I recently was lucky enough to pick up the Mystery Ranch Carryology Assault pack (first look article coming out this weekend). I’ll start by saying that it’s an awesome bag. Taylor Weldon and the crew did a great job collaborating with the “Ranch” on that project. And while I love almost everything about the pack, I don’t dig the huge branding on the front. Carryology was obviously proud of the effort and so they had Mystery Ranch stitch their logo underneath the Mystery Ranch logo on the front of the pack. It wouldn’t have been too bad if they had used black thread to go with more of a low-vis look. Instead they picked bright orange. No offense to Carryology, but the logo had to be sized down and so I decided to black out their portion.
Picking the Right Ink
Most people go with a Sharpie pen to do this but it isn’t the best choice. Standard Sharpies have a purplish hue to them and don’t look quite right on a black pack. After some research, I decided to go with a fabric marker. Fabric markers are specially made to mark clothing, bedding, and other gear. The ink doesn’t bleed and the color is more of a true black. For this job, I picked up a two-pack of Crafts for ALL Permanent Fabric Laundry markers.
Crafts 4 ALL Fabric Marker
The Crafts for ALL markers have both a fine tip…
and a chisel tip so you can do fine detail work and also cover larger areas.
A Dry Run
Since I had no prior experience with these markers, I decided to do a test run on an old North Face jacket.
I used the fine tip on the lettering and the chisel tip on the rest.
Other than rushing towards the end and getting some ink on the borders, I thought it turned out. The pen performed as advertised. So far, so good.
The Finished Product and Some Tips
After being happy with the dry run, I then worked on the bag. Here’s how that turned out…
My Mystery Ranch Carryology Assault Pack is a little more stealthy now.
I have to admit that the bag was harder because Mystery Ranch didn’t use the same thickness of thread and the lettering was smaller and cursive. But I took my time and overall I’m pleased with the result.
Here are some tips:
- Go with the grain of the thread. The ink will soak in better.
- Be prepared to do multiple passes. Look at the logo from different angles and touch up bare spots.
- Practice on a old jacket or other piece of gear beforehand
- Use a tool designed for the job. Sharpie ink is not moisture resistant and will fade over time. Laundry markers are the best solution.
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