New Sanford Products Make Writing On Difficult Surfaces Easy

As one of the leaders in writing products, Sanford's brands are often the first ones that come to mind when thinking about a specific product. Permanent marker? Sharpie. Dry erase marker? Expo. Label printers? Dymo. Their range of brands has something for every writing need. They aren't just sitting tight either, with two of their brands introducing products designed for some particularly stubborn surfaces.

Sharpie Extreme Markers

Sharpie markers are plenty versatile and leave bold marks on most surfaces, but the Sharpie Extreme is here to fill in some of the gaps such as warm weather. The Extreme is designed to resist fading in the sun, with protection against ultraviolet exposure. It also adheres better to tricky surfaces such as plastic, with better adhesion that holds up longer than traditional markers.

Uni-Ball 307 Gel Pens

Meanwhile, Uni-Ball is rolling out the 307, a continuation of its popular 207 line. Like its predecessors, the 307 is a smooth, reliable gel pen. What it adds to the table is a remarkable ability to dry on glossy paper. While it isn't instantaneous, it dries much faster than other gel pens we tried. Glossy paper has never been friendly to ink (including printers), so this is a big step forward.

Dymo LabelWriter 450 Turbo

One more Sanford update to make your life easier- Dymo is running a promotion where buying a specified number of labels can net you a free printer. This is great for expanding printing operations, registration tables or other places where Dymo printers come in handy.

50 Ways To Use a Sharpie

The classic Sharpie marker has been around forever. Everybody knows, uses and loves Sharpies for basic purposes like labeling and creating signs, but the versatile markers can do much more. We've covered some creative uses in the past, and now we're celebrating all the different functions of the Sharpie- at least 50 ways to use one.

Sharpie products are great for many work environments and can create fun and unique charts, sketches, drawings and artwork. Sharpies can be used everywhere from the office or the classroom to building sites or research facilities. They can add creativity, organization and efficiency to any project.

Sharpie Clearview Highlighter

In addition to the popular marker, Sharpie is also available as highlighters, pens and liquid pencils, offering even more potential for even more projects.

Trace Element Sharpie

One of my most perverse office supply obsessions is the standard Sharpie. If I visit somebody's house or apartment and they don't have any Sharpies I make sure that they receive a gift of Sharpies within a few months. Nothing fancy, just the standard fine tip black Sharpie marker that is readily available for around a dollar.

So it will come as no surprise to you that I took note when Sanford released pens and then liquid pencils under the Sharpie brand name. The other day I noticed that Sharpie is now selling a "Trace Element Certified Marker" and I had to figure out what this new kind of sharpie was. At roughly four times the price of a standard Sharpie the description says that it is great for nuclear energy and aerospace. If anybody says a product is ideal for nukes and astronauts alike I sit up and take notice.

Trace Element Ink Sharpie

You might be asking yourself, do I need a Trace Element Ink Certified Marker? Well if you have to ask yourself the answer is probably no. The only reason you'll ever need one of these markers is if you'd want to prove without a doubt that something written with this marker was written by the person who says they wrote it.

Here's how it works. The marker's ink contains a very specific chloride signature that only a few other markers in the world contain. Each marker comes with paper work identifying which chloride signature it contains. So if you ever have a question about who wrote something using one of these markers, you can just haul your sample to a laser ablation machine and have it analyzed. If the trace elements of chloride in the sample detected by the machine match the paper work you'll have an excellent idea exactly who wrote it and when it was written.

I'm not an expert in the subject but my quick googling makes it look like Rolls Royce and General Electric both require their technicians to use ink with easily identifiable trace elements when performing work. Does your profession require you to use trace element certified ink? Leave a comment below and let us know.

Toby Keith - Plastics Enthusiast

If you have attended a social gathering where a certain portion of the clientele were of the Country or Western persuasion you probably were privileged enough to have "Red Solo Cup" played on the Jukebox or iPod stereo. Toby Keith has taken a break from his usual patriotic musical stylings to branch off into the highly lucrative market of writing catchy corporate jingles.

Red Solo Cup - I'll Fill You Up

Sure the track "Red Solo Cup" isn't actually brought to you by Solo Cup Company, but the manufacturer certainly didn't attempt to distance itself from the song. Following in their footsteps, I will make sure I don't distance myself from the marketing opportunity either.  Red Solo cups are certainly meant to be filled up, and whether or not you decide to have a party while using them is up to you.  I prefer to bring out the cups when I have a picnic but that's just me.

I didn't take the time to actually listen to the song, but I do recall that it was played once in the background while I was attempting to watch some college football at a local drinking establishment. I had to do a quick Google search of the lyrics and even though Mr. Keith goes out of his way to espouse the many finer points of the Red Solo Cup he also decides to make a wise crack about how the cups do have a tendency to split down the side if not cared for properly. Now I haven't seen his tax returns, but I'm fairly sure that if it was a problem serious enough to merit a line in a song he probably could afford to purchase some another receptacle for his friends and family to drink out of.

But what does this fairly benign tune about friendly gatherings and a country singer's preferred drinking utility have to do with office supplies? First, I would like to point out that you can purchase the Red Solo Cups at a fairly good discount from office supply stores. Second, about two thirds of the way through the song he mentions using a Sharpie to clearly label his cup. He seems to think a clearly labeled cup might lead to getting to know one of the "ladies" a little better. If a clearly written label is important you should probably supply your guests with a white permanent label they can write on and attach to their cups. I happen to believe that the primary purpose of labeling any cup would be to avoid any confusion when 4 or more identical Red Solo Cups are placed on a table.

Sharpies- Important Labeling Tool for Party Goers

Have the Dixie Chicks recorded Blue Solo Cup in response? Are the Dixie Chicks even still around?

Post-It Prank

What do you do when you have a some neon yellow Post-it Notes, a Sharpie, some free time and access to a fire alarm?  Why play a prank of course.

Of course, a prank like this is probably against dozens of building and fire codes, but it is amusing none the less.  Of course, no adult would ever actually confuse a fire alarm with a candy dispenser, but it wouldn't stop some buzz-kill from removing the post-its.

If you want to go for a real fire warning prank that is generally harmless, go and buy a half dozen or so Fire Extinguisher signs and mount them around your office (preferably with a permanent adhesive) pointing to places and things that are obviously not Fire Extinguishers.  Point at a plant.  Point at a computer.  Put it above a table where it can point at a glass (half full) of water.  The possibilities are endless and endlessly infuriating for any building manager.  When you can buy a Fire Extinguisher sign for three dollars, why not go hog wild?

Of course, if you do decide to pull off any of the pranks here, you do so under your own free will.  I won't be held liable in the court of law for anything you do.

Here's to You Mediocre Sharpie Artist

In the grand tradition of Bud Light's Real Men of Genius commercials I'd like to salute a mediocre Sharpie artist.

Here's to you Daniel Bell. I couldn't tell you what odd combination of words I was searching for on Google that allowed me to find out about you, but I did. You called your blog "xADDICTED TO SHARPIEx" because you like to draw with Sharpie. Maybe you also like the X-men or Windows XP so much you added extra x's at the beginning and end. Nobody will know unless they take the time to ask you. I was hoping for some interesting Sharpie art (as you might note from previous posts, I do like some Sharpie art), but found some scans of some real oddities.

Cat In Sharpie

Is the idea interesting?  Might you find this on a coffee mug owned by a cat lady?  Does it pale in comparison to drawing on a Lamborghini?  The answers to all of those questions is yes.  I went online to see if anybody had ever mentioned Daniel's blog before and the only reference I could find was him writing about himself on Twitter.  He posted artwork for 3 months before giving up and gave up on Twitter shortly thereafter.  So here is your 15 minutes of fame Daniel Bell.  You will now be exposed to tens of new potential eye-balls.

Permanent Sharpie Marker

Should you, mediocre Sharpie artist ever decide to pick up your permanent markers again and create artwork for me to look down my nose at you'll be best advised to buy those Sharpie markers online.  Should you decide to come up with another piece like "IT'S 12 O'CLOCK... IT'S MIDNIGHT"  you'll need an additional supply of markers.  It takes a lot of marker to make that much black.

Sharpie Art (Fine Point Black)

Newell Rubbermaid has been doing some odd things with the Sharpie brand lately (like expanding their lines to the Sharpie Pen and Sharpie Liquid Pencil) but in most people's eyes they are still best known for selling the good old reliable black fine point sharpie marker.  Everybody I know has a cache of these sitting around their house somewhere and everybody I know prefers the full-blooded Sharpie to any of the lesser generics.  A Sharpie is a Sharpie is a Sharpie.  You always know what to expect and they are readily available just about anywhere at discount prices.  Because of this consumer friendly permanent ink, it makes a great option for artists working on the cheap or making any number of artistic statements.

Basement Decorated in Sharpie

From Charlie Kratzer in Kentucky who decorated his whole basement in Sharpie line art to Meilena Hauslendale (she managed to nab the SharpieArtist.com domain name) who sells her Sharpie and Watercolor Artwork to a wide swath of the population.  Even more graffiti inspired artists like Chris Dunlap (which seems a more classical fit to the Sharpie marker) has done some cool stuff, and even tricked out his Pontiac Fiero then covered the right side in Sharpie.  In my own personal endeavors I've used Sharpies as a compliment to just about anything I've ever done.  Painting a black line that is smooth and even is just to difficult for me to do with a brush.

Fine Point Black Sharpie Marker

Of course the people who work at Sharpie wouldn't be in Marketing if they were unable to recognize this burgeoning audience of artists and market to them.  So Sharpie created Sharpie Uncapped to showcase some unique uses of their products.  This is one of those gray areas of marketing that nobody really understands.  If people are using your product to create underground art because your product is common place, and you take that underground art and promote it on your fully branded glossy web 2.0-ish site, does it degrade the very underground nature?

Marker of the Beast

One RStevens (purveyor of fine hosiery, pixelly (occasionally NSFW) geeky humor, and math joke shirts) has decided to jump headlong into the exciting world of Satanic Office Supplies. He is selling a limited quantities of what he calls "Marker of the Beast." These are your standard beautiful fine tip Sanford Sharpies that we all know and love, but with the original printing removed (I assume a sacrifice was involved) and relabeled with "666" or "Marker of the Beast" depending on the color. So for $6.66 + $3.49 for shipping you'll get two custom labeled Sharpies, with a glossy black box to keep them in.

Marker of the Beast

Now I'm no slouch with it comes to my love for all things Sharpie related, but paying over $10 for one black and one red Sharpie seems like overkill (especially considering I usually lose them) in this day and age. RStevens doesn't even pretend that these are something special, he just knows there are always going to be a fair number of people interested in purchasing them just for the novelty.

Standard Red Fine Point Sharpie

Your standard black Sharpie runs about 60 cents, but you can probably do even better if you find a coupon or a sale. If you look to buy the blister packaged 5-pack of black Sharpies you'll end up paying more, so just buy them individually. Your standard red Sharpie runs about 70 cents (I couldn't tell you why it's more expensive), and Sanford doesn't offer them in the more expensive blister pack, so you can save yourself the simple division.

If you are looking for a Sharpie that will make your friends green with envy, you could pick up a Marker of the Beast pack (and don't forget the shirt) or you could get one the Special Stainless Steel Sharpies. They will easily out last a standard Sharpie in durability and the replaceable refill cartridge means you'll never have to throw it out.

Evil Mad Scientists Prefer Sharpie

I stumbled across a kit from Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories that they put together to draw on eggs (or other spherical surfaces) that they cleverly call The Egg-Bot Kit. Now I don't know many people who have many reasons to make sure that their Easter Eggs are this perfectly printed on, but I dig where they are going. You can probably think of it as somewhere between a funky CNC and a mutant plotter. Evil Mad Scientist does tend toward those amongst the internet that prefer Arduinos to Articulating Keyboard Trays, but this kit seems like a pretty straight forward take it out of the box, build it, plug it in and draw on eggs style kit. There are of course going to be some hardware hackers out there who are going to take this kit and turn it into some pretty amazing stuff.

Egg-Bot Hard at Work

Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories does show a few cool designs they drew on eggs and Christmas ornaments and Light bulbs and their marker of choice is (and you can't blame them) Sharpie. Seeing as how they have done a number of demos at different gatherings I can only assume they have tried a number of different markers and decided that Sharpies are the best option in permanent marking on whatever odd spherical surface you have. Weather it is glass or egg shell you know that your thin tipped Sharpie will do the job.

 Single Ultra Fine Point Sharpie

The completed "eggssortment" shows a wide variety of colors, and it looks like they not only used the common Sharpie colors but went above and beyond the call of duty and started mixing colors as well.  You can tell from the photos that the Markers are Sharpie Ultra Fine Point Permanent Markers, but sadly they didn't try the Extra Fine Industrial Sharpies just to see how well they'd hold up.

 12 Pack of Ultra Fine Sharpie Markers

Sharpie does of course make a some metallic extra fine markers if you want a bolder metallic stroke.  So if you are lucky enough to be picking up an Egg-Bot why not pick up a variety pack of Ultra Fine Point Sharpies to go with it.  It is the egg drawing marker of choice for mad scientists.

Stop Ballpoint Pen Leaks

The ballpoint pen is aptly named because the ball at the tip is the most important part of the pen.  If the ball is held in place to tightly you won't get smooth lines.  If the ball is held in place to loosely you'll get extra ink on the page.  If that ball falls out completely then nothing will be holding the ink in at all and you'll get a great flood of ink in your pocket, on your desk, or all over your important documents (it happened here at the office).

Ballpoint pen technology has come a long way since it was first patented in 1888, but it still relies on a ball held in place perfectly to create your ideal lines.  If relying on a metal sphere that's measured in millimeters isn't your bag of tea then I'd recommend you look at Sharpie's line of pens.

Sharpie Fine Point Pens

These aren't the same Sharpies that your Mom used to label your T-Shirts in High School, but they do use the same tried and true porous tip technology that all markers have relied on for generations.  These pens write just as you'd expect them to.  Just be careful to make sure you remember to click the pen again when you are done using them.  These aren't standard pens, and just like markers once the tip has dried out you'll greatly decrease the usefulness of the pen.