The Posca pen range as well as the various other paint pens on the market continue to go from strength to strength amongst the community seeing exponential growth right now. Due to their surge in popularity, we have noticed more and more questions from people asking how they are able to get the most out of their Posca pens.
We have already covered some of the questions that we see but we have also noticed an increasing number of people asking how they can use Posca pens on plastic. Due to this, we have decided to make this dedicated article going over how you can get the best possible performance out of your Posca pens when using them on a plastic surface.
Please keep in mind, there are actually seven different types of plastic and your Posca pens should work well one six of them but under perform on one plastic type. Thankfully, the most common plastics that are used for arts and crafts will perform very well with Posca pens and not cause you any issues.
Can You Use Posca Pens On Plastic?
Posca pens will work well on most types of plastic surface and offer you the excellent performance that the brand are known for. Posca pens are easy to apply to a plastic surface and hold their bright colors very well without any problems with fading.
Although we have seen a few reports on social media of people saying that their “Posca pens” have not performed well on plastic, it is very likely that they have been using counterfeit pens. Always make sure that you purchase your pens from a verified Posca pen dealer either at your local store or when you order your Posca pens online.
Real Posca pens should easily work with the vast majority of plastic types that you will need to use them on without you having any problems at all. As we touched on above though, there is one type of industrial plastic that they tend not to work well on but it is rare that you will find it in the arts and crafts space anyway.
How To Use Posca Pens On Plastic!
To apply your Posca pens to a plastic surface, make sure that the plastic is clean, shake your Posca pens to activate the paint in the pen, and then draw or write on the plastic. It literally is that simple as Posca pens have been designed to be as beginner friendly and as easy to use as possible no matter the surface.
We can’t stress how important it is that you ensure that the plastic surface that you want to paint is clean. Even grease and oil that the human eye make struggle to see can cause problems once the paint is dry. This is why we often recommend that you quickly run your finger over the plastic as you can usually feel any oil or grease on it even if you can’t see it.
The Posca pen range is available with a range of different nib sizes these days so you can easily switch between the various nibs to get what you want. Unlike some other paint pen brands that struggle with a fine or extra-fine nib, the Posca pen brand maintain their nib quality no matter the size making it easy to draw on plastic with a thinner nib size too.
Are Posca Pens Permanent On Plastic?
Posca pens are naturally permanent on three of the seven plastic types with the porous types being the best for the permanence of the pens. Three of the other plastic types can be sealed with a sealing agent if needed to make the paint permanent once dry too.
Although this may seem like a problem to some people who are new to using the Posca pen range, it is common place with paint markers to have issues with non-porous surfaces. The Posca pen Range do actually out perform some of their competition in this regard as some paint markers are not permanent when used on plastic no matter the plastic type.
If you are using one of the three porous plastic types then you simply apply your Posca pen to the surface as normal and leave it to dry and it will be permanent. If you are using your Posca pens on a non-porous plastic surface then you will have to wait for the paint from your pen to dry on the plastic prior to applying your sealing agent of choice.
How To Seal Posca Pens On Plastic!
You are easily able to seal the paint from your Posca pens onto a plastic surface to improve the protection that your artwork has. There are multiple spray and brush based sealing agents that can work well with Posca pens on plastic and drastically improve the wear and tear that they can take.
In our opinion, Aleene’s acrylic sealer is one of the better sealers on the market for use with Posca pen paint on plastic. It is cheap, easy to use, and offers excellent protection for the surface and your paint in the majority of situations.
To seal your Posca pen paint onto a plastic surface, simply apply your paint using the pens as explained earlier in the article and then leave it to dry on the plastic surface. Once the paint has dried you then spray your sealing agent over the plastic surface and leave the sealant to dry. If you are using a brush based sealing agent then you will only need a very thin layer of the sealant, so many people, especially beginners add way too much.
How Do You Get Posca Pen Off Plastic?
You are able to get Posca pen paint off many types of plastic with ease. If it is a non-porous surface then you can often just chip away at it and large chunks of the paint will come off provided the paint is dry. If it is a porous surface then a paint thinner may be required.
That said though, you can often remove the paint from the Posca pen range with some hot soapy water depending on the type of plastic that you have used the pens on. We would always recommend that you give this a try before you attempt to use any paint thinners on your plastic.
If you do have to resort to using a paint thinner, you should only need a very small amount of a decent paint thinner on a cotton bud due to the formula of Posca pen paint being easy to break down with a thinner. Once you have the thinning agent on your cotton bud, simply dab it on the paint to start to break it down. Once the paint has broken down you should be able to easily wash it off the plastic surface with ease.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over how you can use Posca pens on plastic as well as a number of other common questions that we see people asking about using Posca pens with a plastic surface to an end. We hope that you have found our article helpful and it really is very simple and straight forward to use your Posca pens on a plastic surface and you shouldn’t really have any major problems with the process.
