The Upholstery Forum

For the most part I’ve been useing these Stabilo crayon pencils that come in red, black and white but while working on a boat top in the hot sun last week the lines melted and made a mess. As a result I had to cut off a couple feet of fabric and have another seam.

I’ve tried the chalk but it doesn’t make a fine enough line for some of the stuff I do, and soapstone is just to light of a mark.... I’m thinking there’s got to be something better out there I haven’t heard of yet.

Most of my work is on Cordura, Sunbrella and vinyl, what’s your go to?

My go to for pretty much everything is the same style white pencil your using there. Ive never had a problem with it melting. I haven't used that exact brand you have though. Might be worth trying these 2 here. http://amzn.to/2GjZUO8 or http://www.perfectfit.com/15371/154630/ ... ncils.html
On sunbrella a lot of times Ill use a regular pencil.
I also use charcoal pencils for a lot of things as well haven't tested it on sunbrella though. CHARCOAL PENCIL: http://amzn.to/2neyBfr
I recently picked up some space pens. They are nice. Not super precise... but they work good on vinyl. SPACE PEN: https://www.albrightssupply.com/Space-P ... Click=3957

Sounds like we use mostly the same stuff.
crayola fine tip washable markers - @kl4bidn says this is great for leather
Ivory soap is another thing Ive herd of people using but haven't tried myself

Sometimes when Im having trouble finding something to mark on a type of fabric, I will go the the art store with a scrap piece of fabric and see if I can find something there. That's how I started using charcoal pencils.

If any one else is interested on what I use to mark on fabric. I did a video on it a while back.

@Revv Up @John
I have razor chisled down the tip of Crayola washable crayons and the yellow and orange are good for the vinyl. I also have used a fabric pen from WalMart that the ink goes on and automatically fades over time or wahes off.

Ill have to try those out next time.

@John,
Both are very inexpensive compared to the space pen. I looked on amazon and the price was over $30.00 is that the price of these things?

I payed $5 from albright's supply. https://www.albrightssupply.com/Space-P ... Click=3957

Thank you very much for the information!

@kl4bidn you like these for leather huh? Do you have any concern with bleed-through? I would LOVE to use something like this! The ONLY thing I've found that works at all on leather is chalk. Problem is, you can draw about a 3-inch line before you have to stop and resharpen.

@bryanmartin I'll post a video. @john Is the best way to upload to youtube and then link to it?

Certainly not one of John's video but you can see how they work. https://youtu.be/7_kOvFVB2kw @bryanmartin @BigRig @LeatherJohnny @John @Revv Up

Wow, that's impressive! Thanks for posting that. Amazon, here I come!

Walmart. I think I paid $1.97

If I could only erase bad stitches that easily! Thanks for the info. @kl4bidn

@kl4bidn Yes for videos its best to upload to youtube. Loading the directly to the form will sake up to much space on the server. Awesome video!! Thats so cool. I will defiantly try this.

@Bondo497 HAHA! That's to funny. I wish the same.

@kl4bidn Wow!!! They work really good and erase very easily! Thank you very much for the information, and I will try to see if they are available in Spain

Just in case it could interest you all, I let you know what I use sometimes to mark in dark leather and vinyl. I purchased online in Aliexpress some "Liquid Chalk pens" ($1.78 for a pack of four)


I have just marked for you three types of leather and one type of vinyl is so that you can see how it looks:


This "liquid chalk" takes some seconds to fully show, I guess that when some water evaporates. This is how it looks right after having written some "O"s:


And this is how it looks about ten seconds later:


It resists very well when we rub it with our hands of fabric and cleans very easily with a wet rag leaving no traces or shadows:




Also, it works very well to mark steel if you have to cut or weld it, for instance. Have you ever used this type of pen? I had never beard of it

I'm going to look for those. Since Crayola is worldwide, you should be able to find them. But if you don't I'll be happy to send you a box. @LeatherJohnny

kl4bidn wrote: ↑Sun Jul 01, 2018 6:34 pm I'm going to look for those. Since Crayola is worldwide, you should be able to find them. But if you don't I'll be happy to send you a box. @LeatherJohnny

Thank you very much for your offer, but perhaps it will not be necesary, as you are correct, and I have just had a look and they are available in Spain!

I'm sure that they will be very useful, as I have used some different markers, chalk, etc, but this crayolas will be the perfect solution! I am getting a good assortment of markers!

Thank you very much again for your offer!

They look like something to use, liquid chalk has a carrier maybe alcohol?

Yes, I have just smelled it, and it smells similar to the permanent markers, so perhaps it has alcohol

@LeatherJohnny ,

It should wipe off ok then.