I have an 8' Shakespeare Wonderod that I am in the process of restoring to fishability. So far, I have stripped off the old rod finish, refinished with two coats of Permagloss (which turned out great), and wrapped on new guides. I wanted to do an inscription in red on the white blank, so I got some good quality gel ink pens (having had good luck with this medium before, on factory-finished graphite blanks), and proceeded to inscribe. In the past, I've always coated hand-lettered inscriptions with artist's spray fixative before applying epoxy. However, when I went to apply the fixative this time, my pretty red inscription started to run and bleed all over the place. The pens were made by Pilot, I forget the specific model, but they came in a 5-pack with red, green, blue, purple and black and (the reason I chose them) a micro-fine 0.4mm point. Does anyone know why this happened, and how I can prevent it? I had let the ink dry for at least an hour prior to spraying the fixative; perhaps a longer drying time? I'd really like to use these pens, but if the ink can't maintain its integrity in the face of spray fixative, I'm guessing it wouldn't fare too well against epoxy or Permagloss, either. Any helpful thoughts would be appreciated.

I use these pens
What I do after writing is heat several times with a hair dryer to make sure it is dry
Sounds like the ink was still wet
Also maybe to wet a first coat of fixative

Bill - willierods.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/13/2012 11:33AM by bill boettcher.

That's a good idea Bill. I was hoping that it was something as simple as just letting the ink dry more thoroughly. Thanks!

Just a thought here but I painted a lure recently and wanted to coat with a clear finish over the paint. My finish was a spray lacquer type. However as soon as I sprayed it the paint began bubbling. What I eventually figured out was the can was pretty low and what was left was pretty much pure solvent. If the can is pretty low that may be the problem. Another thing to try is to put down a piece of the shiny clear scotch tape and write on that. You can't see the tape after finish is applied and it may dry better on the tape.

Bryon,
Reletter the rod.
Then, apply an additional coat of finish over the lettering.
But, when doing the coating, do NOT brush any of the coating where the inscription is located. Use just enough finish to nicely coat, without excess flowing and do not brush where the finish was located. You should be good to go.

If you brush a finish over an inscription, you risk blurring the inscription. but if you flow on a nice thin coat of finish over the inscription, without any additional material over the inscription; you sould be good to go.

Roger

Andrew

Sounds like you painted with enamel and then the lacquer was to hot for it Thus the bubbling

Bill - willierods.com