making a personilzation go away

[milkit1]

I have a glossy card that is autographed that I'm wanting (hoping) to remove the personilzation. Short of cutting it off has anyone ever tried this?

[canjond]

Originally Posted by milkit1

I have a glossy card that is autographed that I'm wanting (hoping) to remove the personilzation. Short of cutting it off has anyone ever tried this?

What type of pen is it signed with?

[HOFautosChris]

White Sanford photo eraser

[milkit1]

Its signed in black sharpie.

[Duluth Eskimo]

There are a few solutions that will remove Sharpie from a glossy surface. You can use many things, but one of the best is called Pec-12 which is a archival photo emulsion cleaner. Bascially meaning that is what it's made for. One thing it will not do is remove scratches or indentations made by the pen or sharpie fiber tip.

[canjond]

Originally Posted by Duluth Eskimo

There are a few solutions that will remove Sharpie from a glossy surface. You can use many things, but one of the best is called Pec-12 which is a archival photo emulsion cleaner. Bascially meaning that is what it's made for. One thing it will not do is remove scratches or indentations made by the pen or sharpie fiber tip.

Totally agree. Pec-12 is great. One other thing to note is that you will often see a faint remnant of the writing even after removing. It's usually only visible when tipping the surface into the light.

[milkit1]

Thanks guys! I am working on a monty pythons flying circus autographed set and just got michael palin back personalized. The cards are pretty glossy but not sure if they are glossy enough.

[canjond]

Originally Posted by milkit1

Thanks guys! I am working on a monty pythons flying circus autographed set and just got michael palin back personalized. The cards are pretty glossy but not sure if they are glossy enough.

Try it first on a spare card?

[thecatspajamas]

Something else to try is marking over the personlization with a black dry erase marker, then wiping the whole thing off. Seeing this thread reminded me of someone mentioning this previously, but I never actually tried it until just now. I took out a photo I care nothing about, made a big bold mark in the white margin with a black sharpie, let it dry, wiped my finger across to make sure, rubbed it with a cloth (no effect), took out a black dry erase marker, tried the marker first by itself on the photo beside the mark (wiped clean), then colored over the sharpie mark with dry erase marker making several passes so that it was covered completely and "thickly", took the same cloth and wiped it clean away. You would never know the sharpie mark was there. Amazing! And I was pretty skeptical about this method when I first saw it.

I don't know if there is a "time limit" as to how soon you have to do this to be able to remove it cleanly, but I'm on the hunt for an older low-value sharpie signature to try it out on now.

[thecatspajamas]

Just removed a long-present "Best Wishes" from this Paul Mitchell signed photo. I'm not sure how long the signature has been on there, but I've had the collection this came out of for at least a year, and don't know how long before I purchased it the previous owner got it signed.

As shown below, the original signature was in blue sharpie. I covered over "Best" with blue dry erase marker, wiped it away, took another scan to show in-progress, then removed "Wishes" as well. No residue, and no indications in reflected light that the "Best Wishes" was ever there.

This was done on a modern glossy, matte-finish photo. I did test it on a couple of other materials as well, including a semi-gloss card stock, and photo paper like you would run through your printer, and in both cases the dry erase failed to wipe off on its own, let alone take any sharpie with it. So I would caution you to use this method on full-gloss surfaces only, and test it before you risk anything permanent. Also, it probably goes without saying, but be sure to wipe AWAY from whatever writing you are trying to preserve.

[dgo71]

I think the dry erase trick works on photos only. Not 100% on that as I've never tried on cards. For glossy cards, an alcohol prep pad works fine, just be wary of the "excess" alcohol from the pad, especially if the inscription is close to the signature. Additionally, be careful not to spread the ink to the sides of the card. The sides are NOT coated with the gloss and the ink/alcohol combo will bleed into the edge and this cannot be removed.

[thecatspajamas]

Tried it with a glossy card and it worked. Again, I've had this signed card for at least a year, and don't know how long before that it was signed. I feel pretty confident at this point that this method would work with any "glossy" surface where the sharpie ink sits and dries on the surface rather than soaking into the substrate.

It's probably also worth noting that in this case, after the first wipe-off, a faint haze and much lighter number remained, but after a second application of dry-erase ink, the haze and remaining number came off cleanly.

[milkit1]

Wow lance! Great work! I can't tell if these mo ty python cards are full gloss but I'm going to try one tonight. Ill keep ya posted

[thecatspajamas]

As Jon suggested, just be sure to try it on a spare card first. If the dry erase just "sorta" wipes off, don't count on being able to scrub it enough to get it off. The ones that I tested, if it worked, the dry erase would wipe off cleanly and easily.

[milkit1]

Did you literally mark over what you wanted to erase or trace it?

[thecatspajamas]

Just colored over the entire area I wanted to "erase" with the dry erase marker. I suppose you could also trace what you wanted to erase with it, but if it's all wiping off cleanly anyway, no need to be that careful.

In the sequence of 3 scans above, the first shows the unaltered "19" below the signature, second scan is with dry erase marker completely covering the "19" (but not the signature area), and the third is after wiping the dry erase marker blob (with sharpie "19" underneath) off completely. The darker "blob" in the middle of the dry erase blob in the central image is where the dry erase ink "pooled" because I was making such a thick layer and had to allow a few extra seconds for that portion to dry. None of the "19" was visible through the dry erase layer after I applied it.

[stewbacca]

Been doing this in the classroom for years. Someone would accidentally mark our whiteboards with permanent marker(maybe a substitute teacher or unassuming student) and I would come back and the students told me how the whiteboard was ruined and I would grab the closest dry erase marker, basically get the permanent ink "wet" and wipe it right off.

[milkit1]

Success! I tried the dry erase marker. It took a bit of work maybe four applications. You can see in the forth picture where it got rid of most but still left a trace of the "to". So then I took some fingernail polish remover on it and it took the rest right off! I did notice the polish does take a bit of the gloss with it but man what a difference! Ill post the real deal when I'm done. Thanks a lot everyone!20130327_122009.jpg

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[milkit1]

Ok here we go this came out incredible! Thanks so much everyone! Oddly it seems like neither the dry erase marker or the polish remover worked solely on its own but together they worked brilliantly! 20130327_131745.jpg

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[milkit1]

Oh and here is the original card20130327_141821.jpg

[Scott Garner]

This may be a stupid question, but where can you purchase Dry Erase?
Thanks!

[39special]

Alot of places have them.Staples,Walmart,Target......

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by 39special

Alot of places have them.Staples,Walmart,Target......

Thanks Steve!

[jgmp123]

They so now have the "Magic Erasers" that can be purchased. They can be found in household cleaning aisles. They work great on bats, helmets, etc.