Signing Marbles with titanium pen

gmkcpa · #1 2008-08-17, 5:29pm

I got my Ti-Pen and am signing my marbles with my initials and the month and year I made the marble. Question one - just initials and month and year-what is typically used? Example: GK 06/08 ? Question two - how hard do you press down? I dip the marble in water because the instructions say to (I don't know why) and then I sign. If I really press down hard I scratch my signature into the glass and it is there to stay. However, I don't think that the plastic that holds the titanium point is strong enough to last very long with that much pressure. If I just sign without much pressure sometimes I can't see my whole signature, and going over it again is iffy at best. Any suggestions?

Crazy Woman · #2 2008-08-17, 5:31pm

Interested in answers as well.... My pen is new and it's kind of hit or miss. Do they have a 'break in' period. Been just scribbling on some scrap glass.

earlbacher · #3 2008-08-17, 6:14pm

you can take sandpaper and round out the tip... should thicken the signature, and make things easier...

dogmaw · #4 2008-08-18, 5:31am

Yep, they do have a break in period, and it takes a while to get used to them. Have any fuglies? Those are good to use for practice signatures.

Mr. Smiley · #5 2008-08-18, 5:37am

Dip the tip in water and in all reality, spit works better. It's more lubricated.

Crazy Woman · #6 2008-08-18, 8:21am

Quote:

Originally Posted by dogmaw

Yep, they do have a break in period, and it takes a while to get used to them. Have any fuglies? Those are good to use for practice signatures.

Fuglies ~ Yup! Got lots of them!

I'll try the sandpaper and spit

Smurfy5 · #7 2008-08-18, 1:01pm

Yes, it does take some time to get used to using them... it is true as someone else said earlier that spit does work better than water even if it sounds gross. I do my best to keep all of my customers satisfied so if you purchased the pen from me PM me and I can give you more specific tips for the pens that I make.
Thanks

-Kirsten

FiredDesires · #8 2008-08-21, 7:53am

In the current issue of Flow, the marble issue...there's an excellent article on what collectors of marbles do & don't like. yes...sign your marbles, with initials and year in an inconspicous place so as not to interfere with the design. The ti pen does have a break in period, and the sandpaper trick helps...eventually it will take very little pressure to get a nice sig.

gmkcpa · #9 2008-08-21, 9:28am

Greatly appreciate your responses. All I have to do now is sign about 100 marbles!

Crazy Woman · #10 2008-08-21, 4:03pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by gmkcpa

Greatly appreciate your responses. All I have to do now is sign about 100 marbles!

Wish I had your problem...... If I only had even one that was worthy of signing.... I know, PPP...

FiredDesires · #11 2008-08-22, 7:26am

Leslie! quit talking like that....sign everything! those very well might be the ones that someday would be worth more than your finest work.
See your ticker factory, you will have fun at GlassStock and hope you have Pam Pitts as one of your classes....she does marbles, Josh/Tim Mazet if there, if not...there are plenty of folks that will be there to give you pointers...have fun!

Crazy Woman · #12 2008-08-22, 8:38am

Actually marbles are really fun to make and I kind of like the wonky ones and the cats love them.

Can't wait to meet Pam and all of the rest of the folks at Glass Stock!

FiredDesires · #13 2008-08-23, 8:30am

Oh gosh, I just realized I typed Tim's name instead of Josh's...yes, yes..tim is josh & eli's brother...lol, but he is the ellusive one..not sure if he goes to GS or not. Well, at any rate..you have fun and keep making/sharing your marbles. Give Deb, Mike & Pam a hug from me.
Catharine

sableglass · #14 2008-08-25, 8:55am

instead of water, try using hand sanitizer (purell). Just a lil dab on the spot your going to write your sig. Also, with the right angle of the pen vs. the surface of the marble or glass object, the pen should write fine. I like a sharp point vs. a rounded one. The sharp point i can write a smaller signature and it looks very crisp and clean. the rounded pen points seems to cause my pen to "slip" sometimes on the surface of the glass object.

I would say if you're having trouble with signatures, make a black marble and practice writing your name over and over and over on it, until you feel comfortable. A clear marble will work as well, but you'll have a harder time seeing the signature as you write it.

For a signature, make sure that your initals are not being used by somebody else. I wouldn't use my initials cause JS is pretty common initials. Instead i write my last name SABLE and the year 2008.

Good luck and practice a lot with the tipen before you sign your masterpieces

Crazy Woman · #15 2008-08-25, 9:46am

I like that tip about the hand sanitzer.... especially if you are signing in front of your customer....

I've just been using scraps of stained glass to practice on... mostly because I have lots of scraps

gmkcpa · #16 2008-09-04, 7:50pm

Thanks again for all the input. This is what I did, and I'm real happy with the results. I took my TiPen with the tip that was so sharp I couldn't really move it smoothly to sign with and I rubbed it back and forth on 600 grit emery paper about 30-40 times. This left the tip sharp but took the 'acute sharpness' off of it. Then I squeezed a little hand sanitizer (Walgreens brand smallest size for $.99 - all the brands have the same active ingredient - Ethyl Alcohol 62%) into a dish. I dipped the tip of the TiPen into it and signed. Then I wiped any sanitizer residue off of the marble, dipped the tip again and signed another marble. And I didn't need much pressure-about what you would ordinarily use to write with pen or pencil on paper. Oh yeah-I rest my hand on a book about 1" thick when I sign.