Decorating Scuba Gear with Paint Markers

The other day I wrote about decorating scuba equipment in an environmentally sound way.

Reader Marwah, who asked the original question, sent me an update. Apparently permanent markers washed off her fins, but paint markers worked great. There are two things I took from this:

The importance of testing out your paint before you do a lot of fancy artwork. It may wash right off. Permanent markers worked well for my rubbery fins, but didn’t stick on Marwah’s more smooth, plastic fins (as I guess they are).
Paint markers are a fantastic option that I didn’t think of. Sharpie, Art Primo, and many other brands make these oil-based pens, so they should be easy to find at a craft store in any part of the world.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 10th, 2012 at 3:58 pm and is filed under Gear. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “Decorating Scuba Gear with Paint Markers”

Gary Says:
August 2nd, 2012 at 4:12 pm
Question only somewhat related to this topic; how to remove dried waterproof sunblock from a brand new open-cell neo wetsuit. Tried dry-scrubbing with fingernail brush. Tried dish soap and scrub brush. tried Shout with wet scrub brush. So far no results. Thanks
A.G. Says:
January 18th, 2013 at 3:19 am
Hmmm -
I have a couple concerns. One is about using paints on the myriad rubbers, plastics and other substances we use in gear.
The instructions for paints often don’t include the warnings that cleaners and solvents do about ‘test on an inconspicuous spot’ before wholesale use. I wonder what chemical reactions might be set in motion as the paint, gear and different waters combine. (?)
And the next concern was about Gary’s comment. The sunblock prolly was hard enough on the open cell suit but the rest of the cleansing could lead to a chemical soup of abuse the outcome of which no one could predict.
Good luck with it all.