Posts Tagged ‘chalkboard’

Tips For Working Magic with Chalk Markers

June 5th, 2017
2 Comments

Chalk markers are one of those tools that I’ve used and haven’t liked, so I dismissed them altogether. They’re so fussy that by the time you get one to work, you could have been done with an entire composition if you had used regular chalk. No convenience factor. And usually they’re so permanent that they may as well be paint pens. So completely negating the whole reason why you opted for chalk in the first place. No room for mistakes? Not my jam. I make tons of mistakes. We all do. 

Then these babies showed up in the mail. With my nose turned up awaiting for disgust, I found three glorious things out of these chalk markers: juicy ink, opaqueness and non-permanence. Yep! But first, four tips for making chalk markers work for you: 

  • To avoid puddles of ink when starting the marker; shake the marker while capped and lid pointing up, remove the cap, and depress the nib while point is still facing up. This releases pressure that may build up while taking advantage of gravity to keep the ink inside the pen and not all over the chalkboard or test paper.
  • Store chalk markers horizontally (this is a great practice for all markers) to keep the point from drying out.
  • For best results on clean-up, use a non-porous chalkboard surface. I used chalkboard MDF from Home Depot for this review and every color (except white) came off beautifully with just water and paper towels. 
  • Ghosting? No problem. Grab some windex and a magic eraser. 

My assistant, Hayley, and I spent a morning last month testing out these markers and we were both singing praises. You can see the results from our testing in the above review video. 

Hayley approves!

Like I mentioned earlier, we found some serious pros to these markers: 

  • The ink flowed smoothly, each line was just as juicy as the last. Consistent ink is king!
  • The markers were all very vibrant and opaque. The images and video don’t do the hot pink justice. ;)
  • Clean-up was easier than anticipated for sure. Water and paper towels (a lot of paper towels) did the trick. 

We found a couple of cons, but not deal-breakers: 

  • The white had a tendency to ghost upon clean-up. The other colors cleaned up easily, though. Windex and magic eraser was my friend to get that off. 
  • The ink tended to flood out when we were starting the markers. Relieving pressure with the tip facing up did the trick, though.

Overall, These Kassa Flourescent Chalk Markers were a fantastic surprise to both Hayley & me. Major win over here. I hope you try them out and enjoy them as much as we have!

I’m working on doing a review per month on art and calligraphy-related materials. Stay tuned for more! If there’s a material or product you’d like to see in the future, comment below!

Looking to learn the art of Chalk Lettering? Take our class (taught by the ever-amazing Skyler Chubak) right here! Use code CHALKROCKS for 15% off the workshop. Code valid through 6/30/2017.

Product was donated for this unpaid review. All opinions are my own. Affiliate links are used to link to products which help support the blog. Thanks so much for reading!

Tutorial: How to Make Chalk Paint

March 12th, 2013
25 Comments

Last weekend I participated in the very first Salt Lake hosted Vintage Whites Market. I participated in the event by teaching a calligraphy workshop. We had a blast. I had so much fun hanging out with some incredibly inspiring women (VWM, Shop Ruche and Gather & Hunt).

I was asked to do some chalk art for the entry way for admission and pricing, much like the one I did for Alt Summit. I didn’t have much time to do the lettering and unfortunately for me, it was a retro chalkboard with a sheen to it; impossible for actually chalking up.

I tried to prime the surface by rubbing chalk all over it, but nothing would stick. My chalk marker wouldn’t even make a mark, so I had to get creative. It was midnight and I needed to use what I had on hand. So I thought I would see how chalky paint would do. Here’s what it ended up looking like.

The paint worked well and I’m really excited about this new method – I couldn’t wait to share it with you. So here we go:

Make Paint out of Chalk

Soaking chalk was not about to work in the amount of time I had. So I researched. I realized I needed to phrase my query, “How to make paint out of chalk” as to try to avoid how to make your own colored paint that could be used for making chalkboards. Confusing, I know.

I found this tutorial, but I thought the technique lacking. I’m not going to rub chalk on my brush until I get enough chalk dust so I busted out the micro planer instead. Much faster.

I bet if you had a fine cheese grater or some sand paper, that would do, too.

I didn’t need a ton of chalk dust – I think for the large project I did for VWM, I used less than a stick and a half.

I mixed chalk and water a little bit at a time until I got the consistency of heavy cream and grabbed a brush I no longer cared for.

I’m sure you could do some really fun things with sponges and even food coloring. I haven’t tried yet.

I noticed the chalk doesn’t show up at first, but there was no need to run over each line twice. See below!

See how vibrantly the white chalk shows up after it’s dry? Again, no need to run over your lines twice.

It shows up so vividly on the chalkboard, but it’s just like regular chalk and erases with little to no effort. I don’t have a legit chalk eraser, but it came off just fine with a microfiber cloth. Bonus, right?

Now there’s a whole new way to participate in the chalking trend! We have the above chalk board in front of our house. It’s been since December that I’ve written a message on there (I would letter out different phrases each month). I think now that our front porch is clear of snow, I might start the monthly phrases up again.

Got any suggestions on greetings I should write on this baby?

Guest: DIY Chalkboard Signage

October 23rd, 2012
7 Comments

I’m over at Make and Takes today sharing this mindlessly easy tutorial on how to make a little chalkboard wreath/plaque for your door. Perfect for being festive fore every holiday.

So, Nikki left a chalkboard stand behind for us when they moved. I’ve had it on the front porch since we’ve moved in (sometimes the wind blows it over), but I like to put random phrases on it. When people in the neighborhood ask where I live, they usually get where when I say “the house with the chalkboard sign in front.” It’s fun to have random phrases on the front porch. What silly phrases or words would you display on your front porch if you had a similar sign?

Head over to Make and Takes for the full tutorial. 

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