Drawing on white surface with sharpies, clearing away dust?

[sparr]

I've got a white wall. I want to invite people to draw on it with sharpies (or paint markers, or bingo dobbers, or something vaguely similar to those things). I'll tie strings to a bunch of markers and hang them from the wall. This much I've done before at other events.

At BM, I expect that this is going to work less well as the wall gets coated in playa dust. I'd like to let contributors wipe off their section of the wall before they start drawing. My naive idea is to just hang some thin cloths up alongside the markers. Is there some obvious better solution that I might be overlooking?

[tamarakay]

Erasers.

[sparr]

Erasers.

As in chalkboard erasers? That's... clever. It hadn't occurred to me that playa dust would be fine enough for that to work.

[VultureChow]

It's basically talcum powder.

[FlyingMonkey]

If you haven't already made it (and why would you, there's plenty of time ) have you considered chalkboard paint & a bucket of colored chalk? The dust really doesn't detract from it too much & cleans up with a wet rag.

Of course some would consider the chalk dust to be MOOP.

Just throwing that out as an option.

[AntiM]

A white board and a black board, side by side?

[MikeGyver]

Saw something similar 2013 but they didnt have anything to clean the board off or even seem to need anything. You can get car dusters fairly cheap if you want something that will clear a large space fairly quickly.

[delle]

Dollar store microfibre clothes might do the trick too.

[tamarakay]

Erasers.

As in chalkboard erasers? That's... clever. It hadn't occurred to me that playa dust would be fine enough for that to work.

glad to help. Looks like our mural wall isn't going to make it so happy this is happening.

[lucky420]

yes tk but we have the whiteboard to harass, i mean entertain, people with

[sparr]

If you haven't already made it (and why would you, there's plenty of time ) have you considered chalkboard paint & a bucket of colored chalk? The dust really doesn't detract from it too much & cleans up with a wet rag.

Neat idea, but I want it to be more permanent than chalk would be (and less permanent than the chalkboard paint would be). The wall in question will be one or more sides of my vehicle.

[GreyCoyote]

The wall in question will be one or more sides of my vehicle.

Perfect! I'll bring lots of spray paint.... What kind of car?

[AntiM]

Playa dust may be silky soft, but it does make a fine polishing grit ... your car's paint job will never be the same if the points of markers drag across it all day long.

[gaminwench]

I found that, even with dry erase markers, it's been almost impossible to remove stuff from a white board after the playa.
I suspect the ink just bakes right into the surface and then the dust sets it.
(I have a white board from 2004 that still has the week's activities on it; they're permanent.)

Since you're doing this on metal, there are unknown variables.
I would definitely not use sharpies.

[LowePro]

A cleaning duster? Looks like it already has a loop in the handle to tie to a long string. IMHO it would work to sweep enough dust off the surface to let people write/paint.

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[Ratty]

Gaminwench, Did you try acetone or nail polish remover, (the acetone kind)? Under normal circumstances it even removes Sharpie marks.

[FlyingMonkey]

I failed to mention that the lower half of my bus is painted with chalkboard paint & it works well & got a lot of use in 2012 (last time we took it). Artists would draw on it, & it doubled as a local neighborhood bulletin board for messages.

[AntiM]

Gaminwench, Did you try acetone or nail polish remover, (the acetone kind)? Under normal circumstances it even removes Sharpie marks.

So do those weird white "magic eraser" sponges.

[caffeineslinger]

Sharpies can also be removed from a dry erase board by writing over it with a dry erase marker and then wiping as normal.

[gaminwench]

I admit that I've become attached to the white board as is.

Those things may very well work, but I kinda like pulling the board out once in a while and remembering that specific week's activities on the playa .

I tried a bunch of different things, at the time, to remove; but can't recall any specifics.

[FIGJAM]

"The White Board Diary."

[maladroit]

Gaminwench, Did you try acetone or nail polish remover, (the acetone kind)? Under normal circumstances it even removes Sharpie marks.

So do those weird white "magic eraser" sponges.

Those are also a fine grit abrasive and should NOT be used on a car's paint.