your vegetable will begin coloring the water in the pan.
- 5
  Turn off burner and remove the saucepan from the heat when the color of the water is rich in color. Allow this, the dye, to cool.
- 6
  Strain the dye. Using a strainer, pour out the contents of the saucepan over a small bowl. Just keep the colored water.
- 7
  Cut a piece of 1/2-inch diameter cotton cording, 1/2 an inch longer than your straw. Tie a piece of string to one end of the cotton cording and the other end of the string to the clay ball.
- 8
  Lay the piece of cording without the string over the edge of the bowl of dye so that only half of the piece is soaking in the dye. Soak the cording for 5 minutes.
- 9
  Thread the string through the straw slowly and carefully pulling the wet cording through the drinking straw. Then plug the end of the straw with the string coming out with a small piece of clay. Let the cording hang out of the other end of the straw, this will be the marker tip.

Nature