Monday, 21 June 2010

Melting pens

I have been looking for some pens to cover with polymer clay and couldn't find the Bic stics that I know from people in the states are oven friendly. I tried out a few brands - without clay (having already learnt the hard way!) and they all deformed even at 115oC. I asked for help on the PCC forum and Tonja was able to suggest using some papermate pens - PaperMate Flexgrip Elite and PaperMate Flexigrip Ultra in capped rather than retractable models. I couldn't find either of those with caps either - only retractable.

I widened my trials and melted many a pen in the oven but I can conclude the following pens are safe for 115oC (Fimo curing).

  • Papermate Comfortmate - capped ball pen (this also comes in retractable but haven't tried those)
  • Papermate 2000 Stick
  • Papermate Flexigrip Elite (I had the retractable ones cause I couldn't find the capped ones and only tested the barrel)
  • Bic round stic ( I found some in a pound shop - hurrah!)
  • Bic soft feel retractable pen but you can take the retractable part out and it is only the very end cap
  • Staples own brand metal barrelled roller ball pen with cap - cost about £1.99

 
The following pens melt/distort in a 115oC oven

  • Staedtler Sticks
  • Reynolds by papermate
  • Staples own - Sonix ball point stick pens
  • Staples own cushiongrip ball point pens (retractable)
  • Papermate 2020 Stick

Hope that helps and I hope to be able to show you some covered pens soon
Posted by Cara Jane at 12:25
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4 comments:

  1. Arlene Harrison21 June 2010 at 12:46

    I feel your pain!!! I have melted many a pen in the search for ones that work. I have not tried the retractable ones that you mentioned so I'll be looking for them. I had run into a problem with not being ale to find the BIC stick pens that I really liked and when I did find some, I bought 3 boxes of 100 so I've got enough to keep me busy for at least a little while! Thanks for sharing which retractables work for you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. surfingcat21 June 2010 at 13:29

    I should note that I haven't actually tried covering the retractable pens but you can heat them up and reassemble them and they still function!

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  3. 2 Good Claymates5 October 2010 at 08:39

    Thanks so much for sharing this info! We had fun trying to track down the right type of pen for us to cover but your blog post helped quite a bit. Thought you might like to know I did a blog post on this:
    http://2goodclaymates.blogspot.com/2010/10/more-new-pieces-for-salmon-festival.html

    ReplyDelete
  4. Iris Mishly22 January 2012 at 08:26

    Great work Cara, this is to save and keep!

    thank you :)
    Iris.

    ReplyDelete

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