How to get rid of pen marks?

[Shileah]

Heya,

I have a couple of ponies with pen marks, and so far I haven't got the hang of removing them yet. I must be doing something wrong as I got the impression that it is totally easy for everyone except me to get them off a pony, haha

What I have tried so far:

Magic Eraser
Nail polish remover with acetone
Sunfading for a month
Peroxide bath, 3 days

And the result of all this...
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What am I doing wrong?

[ponyqueen]

Herm. Sunfading inside a peroxide bath, perhaps?

[Chelsea7]

Ugh, pen marks are so irritating...
I have a TE Sweet Stuff with this brown marker splotch that just will not quit, I have even boiled her in OxyClean!

I am going to try an internal peroxide boiling strategy on my pony next, I'll let you know the results

[Sweet_Stuff]

:following!:

Magic Eraser will just lighten pen marks, unfortunately...
Haven't tried using nail polish remover on ponies since I did on my Glow, and she's starting to get rock hard.. Can't use it anyway now due to my recent chemical sensitivity. 
Haven't tried the latter two... I'm sensitive to Oxyclean as well.

Hmm..I'll be happy to hear feedback and suggestions on this too!
 

[CarolSpain]

Last week I almost bought a lovely pony, lucky I saw the pen marks on her face.
The seller told me that marks will be removed with cream.
I didn't pay attention because I don't think the cream works.

I deleted some marks with alcohol.

[Sweet_Stuff]

Last week I almost bought a lovely pony, lucky I saw the pen marks on her face.
The seller told me that marks will be removed with cream.
I didn't pay attention because I don't think the cream works.

I deleted some marks with alcohol.

Yeah, the 'zit cream' thing doesn't really work, at least for me it didn't.. I tried it on some Strawberry Shortcake stuff. meh.

[Shileah]

Herm. Sunfading inside a peroxide bath, perhaps?

The Dancing Butterflies that I took the picture of for this thread had been in sunlight in her peroxide bath. I only tried it for a few days, so maybe leaving her exposed longer would help?

[Ianthe99]

Cover anything not affected by the ink and pop it in a sunny window. I might take a very long time, but it should fade.  With stuff like this, use a surface cleaner first, (Alcohol/magic eraser, etc) then do the sunfading bit. You have to watch out for certain white ponies though, as they will "sunburn" or turn brown.  There are some great tips here. http://www.mlppreservationproject.com/body.html

Also. The idea of sunfading inside a peroxide bath.. that can fade the symbols and hair. Another tip, acne cream can keep reacting with the plastic long after you remove it from the surface, and it's generally not recommended for certain body colors as it can leave white spots.

[Pheasant]

Last week I almost bought a lovely pony, lucky I saw the pen marks on her face.
The seller told me that marks will be removed with cream.
I didn't pay attention because I don't think the cream works.

I deleted some marks with alcohol.

Yeah, the 'zit cream' thing doesn't really work, at least for me it didn't.. I tried it on some Strawberry Shortcake stuff. meh.

I don't have anything helpful to add, just my own two cents:

The cream is very hit or miss - Neutrogena worked beautifully on a badly-stained NSS Cherries Jubilee I used to have, but on others it had no effect. Some collectors have accidentally bleached their ponies with it. I think the brand, amount of sun exposure, and ponies' colors all come into play, but it's such an inexact science that most collectors don't recommend using it.

[Mail Order Spike]

does the cream only work on flocking? Oh wait was it a so-soft cherries Jubilee? I keep forgetting that there was a non-so-soft one....

[Pheasant]

does the cream only work on flocking? Oh wait was it a so-soft cherries Jubilee? I keep forgetting that there was a non-so-soft one....

It was the non-so-soft version. I've never tried it on flocking, so I don't know if it will work on SS ponies.

[Chelsea7]

Last week I almost bought a lovely pony, lucky I saw the pen marks on her face.
The seller told me that marks will be removed with cream.
I didn't pay attention because I don't think the cream works.

I deleted some marks with alcohol.

Yeah, the 'zit cream' thing doesn't really work, at least for me it didn't.. I tried it on some Strawberry Shortcake stuff. meh.

I don't have anything helpful to add, just my own two cents:

The cream is very hit or miss - Neutrogena worked beautifully on a badly-stained NSS Cherries Jubilee I used to have, but on others it had no effect. Some collectors have accidentally bleached their ponies with it. I think the brand, amount of sun exposure, and ponies' colors all come into play, but it's such an inexact science that most collectors don't recommend using it.

Just out of curiosity, how long did you leave the cream on the pony? I might have to try this on my TE Sweet Stuff, she has an awful brown splotch covering her entire back..

[kasin]

I do a lot of sun fading and it normally takes several months to a year to really do its job. I do NOT like bleaching creams because they will continue to affect the pony long after you wash it off, if you must bleach, try toothpaste, though I don't think it will help that DB. If you have a mark that is not "soaked" into the plastic (for lack of a better way to say it) you can use a very very fine grit sand paper and sand off the marks. from your photo that *might* help the dark black marks on the inside of DB's raised foot, thought I think her best bet is a long vacation in a sunny window, probably 6 months to a year if it works at all.... be careful to cover her up well though because those symbols will fade if not covered!

Good luck! when you can get marks like that out it feels awesome!

[Pheasant]

Last week I almost bought a lovely pony, lucky I saw the pen marks on her face.
The seller told me that marks will be removed with cream.
I didn't pay attention because I don't think the cream works.

I deleted some marks with alcohol.

Yeah, the 'zit cream' thing doesn't really work, at least for me it didn't.. I tried it on some Strawberry Shortcake stuff. meh.

I don't have anything helpful to add, just my own two cents:

The cream is very hit or miss - Neutrogena worked beautifully on a badly-stained NSS Cherries Jubilee I used to have, but on others it had no effect. Some collectors have accidentally bleached their ponies with it. I think the brand, amount of sun exposure, and ponies' colors all come into play, but it's such an inexact science that most collectors don't recommend using it.

Just out of curiosity, how long did you leave the cream on the pony? I might have to try this on my TE Sweet Stuff, she has an awful brown splotch covering her entire back..

If she's a special pony to you, I recommend trying sunfading first, just in case the cream bleaches her. I left each application for about a week at a time, then wiped it off to check the results. It took about three weeks total before all spots were faded. The results vary from pony to pony; what worked harmlessly on Cherries Jubilee and my Sea Shimmer didn't work on my bait Lemon Drop.

(All test subjects were headed for the bait bin already. I had nothing to lose.)

I forgot to mention; the variety of cream was Neutrogena's On-The-Spot cream. Their all-natural one will have no effect.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

I would still say sunfading, but if you live in Europe, you need to wait until summer for best results!