[krymson]

Looking into making some liquid chalk for my own use and possibly to sell locally - Taiwan is super humid and the stuff is essential if you want your skin to stay together and stay dry for more than a minute.

Everyone says just add alcohol to block chalk and mix it up - voila but i dont think its so simple.

If it was -- companies wouldn't add pine rosin and all that nonsense in to their mixtures.

 I have a bunch of block chalk and just bought some 95% ethanol from the drugstore, super keen to give it a shot.

Here are the factors that seem to matter from some googling:
-concentration of alcohol - Rubbing alchohol is 70%, but is this ideal for liquid chalk?
-colophony  - most people say nay, but i do see(and smell!) some level of it in most commercial mixtures. Would a tiny bit(1%) be helpful?
-detergent!? - this is used to reduce stickiness of colophony
-Grain of the chalk - using a screen to grind the chalk may yield better consistency
-ratio of alcohol to chalk. - this may depend on your preference

Anyways I'm gonna mix up a few batches and see how it goes but would be keen to hear from anyone who has tried doing this themselves as well.

[tomtom]

Maybe something sticky? (instead of rosin) - possibly even a little sugar?

[krymson]

Maybe something sticky? (instead of rosin) - possibly even a little sugar?

I suppose a refreshing liquid chalk could be a good selling point.

[tomtom]

Perfect! Maybe Sprite (clear)

[i.munro]

I find ethanol feels like it works  really well on its own if you put it in a spray bottle. I suspect any other ingredients are marketing.

[rodma]

I find ethanol feels like it works  really well on its own if you put it in a spray bottle. I suspect any other ingredients are marketing.

I munro. Taking the chalk out of liquid chalk since 2008 

[i.munro]

And the perfume, thickener....

[krymson]

Using rubbing alcohol and a good amount of standard block chalk I've created a very very chalky mixture. Just one "drop" of this stuff is quite enough to cover both hands.

The result is mixed and I can see why additives are used.

The Good
-Dries out the skin very effectively, much more effectively than commercial mixtures. In humid weather it's a godsend.
-Chalk stays on almost as well as commercial stuff, yet washes off easier

The Bad
-It is so effective that it needs to be used frugally, only applied when and where the skin is sweaty or greasy. Overusing it will seriously dry out your skin.
-Consistency isn't as great as commercial mixtures -- comes out like a curry, rather than a cream.
-Because of above, needs to be more thoroughly shaked than commercial stuff.


All in all I'm very glad I made this batch - it does exactly what i want - dries out my skin for humid conditions, but the annoyances prevent it from being commercially viable.

[i.munro]

Isn't rubbing alcohol methanol? If so you could try Ethanol I suspect it won't be so harsh.

[Baldy]

could you provide the 'recipe'?

[krymson]

Not completely sure you really want to use this  concentration since the consistency of this first batch is not ideal but it was perhaps 120mL rubbing alcohol to half a block of the white stuff.
I found that using more than that made things way too runny for my liking.

If you make it let me know how it goes!

[GCW]

I thought this was going to be about John Petrucci.