There are a lot of trends in crafts right now, but one I have just not jumped on board with is the CHALKBOARD THE EVERYTHING trend. It’s a look I just don’t find appealing, most of the time. I like things to look more precise, more measured, and while I have nice handwriting, I can’t draw for shit. That said, I have previously bought cute little “chalkboard” clothespin signs and a standard white chalk marker for entertaining purposes, but found that the chalk never really removed from the signs. I think being able to play with these liquid chalk markers had taught me the limitations and how I can be happy with a chalkboard look project!
Product Specs
Stardom Crafts only product in the craft market currently is their 18 Pack 6mm Liquid Chalk Markers. The markers are non-toxic and contain only water, resin, and pigment. They conform to ENV71-3 & ASTM D4236 and are suitable for children 3 years and older (which means I’m cleared for launch, here!) The markers have a chisel tip, claiming to be easy to wipe off, and are suggested for use on glass, plastic, metal, glossy boards, LED boards, & other non-porous surfaces. This mega pack of liquid chalk markers retails for $24.95 on Amazon.com
Use
I followed the instructions, shaking the pens vigorously and had a piece of scrap paper to test them on before using them on the little chalkboard message block I picked up at Joann’s. The box states that this should take about a minute, however I think for most of them it took 3-5 minutes of shaking and testing before the pigment was flowing smoothly. Which is no problem as far as I’m concerned – I expected as much being fresh out of the box. After the first one worked fine, I knew what to expect when getting the rest ready to use, so it wasn’t a problem.
I didn’t really have any ideas in mind, so I picked out the brightest most fluorescent markers and dusted off my middle school level art to make a border on this little block. Since these liquid chalk markers claimed to be easy to wipe off, I got the idea to make a little date block out of them and update them as needed. I knew I wouldn’t be attentive enough to update them every day, but figured that I could easily update them as backgrounds when taking pictures or something. As you can see, I started this review process on June 25th 🙂 Once I was done with the face, I rubbed on the 25 to see if it rubbed off easily when dry. I was happy that it didn’t smudge even a little, which was good that I didn’t have to worry about smudging one side while decorating another.
I was impressed with their easy flow and rich color. Some were not as vibrant as others on the black background, but basic color theory would tell anyone that. I appreciate the fine point of the chisel tip that allowed me enough precision to sign my name on the top, and pretty accurately. I did some other doodles on the sides that no one will be impressed by just to test out other colors. After I’d exhausted all of the ideas I had, I decided to test how easily it wiped off with a wet cloth as the instructions claim.
There came the disappointment. As you can see, the white did not rub off cleanly and you could easily see what had been on the block. This wasn’t even after using just water – I tried Windex to see if that helped to remove the liquid chalk marker residue – it works on dry-erase markers, so I figured it might work here. No dice. I set the block aside, bummed out that this wouldn’t truly be reusable, remembering my poor experience with my other liquid chalk marker and those little clothespin chalkboard signs… mocking me with their ghosted images that never went away!
Well this week, I had an idea. I wanted to see if maybe the ghosting wasn’t the fault of the chalk markers. Maybe, it was the fault of the “chalkboard” block. Most chalkboards I’ve ever seen have a tiny bit of texture to them and are matte. The block is smooth and glossy. So maybe this cheap little chalkboard block isn’t truly chalkboard paint and is just black. I fished through my craft bin in the garage and found a pristine roll of Scotch Chalkboard Tape I’d picked up for something and never used. It definitely has a super fine texture to it and is matte. I unrolled a small section onto a little wooden sign I’d also gotten at Joann’s when I bought the block (not exactly knowing what I’d do with it) and used the Stardom Crafts Liquid Chalk Markers to design a little 9 weeks old sign for our puppy Pixel (more on her later…). Voila! Once I was done, I wet a piece of paper towel and it wiped off cleanly with NO GHOST IMAGES!
Verdict
Of course, that leads me here… while I still won’t be jumping onto the CHALKBOARD THE EVERYTHING trend, I highly recommend these liquid chalk markers if you are already on that bandwagon and have even a little bit of artistic skill. I know $24.95 sounds high, but considering I paid $3-4 for a single white liquid chalk marker in a craft store, it’s really not a bad price at all for 18 markers (it’s less than $1.50 per marker). My word of caution, though, is that with the proliferation of the chalkboard trend, be wary of the chalkboard item you buy to use the markers on if you want the item to be reusable. If not, rock on and use ’em on any old non-porous surface, but if you do want the item to be reusable, definitely look for a little bit of texture and a matte finish on your surface.
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