Water-based paint marker on my cast, yea or nay?

October 10, 2008 11:31 AM

Water-based paint marker on a fiberglass arm cast?

I recently broke a bone in my wrist and was put in a long-arm fiberglass cast with a waterproof liner. I chose black for the color and I thought that it would look really sharp to get people to sign it with a gold metallic marker. Well, Sharpie makes silver metallic markers, but the only gold one I could find actually uses water-based paint. I was wondering if that would be all right to use on my cast. Things I'm worried about specifically are it bleeding through and messing with my skin, and also whether it might wash off (which can be figured out through trial and error if my first concern is not a problem).

Thanks as always!

posted by dondiego87 to Health & Fitness (5 answers total)

Best answer: It will be fine; there are several layers of Webril or something similar under your cast that would absorb the small amount of water in a marker before it got to your skin, if it even makes it down that far.
posted by TedW at 11:37 AM on October 10, 2008

Best answer: After you get the sigs/doodles, paint over them with clear nail polish. Having broken a lot of bones and worn a few casts, that worked on the few sigs I got. Touch it up if you see it fading.
posted by batmonkey at 12:52 PM on October 10, 2008

Response by poster: Thanks TedW for addressing Concern #1, and thanks batmonkey for addressing Concern #2!
posted by dondiego87 at 4:44 PM on October 10, 2008

You're welcome! Heal quickly & well.
posted by batmonkey at 5:37 PM on October 10, 2008

What batmonkey said!
posted by TedW at 9:53 PM on October 10, 2008