Sharpie and Wallpaper

12 years ago

Hi everyone!

My husband and I live in a 1922 Colonial Revival in Rochester, NY. We love love love our grand old lady, and consider ourselves kind of stewards as well as owners. That means that I am fairly meticulous about documenting any changes we make to the house. I try to make it fun, too; I have hidden pictures and information about the house and its occupants all over.

Which brings me to the questions of Sharpies and wallpaper. (The pens, not the wrinkly dogs.) I would like to write on a bedroom wall some facts about the house and the changes to the room in black Sharpie before I hang the new paper. I'm about 95% sure that the Sharpie won't come through the paper... but might it?

Anybody know anything about Sharpie and its solvants? I assume it's not water-soluble, and if that's true, it seems to me that it would be pretty safe.

What do you think?

Vicki

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Comments (4)

maire_cate
12 years ago
This is from the Sharpie web site -

"We do not recommend the Sharpie for letter writing as it is solvent base ink and will soak through paper. We also do not recommend the Sharpie for use on cloth as it may fade or bleed in the wash. Also, over time a yellow halo may appear around the marking."

Now wallpaper isn't the same paper as stationery but I'm sure you wouldn't want to discover later that there's a discoloration. But the web site also says that they make different markers for different purposes so perhaps there is one there that will work for you.

When we removed the wallpaper from my bedroom we found where the paperhanger had written some notes on the wallboard beneath in pencil. They were still legible after the paper was removed. I'm guessing though that you must have plaster. Maybe Sharpie customer support can advise you.
roarah
12 years ago
when i stripped wallpaper from my 1920s home there was a drawing of a lady, it was dated 1980 under the wallpaper. I took a photo of it but could not save it for we went with a paint option, but it seamed to be ink and never bled thru the paper. Sharpies are hard to paint over tho so could you use pencil or ball point pen instead? Just incase a future steward does not want to keep it permanently.
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Carol_from_ny
12 years ago
Use a pencil. It will survive being papered over and if somebody down the line wants to paint instead of paper they won't be cursing your name while they try and cover up what you wrote.
I've a 1830's house.A pro papered the house sometime in the 1920's and under the paper are the ROMAN numbers they used to match the paper to the cuts they made. It's all done in pencil and very readable.
vjrnts
Original Author
12 years ago
Carol, that's probably the best idea. Thanks to all of you for your thoughts.

When I stripped this paper, I found a notation about a rally for human rights with a date and an address (May of 1973) written on the wall in black crayon. I'm going to take a picture of it and hang the picture on the wall where the writing is.

Someone make me go upstairs and start painting woodwork again.

Sharpie and Wallpaper

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maire_cate

roarah

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Sharpie and Wallpaper

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maire_cate

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