Testing air erasable markers – a clear winner and a clear loser
NOTE: I have an update to my thoughts on air erasable pens here.
I’ve been slogging away on my blue silk quilt. My fills will all be grid-based designs, which means they must be marked. I looked at the previously stitched grid (wrote about it here) in better light and liked it after all! I decided to keep it. I am currently working clamshells:
Oh. So. Tedious to mark. The quilt top is all silk with cotton backing and wool batting. There are known silk bleeders in the mix. I cannot ever wet this quilt.
It is glooooorious in real life – the sheen of the dupioni is fabulous on those clamshells!
Because of those bleeding silks, the only reasonable marking choice is an air erasable marker. (Please, no recommendations on other methods or markers). I am not a big fan of air erasables, but sometimes it’s the only logical choice.
But air erasable markers can fade quickly! This entire quilt must be marked and I am NOT going to put down marks and then re-mark because they have faded. I asked on FB if anyone knew which erasable marker lasted the longest and no one knew. So I did my own test.
I ordered markers from Amazon. I did this to make sure that all the markers presumably were fresh. I tried 5 markers: Dritz, Marvy, Leonis, Sewline and a real Hail Mary from Amazon, a brand I never heard of,
“made in Dongguan”, Zzadgcr, (yes, I spelled that correctly). Here they are at the start:
Sewline gave the thinnest line, all others were about the same thickness of line. This was Th, July 11, in my home, ac on, and humidity holding steady at about 42%.
Aaaaand here we are 3 days later. I was surprised; all but one held that long:
Sewline is the clear loser. As I watched them fade, Sewline began to fade right away.
Just for grins, I tried it again. I thought maybe I didn’t give the same pressure and contact with each one. I carefully gave each the same treatment:
This is after a few hours. The Sewline just isn’t cutting it. BUT that dog gone silly Amazon pick is by far the best. And for $8.99 you get 6 colors!
Clearly the Amazon outlier is by far the best and the Sewline did not hold the mark well at all. The rest were all in the middle. The Amazon marker from “Dongguan”? That is a city in China. So who’d a thunk, the Made in China cheap markers from Amazon are the best.
Interesting aside that many don’t know: you can water erase the air erasable pens if you wish. And yes, there are some erasables that come with an eraser.
I won’t be sending a newsletter this Saturday and no blog post next week. See you on the other side!
I’ll be linking up this week’s post:
Nina-Marie’s Off the Wall Friday
Found ‘em! I’ll have to give them a try. Thanks!
Absolutely shocking that the cheap China product is the best!
Hi Jenny, If the China marker lasted so long in air and it’s air erasable how do you get it out? Thanks. Meylonie
Good question, 3 choices: wait, use an air eraseable eraser or get wet.
Thank you for this. I’ve had some remarkable failures with markers that don’t wash out so I almost exclusively use air erasable. I am surprised that Sewline was the worst, but only a little. I think the marker has changed. When I first started using Sewline I thought it lasted longer than the Dritz, but in more recent months Sewline does seem to disappear quickly. Annoying, but not nearly as tragic as marks that don’t go away. Thanks again.
Oh yes, the ones that stay in are awful!
so what are YOU using? I would be nervous about something that only is out by water or eraser… you can’t use water and eraser is tedious, and waiting is iffy?
Using the made in China one. Waiting just requires patience. I can get them out earlier with an eraser. Waht would you use if not air or water erasable? Frixxion, no! Chalk or ceramic markers are gone after a few pushes through the machine.
I am interested in knowing when the China pen marks actually disappear.
I’ve already successfully done 2 things – spritzer with water (the sample) and erased with one of those air soluble erasers. I’ll see how long it takes without either
Yes, that’s my question as well — I’m hoping you’ll do a followup post to let us know how long it takes for the unpronounceable Chinese marking pen to fully air erase and whether any “ghost marks” are left behind. Can you also elaborate on the “air soluble erasers?” Is this some kind of rubbing eraser or is it a separate pen that marks over the original lines with additional chemicals to make the air erasable lines disappear?
I will do a follow up for sure. Some pens are double tipped with an eraser on the other end.
Thank you for the Consumer Reports on air erasable marking pens, Jenny. One of my pet peeves is when I meticulously mark a piece only to watch it fade away before I am finished with the marks. Chako Ace is new to me. Think I will give it a try.
I’ll have more to report next week.
Interesting — though I’ve not used most of them. I tried one years ago — when I was hand-quilting part of a piece. It was one of those air erasible ones and would disappear *as I was quilting*! Never again!
Now I use chalk in one of those roller “pens”, or a fine mechanical pencil — or nothing at all. Then again, I don’t make a habit of FMQ — my free-hand FMQ is thread “painting” and needs only instinct!
I avoid air erasables also and use only when needed…but sometimes they are needed, like for a grid. I wish I could get away without ever marking!