Frixion Pens by Pilot…my new best friend!

Who would have thought Pilot would make a pen with ink that disappears when you iron it?  I’ve heard and read a lot about the Pilot Frixion pens and decided I should try them.  I have to admit I was a bit skeptical.  I bought three different colors black, pink & purple and put them to the test.

First, I cut myself a piece of white fabric and wrote on it in each color.

Then I tried ironing over the ink…watch what happens.

The writing disappears faster than I wrote it!

WOW!  It disappeared right before my eyes.  There was no visible trace of the ink.  There is one catch…I’ve heard that if the fabric is exposed to temperatures below 14 degrees it reappears.  So, I stuck my sample in the freezer!

Look what happened…

Just ignore my dirty ironing board cover…too many mishaps with fusible makes for a dirty cover!

The writing did reappear after about 10 minutes in the freezer.  So back to the ironing board I went.

The ink goes away just as fast the second time I ironed it.

I wanted to run the fabric through the wash just to see what would happen.  I threw my little scrap in with a load of towels and washed it in cold water.  I wanted to see if the writing would reappear in the cold water.  It didn’t. 

This is the wet fabric after it was washed.  No sign of the ink.

Next, I dried it and then stuck it back in the freezer.  Guess what happened.

That’s right!  The ink is back.  However, it does look a little faded.

In conclusion, I do like these Pilot Frixion Pens.  I like the fact that I can mark a huge area and not worry about the ink disappearing before I’m ready.  Have you ever used a disappearing ink pen and by the time you were done marking half of your markings were gone?  I have.  It’s extremely frustrating!  You don’t have to worry about that with the Frixion pens.  The marks will stay there until you’re ready to get rid of them.  I know some of you will be skeptical about the fact that the ink can reappear.  It is a little troublesome.  However, after a little thought I realized I probably wouldn’t be freezing any of my quilts any time soon.  And if they do get cold enough for the ink to reappear a quick tumble in the dryer would solve that problem.  I would advise people to test the Frixion Pens out on a piece of scrap fabric.  This will help ease any fears you may have.

Bonus  ***They are rather inexpensive at $2.65 per pen.  

Feel free to email us at info@quiltinglodge@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Happy Quilting!

2 thoughts on “Frixion Pens by Pilot…my new best friend!”

  1. I have used these pens too and their convenience is great. I have noted that if used on a dark fabric, after heated the ink disappears, but you can see a residual stain.
    The makers of the ink have not used or tested this product on fabric. There are no guarantees over time what this ink may or may not do to your fabric.
    I have seen a quilt that was mailed to a quilt show that had markings return during shipping when it was exposed to cold temperatures. No one at a show will take the time to remove those marks for you.
    Having said that, I do still use this pen, but I am careful where I use it.

Leave a Reply