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I need your help. I am painting snowman lightbulb ornaments and have ruined 4 of them. The first 2 ornaments I ruined because I painted them, and used a black sharpie to outline the carrot nose, then sprayed with a sealer and the sharpie bled and ran all over. The next 2 were ruined because I bought a paint pen and when I sprayed them with sealer, they bled again. I then noticed that the paint pen is a oil based. Is that the problem? So I had one ornament left so I tried modpodge over it and it did NOT bleed. Is this enough of a sealer? My husband does not want me spraying any more stuff in the house and it is too cold to go outside. What can I use to seal these?

Yes sharpies can bleed. You can try liquid craft varnish and a sponge brush. But I would try it on a test piece first. They make acrylic paint pens...those shouldn't bleed, but you have to make sure your paint has had good drying time before trying to put a sealant over them.
I also learned the hard way not to use a blow dryer to hurry the drying process on the glass bulb....it cracked my painting. All I could do to save them was rub them with antique gel to give them an aged look.

There are others here on this message board that have more experience then I do...they will help you also.

PS..you have to use caution when applying a brush on craft varnish...only because you have painted on glass. It could pull your paint off because it is difficult for paint to stick to glass. You could also use an old cardboard box and a spray box. Can you spray outside?

Diane

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Aunt Diane,

Yes, the problem is that you can't use a sharpie and then try and seal it using a spray sealer. If you need to use a sharpie obtain a acrylic paint pen and use that. I would suggest that you paint your lightbulbs with enamel craft paint such as Folk Art Enamels or DecoArt Enamels and then use a sealer such as DecoArt all purpose sealer. Actually you really do not have to have a sealer on them if you use enamel paint. You can purchase this at any craft store. I do not spray paint my lightbulb.
Now additionally you must and I repeat let each layer of paint dry before adding a second coat of paint if you don't the first coat of paint will lift off when you try to paint on the second coat of paint. Do not use a hair dryer on these as the paint is not cured enough and when you try to add the second coat again the first coat will lift off of the glass. If you have more questions let me know. Hope this helps.
DJ

This message has been edited. Last edited by: kraftylady23,

If you are using the ornaments in the house...yes,modpodge would be enough.
And Welcome to the board!

A BIG WELCOME TO THE BOARD! Hope you will .
share your paintings. Welcome again
DJ

Here is a grinch and ginger light bulb that I painted. Both sell well at craft shows.
DJ

DJ, the light bulbs are cute, but I have to say...I love the picture you painted. Such an adorable look between the snowman and little person. Would make a beautiful greeting card.

Jean

Would a workable fixative keep the sharpie from running? I have not done any craft painting but will be making a stand-up snowman from plywood soon.

I've had this happen when using paint pens on pumpkins. if you spray lightly and about 15" away the first two times with drying time in between. this should cure your problem. After that you should be able to apply a heavier coat.
melinda
Or use an acrylic paint-on protective coat. I usually use the matte finish when doing this, i like the way it looks.

Funny that you should post this about now. I am making 50 ornaments for a special order and thank goodness I remembered about the sharpies. They are so nice to get those narrow straight lines but they do bleed when you try to varnish them. I don't like paint pens (just my personal taste) so what I use is just a paint brush - the kind with just a small tip to get the narrow lines - and black paint. It takes a little bit more than using the sharpie but I haven't had one problem with varnishing them. And I use the craft varnish from Michael's. I just waited until they had a good coupon and got the big container of it. It's lasting me a long time and it's so easy to use with no stink. Just paint it on and you're done.

Thank you everyone for the responses. I will try and post a picture of my ornament.

Carefully do one or two very light spritz of spray paint. Then you can do a little heavier spray.