Can Sharpie Take 130 Degree Heat?

Shayla

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A customer brought in an 11 x 13 of a saying written in Sharpie over watercolor on heavy cotton paper
and wants it inexpensively mounted. Does anyone here know what temperature Sharpie can take? If it
can stand 130 degrees, we might use black MountCor.
 
"Take" is kind of an arbitrary term. Even if the marker appears to look "OK" after mounting, it won't look that way for long - even with UV glass or acrylic.

Be sure to protect yourself by informing the client that Sharpie is fugitive and will fade from black to purple and then brown and then..........

Sharpie ink is also highly reactive and can change color due the what it is written on. I had an "issue" with a signed basketball jersey where the signature faded - despite being framed in a UV filtering box. At the lawsuit I had to defend, my expert witness testified that the signature might have faded even if the jersey was in a dark closet as there could have been a reaction from the marker and the dye in the jersey.

This is one of those damned if you do.....scenarios.

I'm pretty sure that 130 degrees is the way to go but you might want to look up Chris Pashke and confer.
 
Sharpie goes through the heat press... but it also fades with time and sunlight. Plus, the sharpie pens have an oil in them that sometimes bleeds out. I (once) saw the bleed line darken with heat. Sadly, we can't get people to stop using Sharpie pens to sign things.
 
I had to give the "Sharpie bad" speech today on a signed Eddie George jersey.
:cool: Rick (where's the coffee smilie when you need it?)
 
Why not try it on a similar test piece and see what happens?
 
Good idea, Ted. Thanks, all, for your responses. I give the 'Sharpie fades' speech to my customers, too,
and I have a Pigma pen in the gallery for such uses. This customer didn't know until it was too late.
 
Long ago I had a customer bring in a decorative (but original) piece that she assured me was all india ink and fine to go in the heat press. What she didn't tell me was that she had touched up places all over the design with a sharpie; the india stayed black and all of the sharpie touch ups turned reddish purple. (But that was at 180 degrees so maybe the color change won't be an issue at the lower temp)
 
What is the recommended "signing" tool vs. Sharpies? Usually things come to me already signed, but I'd like to have the info.
 
Jean, Pigma pens are considered permanent, and your local office supply store might have them. I think there are a few gel type pens that some Grumblers have recommended, too. Maybe they'll chime in. For wedding mats, I make sure to tell customers that the use of gel pens means we need a frame deep enough to have a spacer between the glass and mat. Although I recommend just Pigma pens, sometimes guests bring their own, and we wind up with silver and gold signatures.
 
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