Finish Over Signature

[Paul Fitzgerald]

The 50 cherry wedding favor boxes I've been working on for my wedding are complete and ready to be assembled and finished.

My original finishing plan was to wipe on a very thin coat of BLO and spray with Zinsser Shellac... that is until I found out the alcohol dissolves permanent marker. (By the way, I found BIC Mark-It Ultra Fine Point Permanent Markers worked better than Sharpies.) Since I've been directed to sign and date the bottom (1/4" BB ply) of each box, I've been looking for an alternative.

My first thought was to spray lacquer on the bottom, sign it, seal the signature with lacquer, and finally finish the entire box with shellac. I found through testing that the signature stayed in tact until I sprayed the shellac.

I didn't think the shellac would "melt" through the lacquer and destroy the signature, but it did. Well, it didn't exactly destroy it like shellac right on top of the marker... it kind of made a purple-ish halo around the signature. Maybe I didn't let the lacquer cure long enough; maybe I didn't put on enough coats.

So now I thinking about scrapping the shellac altogether and just going with lacquer over a thin coat of BLO for the cherry and lacquer, signature, lacquer for the BB ply bottoms.

Oh, almost forgot. It's 85°F and 70% humidity, so I've got to deal with blushing as well.

I need some help guys. I've got 12 days until the wedding.

Thanks,

Paul

[Steve Wylie]

I have a couple of ideas for you, all of which involve using something besides a sharpie. You could use a pencil, for instance. It might not be the look you want, but it's certainly traditional, and compatible with all finishes. You could try a water-based marker, although that might bleed on bare wood, and might bleed with the shellac also, but you'd have to test it to find out. You could try a "Sharpie Industrial" marker. It's a laboratory and industrial marker that doesn't dissolve in most solvents, including alcohol. Last, you could try a china marker. China markers are basically high-quality crayons, so they'd be fine under any finish that wouldn't dissolve waxes.

If I were you, I'd pick your finishing schedule to make the wood look pretty, not the signature. You have a lot of options, though.

[Paul Fitzgerald]

I have a couple of ideas for you, all of which involve using something besides a sharpie. You could use a pencil, for instance. It might not be the look you want, but it's certainly traditional, and compatible with all finishes. You could try a water-based marker, although that might bleed on bare wood, and might bleed with the shellac also, but you'd have to test it to find out. You could try a "Sharpie Industrial" marker. It's a laboratory and industrial marker that doesn't dissolve in most solvents, including alcohol. Last, you could try a china marker. China markers are basically high-quality crayons, so they'd be fine under any finish that wouldn't dissolve waxes.

If I were you, I'd pick your finishing schedule to make the wood look pretty, not the signature. You have a lot of options, though.

Steve,

Thanks for the tips.

I tried a Sharpie Industrial and it dissolved when I sprayed it with shellac.

We just found a "PIGMA MICRON" Archival Marker and tested it as well. It bled into the grain a bit when writing on bare wood, but it didn't dissolve when sprayed with shellac. Also, it won't dry when written on top of shellac or lacquer, so it smears.

Pencil worked fine, but you're right... it's not quite the look I was going for. I'll keep it in mind if I can't find any markers I'm happy with.

I've never heard of a China Marker, but I'll see if I can find one. We're going to head out to Michael's and pick up a Prismacolor Archival Marker. I found a thread here that mentioned the Prismacolor Paint Pen (which only comes in gold and silver -- again, not really the look I was going for).

Looks like the pencil and PIGMA MICRON are at the front of the pack so far.

Thanks again,

Paul

[Paul Fitzgerald]

Well, the Prismacolor archival pen dissolves a bit when shellac is applied. It's nowhere near as bad as the sharpies, but it's still very noticeable.

Michael's also had some more of the Pigma Micron Archival Pens so I picked up a few extras.

Even though it won't dry when writing on top of shellac, they won't dissolve when applying shellac on top of them. So I'm going to sand the box bottoms to 320 and write directly on the raw wood, then apply the shellac on top of that.

I think we've got a winner! I was stressing over nothin'. Guess I just needed to clear my head.

Thanks!

Paul