Prepping chromes and/or glossy cards

muskiesfan · Jul 14, 2011

I've seen things like this discussed before. I saw a ton of people say baby powder and figured that was the answer.

I have some chrome and glossy cards that I want to send TTM. I sat down with a Topps Chrome and the baby powder. I poured some on the card and rubbed it around in a circular motion. After a minute or so, there was no difference. Once I wiped the excess baby powder off of the card, the surface felt the same as a non-powdered chrome. I looked at both under a light and there was some slight residue, but it did not "alter" the surface in any way that made me think an autograph would stick to it. I tried the same with a couple of 2011 Topps cards. They're not high gloss, but I have some concerns about smearing or bubbling, so I wanted to try and work on those as well. I had the same results as the 2010 Topps Chrome cards.

Can someone tell me what I am doing wrong? Is there a better way to do this? Some players I want to send to, I only have chromes or glossy cards. So I would like to find a way to be able to make them more TTM friendly like others say they do.

r2d2 · Jul 14, 2011

I just used powder for the first time because I had to prep a lot of cards in a show time and it was awesome. I used it on Topps Pro Debut and recent Bowmans and Bowmans chrome.
I just put powder on the card (maybe I used a lot, but I really wanted to make sure), rub it and then take it away. Use it on cards you don't need and make a test. It will work.

TBTwinsFan · Jul 14, 2011

The goal is NOT to leave residue on the cards, especially for TTM.

That's what's nice about powder, it looks the exact same but the auto sticks.

If you want to test this, grab a sharpie and write on it (if you want the card, grab some rubbing alcohol)

jwc9p · Jul 15, 2011

I used baby powder on my cards I recently got signed during the All-Star weekend. It helps a lot (I think) but it mostly depends on if the pen is good and how hard they write. You can look at my cards and see that some came out great and some came out not so great. If they're not putting any pressure down on the card and the pen is on its last breath its not going to come out well anyways.

muskiesfan · Jul 15, 2011

Here were my results last night. I covered a Topps Chrome card in baby powder and rubbed the powder all of the card for an extended period of time, 1-2 minutes. Yes, minutes. I wanted to make sure that the powder was doing its job. I wiped it clean and wrote on it with a Sharpie. As soon as I finished writing, I capped the Sharpie and ran my finger across it. A lot of it smeared and came off.

I took a Topps Chrome card that I did not pre-treat in any way and wrote on it. As soon as I finished writing, I capped the Sharpie and ran my finer across it. A lot of it smeared and come off. Back to the drawing board.

I did the baby powder again and then waited 4-5 seconds before running my finger across it. It stayed. Some of it came off on my finger tip, making the writing a little bit lighter, but it stayed this time.

I tried again with no pre-treating. I wrote on a card. Waited 4-5 seconds and then ran my finger across the card. No smudges or smearing. The writing stayed on fine.

My wife was watching as well and found it funny that after the effort, not using baby powder worked best for me. These are 2010 Topps Chrome cards. Seriously, just waiting 4-5 seconds after using the Sharpie and the writing stuck. No baby powder, no anything.

I'm thinking that I'll just send them as is.

jwc9p · Jul 15, 2011

muskiesfan said:
Here were my results last night. I covered a Topps Chrome card in baby powder and rubbed the powder all of the card for an extended period of time, 1-2 minutes. Yes, minutes. I wanted to make sure that the powder was doing its job. I wiped it clean and wrote on it with a Sharpie. As soon as I finished writing, I capped the Sharpie and ran my finger across it. A lot of it smeared and came off.

I took a Topps Chrome card that I did not pre-treat in any way and wrote on it. As soon as I finished writing, I capped the Sharpie and ran my finer across it. A lot of it smeared and come off. Back to the drawing board.

I did the baby powder again and then waited 4-5 seconds before running my finger across it. It stayed. Some of it came off on my finger tip, making the writing a little bit lighter, but it stayed this time.

I tried again with no pre-treating. I wrote on a card. Waited 4-5 seconds and then ran my finger across the card. No smudges or smearing. The writing stayed on fine.

My wife was watching as well and found it funny that after the effort, not using baby powder worked best for me. These are 2010 Topps Chrome cards. Seriously, just waiting 4-5 seconds after using the Sharpie and the writing stuck. No baby powder, no anything.

I'm thinking that I'll just send them as is.

You could run your finger across an auto on a ginter right after the signing and I think it would smear

r2d2 · Jul 15, 2011

I think the powder works best for super glossy cards. I don't remember what year Topps I did my test but when you wrote with sharpie (no prep) the auto would smudge automatically, don't need to smudge with the finger. With the powder, the auto didn't bubble, smeared and looked better, besides staying on the card.

jeff550 · Jul 15, 2011

You have to use Talc powder, the cornstarch powder didnt work for me, and you have to wait for it to dry just like any other card, as ginters will smear if you touch the auto right after it is signed, I know from first had experience

predatorkj · Jul 17, 2011

I know a lot of people don't agree with my methods about obtaining autos so take this for what its worth...

I personally don't see the need to use anything other than a shirt or something of that nature. I rub it all over the card for about 15 or so seconds. But make sure you do it good. Don't be shy with the damn thing. Then be sure you got all of the card. I've had problems before where I didn't wipe the entire card but rather just the spot I wanted signed(or that any normal person that had the time to sit down and take their time would sign it at) and then the guy wrote over a part not rubbed down and it bubbled a little bit.

You do this on any card and it should work. And there will be a little bit of a difference in how the card feels(at least to me) but not really in how it looks(at least to me). I have gotten a ton of them signed, some guys took their time, others did not, and unless I didn't wipe the card down, it's worked like a charm. Even if they sign a handfull of them for me and then chunk them on top of the other ones, nothing came out smeared.

I guess to me, putting the baby powder on was just something I never thought needed to be done. As of yet, I've found no reason for it either. And as someone said above, if you run your finger over something 4-5 seconds after it's been written on, yes it will smear.

r2d2 · Jul 18, 2011

predatorkj said:
I know a lot of people don't agree with my methods about obtaining autos so take this for what its worth...

I personally don't see the need to use anything other than a shirt or something of that nature. I rub it all over the card for about 15 or so seconds. But make sure you do it good. Don't be shy with the damn thing. Then be sure you got all of the card. I've had problems before where I didn't wipe the entire card but rather just the spot I wanted signed(or that any normal person that had the time to sit down and take their time would sign it at) and then the guy wrote over a part not rubbed down and it bubbled a little bit.

You do this on any card and it should work. And there will be a little bit of a difference in how the card feels(at least to me) but not really in how it looks(at least to me). I have gotten a ton of them signed, some guys took their time, others did not, and unless I didn't wipe the card down, it's worked like a charm. Even if they sign a handfull of them for me and then chunk them on top of the other ones, nothing came out smeared.

I guess to me, putting the baby powder on was just something I never thought needed to be done. As of yet, I've found no reason for it either. And as someone said above, if you run your finger over something 4-5 seconds after it's been written on, yes it will smear.

I started using powder until recently and only because I needed to prep a lot of cards in short time, needed something more time effective. But before that I had use an eraser over the card and it worked great.

jeff550 · Jul 18, 2011

predatorkj said:
I know a lot of people don't agree with my methods about obtaining autos so take this for what its worth...

I personally don't see the need to use anything other than a shirt or something of that nature. I rub it all over the card for about 15 or so seconds. But make sure you do it good. Don't be shy with the damn thing. Then be sure you got all of the card. I've had problems before where I didn't wipe the entire card but rather just the spot I wanted signed(or that any normal person that had the time to sit down and take their time would sign it at) and then the guy wrote over a part not rubbed down and it bubbled a little bit.

You do this on any card and it should work. And there will be a little bit of a difference in how the card feels(at least to me) but not really in how it looks(at least to me). I have gotten a ton of them signed, some guys took their time, others did not, and unless I didn't wipe the card down, it's worked like a charm. Even if they sign a handfull of them for me and then chunk them on top of the other ones, nothing came out smeared.

I guess to me, putting the baby powder on was just something I never thought needed to be done. As of yet, I've found no reason for it either. And as someone said above, if you run your finger over something 4-5 seconds after it's been written on, yes it will smear.

I do that for IP autos, but I dont trust it for TTM

Also the powder dosent prevent smearing, it stopps the auto from bubbling, like this

predatorkj · Jul 18, 2011

No, I know it's not used to prevent smearing. But...I am curious as to why people wouldn't do it for TTM but rather only IP. What's the deal there?

jeff550 · Jul 18, 2011

predatorkj said:
No, I know it's not used to prevent smearing. But...I am curious as to why people wouldn't do it for TTM but rather only IP. What's the deal there?

Dosent work for TTM, as rubbing the card is just a short term fix

EDIT: and the part about the bubbling was toawrd the OP

predatorkj · Jul 18, 2011

jeff550 said:
predatorkj said:

No, I know it's not used to prevent smearing. But...I am curious as to why people wouldn't do it for TTM but rather only IP. What's the deal there?

Click to expand...

Dosent work for TTM, as rubbing the card is just a short term fix

EDIT: and the part about the bubbling was toawrd the OP

Short term in what way? Once you rub that gloss down, it's done. I've rubbed down cards a month in advance of a known IP signing(Jim Deshaies, Mario Williams, and Mario Ellie) and they have been fine. I'm talking glossy base topps and chrome or even finest. But do tell. I'd like to know everything and anything anyone has experienced. Maybe a month didn't mean anything. I do know that some TTM's take years to come back. I just don't see the card re-glossing itself (which the gloss is what causes the bubbling correct?).

bustin_knuckles · Jul 18, 2011

Use an eraser on it if you don't want to use powder. I've done it both ways and they both work. Just make sure that the eraser is new and doesn't have anything that can scratch the card.

jeff550 · Jul 19, 2011

predatorkj said:
jeff550 said:

predatorkj said:

No, I know it's not used to prevent smearing. But...I am curious as to why people wouldn't do it for TTM but rather only IP. What's the deal there?

Click to expand...

Dosent work for TTM, as rubbing the card is just a short term fix

EDIT: and the part about the bubbling was toawrd the OP

Click to expand...

Short term in what way? Once you rub that gloss down, it's done. I've rubbed down cards a month in advance of a known IP signing(Jim Deshaies, Mario Williams, and Mario Ellie) and they have been fine. I'm talking glossy base topps and chrome or even finest. But do tell. I'd like to know everything and anything anyone has experienced. Maybe a month didn't mean anything. I do know that some TTM's take years to come back. I just don't see the card re-glossing itself (which the gloss is what causes the bubbling correct?).

Maybe it is the pen the use, but I just havent had luck with TTM's with just rubbing them down.

Lars · Jul 19, 2011

Removing the gloss can be done by either powdering, eraser or rubbing against your clothing - I do a little of all three to most of the cards I can get signed and see no distinction except powdering and erasing can get a little bit more messy.

Edit: when you are in a hurry, it maybe hit or miss when you only prep a card by rubbing it against your clothing. It doesn't work at times because you didn't take the time to prep the card for signing.

predatorkj · Jul 20, 2011

Lars said:
Removing the gloss can be done by either powdering, eraser or rubbing against your clothing - I do a little of all three to most of the cards I can get signed and see no distinction except powdering and erasing can get a little bit more messy.

Edit: when you are in a hurry, it maybe hit or miss when you only prep a card by rubbing it against your clothing. It doesn't work at times because you didn't take the time to prep the card for signing.

Right. Hence the reason I'm enough of a lunatic to prep the cards well in advance. I can be forgetful so I want to know that if they are out of my boxes and in my little plastic 50 ct. holder, they are ready to rock.

muskiesfan · Aug 10, 2011

I want to thank everyone for taking the time to respond. I ended up going with predatorkj's suggestion of rubbing the cards on my shirt. I used heavy pressure and rubbed the surface of the cards for 30 seconds. I then sent several out TTM. I received a success last week and it came out great. I was out of town, so I didn't get to see them until Monday, but that trick worked just fine. Here are the results

I'm really impressed with how the Topps Chrome came out. That's just from rubbing the surface with my shirt. Thank you again to everyone for offering tips to help. Thank you to predator for his suggestion, it definitely works.

TBTwinsFan · Aug 10, 2011

Lol I love how much debate there is on this subject.

Joe, I am glad the cards turned out well for you! They look nice.

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