Let’s talk about bleach pens. Aren’t they one of the handiest home cleaning helpers? I mean, want your grout spick and span? Whip out the bleach pen. Spot clean a white area on a shirt? Bleach pen. Add some designs to your plain jane t-shirts? Hellooooo bleach pen. And what’s even better than a bleach pen? A homemade bleach pen. (And also, how many times can I say the word bleach pen in one paragraph?) Bam.
The best part is, making your own is super simple and only requires 3 ingredients. Seriously, this is as easy as its gets.
Ingredients for Homemade Bleach Pen
1 cup cold water
5 tablespoons cornstarch
5 tablespoons regular bleach
Directions for Making Homemade Bleach Pen
Mix cold water and cornstarch together in a medium sized saucepan. It’s important that the water is cold so that the cornstarch doesn’t cause any lumps in the gel. Over medium high heat, stir the mixture continuously until it is very thick and pasty. Remove from heat and let cool completely.
You can see what the gel should look like at this point below.
Add the bleach to the gel and blend well. Carefully pour the gel mixture into container of choice. I have a bunch of these clear condiment bottles from Walmart that work great. An empty glue bottle would be even better if you need the nozzle to be a tad smaller.
When working with bleach, it’s always a good idea to wear gloves to protect hands, and clothing that you’re not too worried about in case of any splashing.
Use in the same way you would use a regular gel bleach pen. I made my version with regular strength bleach, so make sure to compensate if you are using an extra strength formula.
Below, you can see how I used it to take out a stubborn stain in my favorite white pants. Seriously, before this I had tried adding bleach to the wash cycle, but it still didn’t take the stain out. Whipped out this gel pen, and whalah! All things white again.
I also wanted to show you the consistency of the gel and the bleach power this homemade bleach pen has.
Pretty amazing, right?
Water: Free
Cornstarch: $0.14
Bleach: $0.11Total Price for Homemade Bleach Pen: $0.25
The store bought version costs about $3 or more, so our version is 92% cheaper!! Isn’t that the best? It also took little to no time to make. This homemade hack is totally worth it!
Instructions
Recipe Notes
When working with bleach, it’s always a good idea to wear gloves to protect hands, and clothing that you're not too worried about in case of any splashing.
Use in the same way you would use a regular gel bleach pen. I made my version with regular strength bleach, so make sure to compensate if you are using an extra strength formula.
If you love this post, be sure to check out some of my other homemade laundry recipes below:
Homemade Liquid Fabric Softener Recipe
Homemade Fabric Softener Crystals Recipe
Homemade Laundry Detergent Recipe
DIY Recipe for Liquid Laundry Detergent
What are your favorite ways to use bleach pens? Have you tried a homemade version? I’d love to hear about it!
How do you use it? I’ve had no experience with store-bought bleach pens, so don’t really know. Thanks
It is just like bleach except for you can put it on a concentrated stain and it lifts out. I like to add them to a stain, let it sit for about five minutes and then rinse it out. Remember to test your fabric to make sure it won’t bleach it the color out. This pen works great for designs on clothes, too!
I can’t wait to try this out! I have some serious grout issues in our new home on the entry way floor that needs some elbow grease and bleach! Fantastic tip on the glue bottle…easier to “lock” the top that way. BTW, love your dry laundry soap!! I have been able to eek out a year with just one batch…there is only 3 of us! The only downside is I give it away so much for family/friends to test that I had to make a separate batch as not mess up my tracking! I know I am a nerd 🙂
So glad you like it! I know the glue bottle is the best!
It seems to me that maybe this would work for a gel pens, that you are going to use immediately @.25 cents that you could do a half a cup of water and 2.5 tablespoon of the corn starch and bleach…and even cheaper, so if the gel is not like you want after using for a design take the left over and use on the grout!! Use it and make a new batch!!! That would be the items for bleaching a design. Make the full amount for grout and make more as needed. Not that I’m trying to step on toes .12 cents sorry too tired to do the math it’s still cheaper than a 3 to 4 dollar gel pen
Awesome! Where I live bleach pens cost $4 and I always grouse about paying for them and then don’t want to use them too much.
This idea will save me some serious $$$ and maybe my stupid white kitchen counter grout will finally be white!
Thanks for this awesome post!
I’ve done this and it works but the gel ends up liquifying over time so I would recommend not making big batches. I made some this morning for a kids craft project and made it thicker than normal trying to compensate for the gel re-liquifying and even with some extra thick bleach gel the “pens” liquified within about 2 hours and were difficult to work with. Probably fine for stain treating but if you need to draw with it, it’s definitely best to wait until right before you need the pens.
I wonder it you made it thinner instead of thicker. It may have opposite reaction? What was your process to make it thicker? I’m think to make thicker n stay thick maybe use less water and way less bleach? Or less water a little more starch and what makes it jelly like is the bleach, right, maybe a little more bleach too? Hmmmm
I love the idea of using this homemade bleach paint! Really useful idea that will definitely make it easy to clean all these stains! Thanks!
You are so welcome!
I have just started experimenting with “printing” on solid color cotton fabric with bleach pens. I draw designs on the fabric with a bleach pen and then neutralize the bleach when the bleaching process has reached the level I want. After purchasing the first pen, I swore I would never buy another expensive bleach pen again. I’ve been busy with other projects until now but thinking about the obvious ways to make my own and was going to try making it with cornstarch later today. While eating lunch, I googled a diy recipe and “voila!” here you are! I will likely make mine a tad thicker for the application I’m using it for but so glad I’m skipping the “trial and error” phase- thank you for sharing and having the same “diy mindset” that I live by.
Made this for painting designs on shirts, and it’s great for the first hour or so, but the gel slowly get more and more loose and liquid till it’s no longer a gel at all, and just a middle to thin liquid. It’s about the same thickness as the Precision Pour Clorox gel… and they both want to spread and drip and make blobs. This morning, the bag I put it in is just a cloudy liquid. And the batch I made two nights ago longer bleaches anything.
Any suggestions?
I read through a few of the comments and saw that several where having trouble with the consistency of the gel. I’m a professional cook and mixing cornstarch and water together to be used as a thickening agent is what we refer to as a slurry. Slurries should actually be equal parts water and cornstarch and, in order for a slurry to properly thicken a liquid, it must boil on the stove. I don’t know exactly how this would work considering the liquid needed to be thickened is bleach. But in theory, you’d add the slurry to the bleach on the stovetop and boil until desired consistency, adding more slurry or bleach as needed. I don’t know if boiling bleach would damage your pans or change the chemical makeup or something. All in all though, the slurry is being used wrong and that’s why the gel looses its consistency over time.
I am having the same problem and was wondering if a pro chef could figure out how to make this work. I tried boiling the bleach with the slurry. The consistency is perfect for drawing on fabric however it won’t bleach a sample of the same fabric that I have previously tested other methods on and found to be successful. If you have any other ideas or info please let us know. I would love to perfect this.
It seems to me that maybe this would work for a gel pens, that you are going to use immediately @.25 cents that you could do a half a cup of water and 2.5 tablespoon of the corn starch and bleach…and even cheaper, so if the gel is not like you want after using for a design take the left over and use on the grout!! Use it and make a new batch!!! That would be the items for bleaching a design. Make the full amount for grout and make more as needed. Not that I’m trying to step on toes .12 cents sorry too tired to do the math it’s still cheaper than a 3 to 4 dollar gel pen
I just found this pin and I can’t wait to try it. I’ve been looking for weeks for a bleach pen and my local stores either stopped carrying them or sold out. Now I can stop searching and save money. Bonus: I already have all three of these ingredients at home!
I used about 6 bleach pens to clean grout in my floor tiles. Pipe down grout lines, let set about 5 mins. Use wet brush to clean. Unbelievable difference…however…was extremely expensive…so….I used the formula above and it’s perfect. I’ll never buy another pen. The squirter bottles are $.98 at walmart. Another formula had dish soap…took forever to get it off the floor..fyi. thanx
Going to try this soon since I have 3 kids with white school shirts! I was going to get one of those condiment bottles from Walmart, but also wanted to be able to have an adjustable flow for the gel. Solution: my sriracha bottle. The one I had is from Aldi, and the label was just a big sticker. So now I have a clear bottle with an adjustable flow for my bleach gel. I’ll play around with the mixture and see if I can get it to stay a gel for longer than a few hours because I don’t want to have to make a new batch every time I need it. I’ll keep you posted!
I really wouldn’t recommend boiling bleach, other than if you’re going to use a bit to clean water for drinking in a survival situation. You know how bad that stuff smells? Now imagine it heated up, and you having to stand over it, stirring it constantly! I’m pretty sure that your eyes would suffer as would your respiratory system.
This sounds like a great idea – but I think I would probably mix it up just before using it.
I don’t know if anyone has ever thickened a stew or any food dish with cornstarch, but if you have leftovers, generally speaking, the next day they will be….um….runny, rather than thick. So it’s not anything having to do with bleach or what you’re doing. Cornstarch just works that way. It’s chemistry.
I wonder if a beach pen could be made using flour thickener???? Hm…..
I guess people are missing the part where it says to add the bleach AFTER the mixture has cooled down. By the way, this worked perfectly for my black and white floral top. There was a stain that wouldn’t come out on a small area of the white part. I squeezed some on it and left for 15 mins and it was gone, without spreading onto the black floral print. Awesome!
I just found your Pin for this blog, looking for Tie Dye ideas. Thank you, you just gave me a few ideas.
Love from South Africa
I made mine but it came out lumpy. What did I do wrong? Wash gonna draw with it but it clogs the glue bottle.
Thanks
I loved the idea. Followed the recipe to the letter. I tested it on a practice fabric for art purposes. It worked just ok. But then it didn’t work at all. I’ll try it on some floor stains before I throw it out, but I’m not expecting it to work.
Very disappointing.
If use to write on a tee shirt for example THEN what do you do? Let it dry or what? Wouldn’t it just get all over what you are working on, not just where on purpose? I am confused?!