Writing on photos

[Benson Coleman]

My first anniversary with my wife is coming up soon and I wanted to create something special for her. I was thinking of taking one of our black and white wedding photos and writing "I love you" or something to that effect on it. However, I'm not sure which ink would be the best to use, if any ink at all and not paint instead.

Since the photo is black and white I was thinking of vermillion sumi ink or a vermillion kuretake pen. But since the photo is semi glossy I have a feeling that either of those would take an eternity to dry on the gloss finish and wouldn't be the best choice to use.

Anyone have any experience with writing on photos and know what works and doesn't work?

Thanks for the advice!

[neriah]

I have never tried to write on photos, but had a similar situation at work. One of our colleagues decided to move abroad and we decided to gift him a framed photo of our team. We wanted to sign the photo but didn't want the signatures to fade. After some trial and error, we used white waterproof marker for writing on various surfaces to sign the photo and framed it afterwards. It looked really awesome.

I know it is not exactly what you aimed for, but give it a shot, I was pleasantly surprised with the result. Just remember to print out 5-10 pieces, so you can try lots of stuff out.

[jeanwilson]

Here are some options
https://www.jetpens.com/blog/guide-to-photo-pens/pt/906

[Erica McPhee]

Great responses so far! You could also write on a mat if you were unsure of writing directly on the photo. I used to enscribe photo mats for a company who was giving out award photos. You just have to be careful about bleed.

[creatuto]

My way would be to do the calligraphy on a plain sheet of paper, scan and photoshop it onto the photo. Maybe you consider that "cheating" !?

[Estefa]

If you want to use Sumi, you can use some gum sandarac – but it will also make the surface of the foto a bit more mat. I've seen Barbara Calzolari use that technique on glossy magazine print – it should work on fotos. But I would always test it before on an extra foto! – Also I think monoline lettering with a sharpie can look great. Maybe better in that case than with the gum sandarac that may change the appearance of the photograph. Good luck!

[Benson Coleman]

Thank you all very much! I'll be sure to give these suggestions a try. I even got inspiration for future project ideas. I appreciate the help.

[jrvalverde]

Too late, but for the record, Clairefontaine has a great nearly-glossy paper that is fountain pen and pen ink friendly. I've use it to print course certificates that I would later write student names on and sign. It is DCP, for Digital Colour Printing. I got it in 160g, but it is also available in 200 and 250g.

I suppose that the main problem would be if the ink used to print the photo is incompatible with the ink used to write.