How to make a tie-dye bouquet with chemistry

Discover color chromatography science and separate marker pigments with easy at-home materials. (Hint: It's like color mixing, but in reverse!)

What you need:
- Coffee filters
- Washable markers
- Water
- Cups
- Pipe cleaners

How to make coffee filter flowers:
1. Using a washable marker, draw a circle on a coffee filter about 1-2 inches from the center. It doesn’t have to be perfect, just make sure it’s a thick circle and packed full of ink.
2. Fold your coffee filter into a cone.
3. Fill a cup with a little bit of water, and then add your coffee filter so the tip without the ink touches the water.
4. Wait a few minutes, and you’ll see the ink start to rise up. When you like how it looks, take it out to dry.
5. Fold it into a flower shape, twist the end, and use a pipe cleaner to secure it and create a stem.
6. Make as many as you want for a colorful bouquet!

What’s going on?
Most markers use mixtures of several different chemicals to create their colors. This means that when the water climbs up the coffee filter, it pulls the ink mixture with it. Some of the chemicals are more hydrophilic than others, meaning they like the water more. These are pulled up quicker and appear at the top of the filter, while others that aren’t as hydrophilic are slower to rise.

If you use just one color on your filter, this will show the distinct chemicals. However, if you use multiple colors, the chemicals from one marker will separate and overlap with the colors from another, creating lots of color combos!

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