Tie Dye Shoes #2- It's a learning process, lemee tellya

Okay, so I wanted to try Sharpie tie-dyeing colored shoes.

So far, so good. I was envisioning soft blues and greens, spreading and touching to make a nice all-over pattern.

Well, that didn't turn out the way I expected. The darkest blue wicked, but most of the colors just sort of softened at the edges.

These shoes have a more tightly woven canvas, so that might have impeded the color blending.

After they dried, I tried dotting more of the darkest blue and applied more alcohol.

Better, but still not what I had in mind. I let them dry, rinsed, and let them dry again.

And then I took an opaque white pen and drew little spirals all over. That would have been perfect except that the white ink wasn't as opaque as I hoped it would be. So I then used a fine blue Prismacolor brush marker (alcohol base ink in that one too, so it won't wash out), and drew more spirals.

I can live with this- in fact I like it. It's not what I had in mind, but it's a learning process....

Tie Dye Canvas Shoes with Sharpies and Rubbing Alcohol!

You can use any Sharpie colors. You probably want to make sure that any colors that touch will blend properly. I was careful to ROYGBIV all of my colors. If you draw purple and orange together, you'll get blended brown (which you may want- I don't know your life). Same with red/green, blue/orange, and purple/green. 

 Any canvas shoes will work. White is nice, but not necessary. As long as the ink shows on the fabric, you can work with any color ink or base.

Draw. Make them match. Or not. Up to you.

Use a pipette or spray bottle to apply undiluted rubbing alcohol to the shoes. Sharpies have an alcohol-based ink, so the alcohol dilutes and blends the lines, and softens the edges. The colors will start blending almost immediately. It's fun to watch.

Left is before alcohol, right is after

Prettiest shoe insides ever.

Wear gloves

Let the ink cure for 24 hours, then rinse in cold water to get rid of any residual alcohol. Allow to dry.

Lace 'em up, and WOOT!

Sharpie ink is not water soluble, so my feet will not be tie-dyed if the shoes get wet.