Restoration Problem: Sharpie

[telelle_wings]

So I have a SS Cupcake that I've had to deflock since her flocking was terrible and coming off anyway but underneath she has three blue sharpie marks. Unfortunately I'm guessing they have been there a while since they look like they have bled a little. I've put her in oxyclean, tried magic eraser, she's now in the window in the hopes that maybe they will sun-fade out.

I also have some really really sad lil litters that I got off of ebay around 10 years ago that someone put paw cutie marks (a few collars too) on with sharpie. The really sad part is that the entire pink and white nursery family Scrub-a-Dub Spaniels were in this lot and only one of the puppies made it out without getting sharpie marks.  

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I am attempting to sunfade the adults and they are now wrapped up and look like mini baked potatoes since I covered them with aluminum foil.

Will sun fading work? Is there anything else I can do? I at one point even painted over the marks on the babies but the paint eventually came off and I didn't match the color very well on some of them.

*bumped over to the corral for you*  PL



EDIT 11/19/2014: Current Status:

I haven't completely cleaned up the white paint but you can see the dramatic results.

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[Icecrystalline]

To be honest, I don't mean to be a downer, but the puppies look like years of ink staining has occurred, and it would be pretty near impossible to reverse. Sun fading would lighten it, but not necessarily remove it completely. I'd give it a go, but I wouldn't expect complete removal.

Good luck!

[telelle_wings]

Yup, years and years and years. I don't remember how much bleeding they already had when I got them but I imagine they already had some. One of the interesting things I noticed is that the marks on the pink cat with the white stripes has bled so much that it's almost gone. O.o

I don't have high hopes on getting the marks to go completely away but any sort of improvement would be nice.

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Post Merge: June 25, 2014, 10:43:32 AM

I just took a new photo of her. She was one that had a collar. You can just see the shadows of the marks now.

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I guess this weird bleeding/fading gives me some hope.

[Griffin]

I'm not an expert when it comes to restoration questions but I'm afraid sunfading may be the only way to go. Sometimes it works wonders, though. I'm actually impressed by the results you already got with the sitting kitty! 

I think I'll bump this over to OT for you, maybe someone over there will be able to offer you further ideas.

[kaoskat]

On the contrary I have removed years and years of staining completely with sunfading, but it can take a very long time.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Doesn't hurt to try!  I'm with KaosKat on this one.  I've put ponies out for years in a window, and they finally sunfaded.  I forgot about one and she spent the winter under the snow!  She sunfaded just fine eventually.  If she lives in the southern US and I'm up here in Canada, and we've had similar results, there isn't much difference for UV concentration for sunfading; sometimes it just takes a much greater period of exposure!  Looks like you are a bit closer to me, but I'd still give it a try despite the tendency to have overcast weather.  Actually sometimes that is better because you can keep a closer eye on them - overdoing them doesn't take long! 

[Cwk123]

Try Mr. Clean magic eraser...it got sharpie marker off a pony I found at a thrift store once!

[telelle_wings]

Ok, so this is kinda amazing. I put these in the window the day or the day after I posted this thread and they've been in the sun maybe a month. I had to pack them up for a move across town. I took them out of their box yesterday and was kinda shocked. Sun fading was the ticket for these and that blasted sharpie.

You won't believe this:

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Isn't that just amazing?!

Remember, this is what they looked like:

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[kakenterprise]

I'm sorry but I had a good laugh, someone loved them enough to give each one a cutie mark.

Glad to see that the sun fading is working!!

[telelle_wings]

I'm sorry but I had a good laugh, someone loved them enough to give each one a cutie mark.

Glad to see that the sun fading is working!!

Heh, no worries. I like to imagine an adult let their kid play with them and caught them in mid-cutie mark creation since there were a few that didn't get marked. Can you imagine? lol

[kakenterprise]

I can definitely see that and at least they weren't tossed!!

I was never that way with toys but my mom left the address book out when I was little.  I took a pen to every page I could ...

[SpookyTrees]

That's pretty awesome! Will you keep going with them? I've had a sharpied Gusty in the window for about 2?weeks now and I definitely see some fading and also whitening going on. Here's hoping!

[otocolobus_manul]

A while back I got a baby Honoloulou who'd been badly marked up by ballpoint pen. My usual methods did nothing, but the pen came almost clean off after i used clearisil and left her in the sun for a few hours. I'm not sure how well it would work on flocking, but maybe you could look it up or try?

[telelle_wings]

That's pretty awesome! Will you keep going with them? I've had a sharpied Gusty in the window for about 2?weeks now and I definitely see some fading and also whitening going on. Here's hoping!

I'm going to try to get it all to fade out. Good luck with Gusty, she's one of my all time favorites. Feel free to post photos if you like.

[SpookyTrees]

That's pretty awesome! Will you keep going with them? I've had a sharpied Gusty in the window for about 2?weeks now and I definitely see some fading and also whitening going on. Here's hoping!

I'm going to try to get it all to fade out. Good luck with Gusty, she's one of my all time favorites. Feel free to post photos if you like.

Thank you I will! I took a before shot and she looks all scary with her painted symbols, eyes, and cheeks she is one of my faves as well!