ZM Make Pen leaves Yellow Residue?

 

Hey all : )

 

I am wondering if anyone else has used the ZM Make Pen and noticed that after removing your lines with water it leaves a yellow mark. I've noticed this on the last two faceups I've tried to plot out - water alone will only remove the dark blue mark but after removing the pen mark there is that yellow stain left over and it can *only* be removed with acetone. However when you do that, you remove the preliminary layer of ZM spray then have to start all over.

 

My first 4 faceups I didn't notice if it left any yellow stain marks.. and I used the pen more often as I was getting used to doing symmetrical faceups... now it seems any new marked area that is erased leaves that yellow tinge...

 

Has anyone had this issue? Could it just be the pen getting old? or possible ZM spray issue? or ________?

 

What do you use instead of a ZM pen to plot out your faceup lines?

Edited January 5, 2013 by Guest

I've only done a few DD face ups, but I use a pencil crayon or watercolour pencil to plot out the eye lines. I erase mistakes with a small piece of magic eraser (dry or damp, depending on the task).

Hmmm, I had a ZM pen that I used on my first two faceups. The pen never wrote in dark blue for me, just in light brown. It came right off with water- in fact, if I drew out the lines and then left it sit there to feel whether I liked it before painting, it would start to fade off by itself. But I stopped using the ZM pen now because it already seems to have dried out, and I didn't get another. I use an ordinary pencil now. It comes off with either a very clean eraser or a magic eraser.

If you keep it on the head for too long it may stain

I had the problem also. I switched to using watercolor pencil instead as that washes off completely without leaving any staining

Another water colour pencil user here. Best thing to use in my opinion.

Yeah this plotting was done in 5 minutes then removing the lines.. so it's got to be a problem with the pen and the spray - maybe one of them has changed chemically over time.. if I left it overnight or for few days I could see but def not after 5 min of scribbling o__O

I wished i had seen this before I bothered with it, my pen totally stained Kais head, i use her bangs to cover the obvioys yellowish-green stains that was left when i tried to remove it to correct a mistake, i had it on about 10 minutes before i removed. I am hopping littleberries will be able to do a commission for me and giver her a new face up, so her current head has bitten the dust :/

I wished i had seen this before I bothered with it, my pen totally stained Kais head, i use her bangs to cover the obvioys yellowish-green stains that was left when i tried to remove it to correct a mistake, i had it on about 10 minutes before i removed. I am hopping littleberries will be able to do a commission for me and giver her a new face up, so her current head has bitten the dust :/

 

aw that stinks : | did you use zm spray before using the pen? I found if you have a layer of spray before you can at least use acetone to remove the yellow stain. It must just be a thing with vinyl b/c I had a SQlab head that I had the zm-plotting lines there for days (if not weeks) then removed it and started over, and it left no yellow marks. oh vinyl and it's super absorbency of pigments...

Nope I drew on the vinyl with now form of protection. Oh well, when volks restocks I will get her head redone

You gotta seal the face before you start the face-up!

I used a brand new ZM pen on a face that had been sealed with ZM UV-cut twice and let air dry for 2 hours. This was the result after I removed the face-up a week later. I used Winsor-Newton, a Magic Eraser and then Acetone to SCRUB the entire face up off. What you see is vinyl and only vinyl.

 

 

The pen stained through the sealant. You can see it on the eyebrows and around the eyes.

 

While I suspect it was something I did (since other people didn't have this problem), I threw the pen out. Clearly, the ZM pen and I are not good for each other.

 

Edit: Since I've done Arisa's third face-up (stain was from the first and photos were taken before I did the second) I noticed the stain had significantly faded. Like, less than 1/2 as noticeable faded. I have done nothing extra to this face aside from remove the second face-up before doing the third. I had two attempts on the third face-up, so the head got scrubbed a total of 3 times since I took that photo. In other words, I believe that repeat scrubbing with Winsor Newton is slowly removing the stain. All that said, I still won't use that stupid pen again. Ever.

Edited August 10, 2013 by Guest

The same thing happened to me. I left the marker on a sealed head for a few days and when I washed it off it had left yellow marks just like that.

Invest in a decent brown watercolour pencil guys. More readily available, inexpensive, versatile, wipes off easy and NEVER stains!!!

 

I would not use anything else!

Invest in a decent brown watercolour pencil guys. More readily available, inexpensive, versatile, wipes off easy and NEVER stains!!!

 

I would not use anything else!

 

I actually tried this and had the same issue - not sure if the composition of the ZM spray changes over time, but with two coats of ZM spray and letting it dry I tried ot make some plots with a brown watercolor pencil (windsor newton, no cheap stuff) and it was very hard to get any marks without using some water, and then it also left a stain when I tried to remove it.

 

But Crimsoncat's photo shows exactly what I'm talking about with the ZM pen. My stains were not that severe but still very prominent. The weird thing is the first face up I did on my Yumiko head with the pen, I even had redbrown paint used and it all came off with *no* staining. Now a few months later trying to use it? It's leaving yellow on any vinyl head (resin it doesn't).

 

I do suspect the ink in the pen might change over time or repeated use of acetone to remove the faceups does something chemically to the vinyl that makes it more susceptible to keep stains even with the ZM spray.

There's a Sumika Times post that shows Aoi/02 with those stains :/ They know the problem exists, but no action has been taken. Not even a warning on the ZM pen page

I actually tried this and had the same issue - not sure if the composition of the ZM spray changes over time, but with two coats of ZM spray and letting it dry I tried ot make some plots with a brown watercolor pencil (windsor newton, no cheap stuff) and it was very hard to get any marks without using some water, and then it also left a stain when I tried to remove it.

 

I don't know about the stains, but maybe the pencil didn't make any marks because the spray was too slick? I think if you (general) spray so much that it makes the surface of the face shiny when it wet, then there won't be any tooth for pastels, pencils, pigment to grip. I don't know if that's what happened in this case, but if so, it might help to make sure to spray lightly and evenly. I think getting a nice even coat of spray is what helped me improve my face-ups a lot.

I do suspect the ink in the pen might change over time or repeated use of acetone to remove the faceups does something chemically to the vinyl that makes it more susceptible to keep stains even with the ZM spray.

 

Glad I'm not the only one with this problem.

 

Funny thing was though, that was a brand new pen on a brand new head. The pen was shipped with the head in October and was not opened before I did this face-up in Dec. While I suppose that's time enough for a change to occur, I feel like a sealed pen shouldn't be doing that (though obviously what I think didn't change what happened). This was the first face-up I ever did on that girl so she was exposed to no acetone before I applied the pen. Also, the face-up was only on for a week so the stain set in quickly.

 

There's a Sumika Times post that shows Aoi/02 with those stains :/ They know the problem exists, but no action has been taken. Not even a warning on the ZM pen page

 

Man that sucks. I guess if theirs proof they must have known it makes me a little bit disappointed. I agree with you, warning would have been nice.

Wow I read a couple posts about this product and was going to look up more about them until I read about this staining. That's completely awful and I would not let it near my dolls. D;

I'd like to add: I did my girl's first face-up using brown pencil crayons (colored pencils, whatever you want to call them), along with a black watercolor pencil. When I removed the face-up, there were yellow stains where the pencil crayons had been. I've switched to paint since then, but, yeah, be careful about pencil crayons too!