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Touching up scratches on your graphics.

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Andy D

Active Member
We all have to touch up scratches, dust spots, etc. from time to time.
What's your go to? I typically use permanent markers but was thinking about
investing in an assortment of paint pens.

BTW, my tip to fill in a white scratch is: You won't ever match it perfectly, so leave
it 2-3 shades lighter, the idea is to make it so the white spot doesn't jump out
& if you make it darker it will stick out like a sore thumb.
 
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SheBeau

New Member
Glad you brought this up. I’ve been using a decade+ old set of Prismacolor fine and chisel tip markers. I’ve never much needed the fine tip... and honestly, most are all dry now. I’m in the market too for a useful set. Of course I fix small imperfections on prints but they’re used a lot for edge coloring so printed PVC panels don’t have a blatant white edge showing where they tile together. I’m thinking a brush/chisel dual tip set would be best but I can’t decide on a brand!
 
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SheBeau

New Member
Don’t I wish!
I’m in the Tradeshow business and (many of) our graphics are walls, seen close up. Clients are very particular about their corp. colors so I need to be able fake virtually any PMS color. When something gets damaged, I have to fix it without making it worse.
 
C

ColorCrest

All around shop helper.
Look for...

Marshall Retouching Spot-All Kit 4B,
Berg Retouching Kit for Color Prints - 10 Colors, 1 Oz. each,
Marshall Retouching Modern Pencil Set,
PEERLESS-COLOR Dry Spot Retouching Dye Sheet Set for Black & White Prints - 5 Color,
and other options from photography / camera retailers such as B&H in New York.

It's also possible to use ink remnants from the actual printer.

Application requires some finesse. Using only grays will suffice a great deal of the time even when spotting colors. A "pin-point" fill technique is most often used as opposed to a brush or pencil stroke.
 
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IsItFasst

New Member
Stay away from "Super Markers" (I got on Amazon). They were cheap and had a lot of colors but didn't work at all on my eco-sol prints and seemed too dry. I went back and bought the assorted Sharpie brand with the chisel tip since those seem to have worked best throughout the years.
 
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OADesign

New Member
We keep the rainbow pack of sharpies close at hand just for this reason. Do not have to match exactly. As long as it isn't stark white, the eye is not drawn to the flaw.
 
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Andy D

Active Member
Does nobody use paint pens like these?
upload_2019-5-9_15-2-15.png
 

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Andy D

Active Member
burgmurk said:
Those are just a vaporware scam, aren't they? i love the idea can't see it being possible to manufacture...
Click to expand...

Now that I think about it, it does seem pretty fantastical...and it's not on Amazon.
Thanks for crushing my dreams Burg :(
 
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Phil Swanson

Premium Subscriber
I have also printed a square of the color I need to repair and cut a thin strip to cover a scratch. You can also use a Sharpie to color the white edge to make it less visible.
 
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Reveal1

New Member
Great idea but vaporware - From 2016 Mashable article on Scribble Pen: https://mashable.com/2016/02/28/scribble-pen/

"The Scribble Pen launched as a Kickstarter project in 2014 and received $366,566 after asking for $100,00. The project, however, was canceled by Kickstarter after Scribble (the company) failed to show details on how the Pen worked and produce a working prototype; backers were never refunded. Scribble then moved the project to Tilt, another crowdfunding website, and after raising $227,540, it also was canceled, but backers were reportedly refunded.

After two failed crowdfunding campaigns, the company's now selling the Pens directly to customers on its website. How well do the Scribble Pens even work? Who really knows."
 
gabagoo

gabagoo

New Member
After initially reading this post I took some 3 ml vinyl and I used 8 different sharpies and made boxes and filled them in. One side I applied a 3ml laminate and then stuck the decal on my garbage bin which faces south. That was July 30th. Within a few days incredible amount of fading on both sides, and now almost 2 weeks in, half the colours laminated are almost pure white, the ones remaining are faded bad including black. Might be best to reprint anything going outside over using Sharpies
 
ddarlak

ddarlak

Go Bills!
gabagoo said:
After initially reading this post I took some 3 ml vinyl and I used 8 different sharpies and made boxes and filled them in. One side I applied a 3ml laminate and then stuck the decal on my garbage bin which faces south. That was July 30th. Within a few days incredible amount of fading on both sides, and now almost 2 weeks in, half the colours laminated are almost pure white, the ones remaining are faded bad including black. Might be best to reprint anything going outside over using Sharpies
Click to expand...

must be the Canadian markers....


j/k


I only touch up temporary graphics, anything outside would not get the marker treatment.
 
Baz

Baz

New Member
The thing with using markers is ... You just want it to look good when the customer receives the sign.
A couple of weeks later it doesn't matter anymore. A fine dusting of road dirt will cover everything evenly.
 
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