I received the following on the Carol Doak Yahoo Group:

My fellow teacher Charlotte Anderson shared this bit of info and I know this pen was discussed previously and recently on the cruise.
<<I thought I'd give you all a heads up about Frixion Erasable pens. A student showed me hers at Road to California in January. She drew a line, thin but quite black, and then ironed it and the line totally disappeared. It looked like the coolest thing ever!
So I went in search of these pens, which you can get a Staples. I bought the pack that has three colors in it - black, red and blue. Being quite the skeptic about things that are too good to be true, I read the back of the package. In small print it says: "Do not expose to extreme temperatures (<14degrees F;> 140 degrees F). If pen is exposed to temperature that reaches 140 degrees F the ink will be colorless when writing. To restore color, cool to at least 14 degrees F and the ink will again write in color."
Aha! I said to myself. If you iron the ink it's going to be way over 140 degrees so it's going to disappear. So I took some fabric and scribbled on it with all three colors. Then I ironed it and, sure enough, all the scribbles disappeared. But then I put it in the freezer for about 10 minutes and all the lines reappeared. I left it for about a week and a half while I went travelling and today I tried to wash the ink out. It didn't come out with soap and hard scrubbing and not even after I put rubbing alchohol on it. So then I ironed the piece dry and all the lines disappeared and then it went back to the freezer and all the lines reappeared (perhaps just a bit fainter).
This experiment was enough to persuade me that these pens are too good to be true and even sort of creepy - the ink is always there even if you can't see it. I wouldn't use them on any fabric or quilt you really cared about.

If I had a blog I would have put this on there but since I don't any of you who want to pass on what I've written can feel free to copy and paste this post

Charlotte>>

Thanks for the tip!

I never heard of this pen. I guess if you were a spy then this pen might be something you would need. Ha!

Thanks for posting this. I'll admit I was tempted to try them. Not anymore!

Janet

These pens have been discussed in several threads on the board since they showed up in Houston....with mixed feelings and testing results. I'll stick with my Sewline pencil.
http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-85996-1.htm
http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-87043-1.htm
http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-94217-1.htm
http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-93330-1.htm

Me too :thumbup:

Thanks for the info , Much appreciated.

:lol:

I haven't heard of these pens before this, but I appreciate the heads-up so I don't purchase them in the future.

So if I DON'T put my quilt in the freezer, and don't put them outside when it's 14* will the ink stay disappeared?

:thumbup:

And you don't ship them anywhere that requires air travel. I think it gets pretty cold in the cargo hold.

Janet

thanks for the warning!

Thanks for taking the time to test this out. I will remember your tip.

Does the ink show up if you do not put object in the freezer? Is normal room temperature enough to bring it back up?

I love these pens. They make the nicest and thinest lines. Why would I put my quilt in the freezer after it is made???

Thank you for the warning. There are so many out there it is hard to really find the right one.

Thanks for the heads up. Won't try that. Have enough trouble without asking for more.

I'll steer clear---Thank You!

I saw this used this week on the Fons and Porter TV show. quilt show. Thank you for that information.

Where do you get your sewline pencils?

I am thinking this would be fun to use at Christmas time for a gift to a child. Of course would depend on how cold it has to be to bring the color back to the project. But wouldn't it be fun to make a cloth gift bag for a child or maybe even an adult and when they took it outside to go home it would get cold and a secret message would appear. From sound of this it should stay until it was heated by an iron. Does this sound craby? I did nto sleeplong last night so could just be tired.

I just read where it has to be 14 F, so I guess you would have to tell the person to put the object in the freezer when they got home.

Thanks for the information. Glad I red it because today I was going shopping for one. You saved me time and money.

Thanks, I bought some of these after reading about them, but I haven't used them on anything important. I tried using the end of the pen to "erase" the ink, like using an eraser on a pencil. (I didn't really know how they were supposed to work.) I thought the ink got lighter, but it didn't disappear. Maybe it was the friction from the rubbing. They still make a nice thin line for tracing embroidery designs onto fabric.

yep, i've been afraid to use the two pens i bought for that reason. washing out is best, ironing out always worried me. evidently for good reason.

Thanks for the tip

At a LQS they had a marking product that looked like tailor's chalk but was supposed to disappear with a hot iron. Does anyone know if those will reappear?

What worries me is not that the lines come back (as PP have said, who puts a quilt in the freezer?) but will the ink do damage to the fabric over time if it isn't washing out?

Thanks for the info!

Has anyone tried just washing the fabric in really cold water to see if the inkis visible after?

I'll use it in my next novel :lol:

LOL Very good question.....I love these pens too!

wow...thanks for the info...I bet you saved a lot of disasters from happening....

Glad I don't store my quilts in the freezer. I have 8 colors of the pens and I LOVE them. Gotta figure those extremes don't happen in many houses.

Amen

thank you--thank you--would have ruined the quilt I am cutting out!

Thank you for the information. I was going to look for them, but now maybe not.

I love mine and they make the smoothest mark and make back tracing on my applique so much easier.

I tested the ink on my high count batiks and on a cheap piece of fabric and had great results with the ink coming off on both. I did the heat removal then froze it and the ink came back, then I washed it with All detergent and back to the freezer they went and nothing re appeared.

So I think it depends on the fabric and would test each piece before using them on all of them.

Thanks for being our testing department head!! I was one of the ones that started a topic about these pens. Hmmmm, I still think I could use it on certain things so I might just buy 1 and give it a try. :)