Gel pen graffitti?

[Anonymous]

I had heard talk of making graffitti with gel pens, so i went out yesterday and bought some. I tried it first on my paint-practice shell and it looked pretty good. I put a blow drier to it to dry it quickly and then I let it sit for another half an hour. When I picked up the car my graffitti came right off on my fingers. How do I dry this stuff?

[wp8thsub]

I've had good luck sealing the gel pen graffiti with Testors Dullcote.

[Anonymous]

Even before it was dry? Mine never dried.

[Anonymous]

You may achieve better results using the MILKY gel roller.

Some folks(MR July 2000) have airbrushed a flat finish on first to seal the prior weathering and then gel it.

[wp8thsub]

QUOTE: Originally posted by JPM335

Even before it was dry? Mine never dried.

I found that spraying the Dullcote before the gel was entirely dry caused a very slight "fuzzing" of the edges, giving a look remarkably like spray paint. Leave the gel to dry fully just like you would with slow-drying solvent-based paints. A final overspray of a flat finish can then be applied.

Your results may depend on the particular pens you're using, and I would definitely try the initial Dullcote spray on a test piece. Another method that works is to use some fairly sharp-pointed felt tip markers. These will bleed through a successive application of water-based paint, which can make for an interesting effect when representing an attempt to cover up graffiti unsuccessfully, common on heavily tagged surfaces.