1981 Crayola Creative Lettering Kit: Can 45-Year-Old Markers Be Revived?

One of my favorite things about testing vintage Crayola products is that they often become little science experiments.

The question this time was simple:

Could 45-year-old markers be brought back to life?

First Impressions

When I opened this 1981 Crayola Creative Lettering Kit, I quickly discovered that all six of the included markers had completely dried out over the decades.

Honestly, I wasn't surprised.

Forty-five years is a long time for any marker to sit unused, and I figured there was a good chance the project would end there. But curiosity got the better of me.

The Experiment

Instead of giving up, I decided to try reviving the markers.

To make it a fair test, I divided the six markers into two groups.

• Three markers were dipped in water for 10 seconds and sat for 6 hours.

• Three markers had their caps filled with water and sat for 6 hours.

  
  

The results were surprisingly clear. The 10-second dip worked much better.

The markers became usable again without becoming overly saturated, making them much easier to control.

Learning Creative Lettering

With the markers working again, I moved on to the lettering exercises included in the kit.

Like most beginners, my first attempts weren't exactly museum-worthy.

What surprised me wasn't that creative lettering was easy—it absolutely isn't.

In fact, spending just a few minutes with the practice book made me appreciate how much time and repetition it takes to develop beautiful, consistent lettering. The examples in the kit represent a skill that comes from patience, not instant success.

What did surprise me was how approachable the kit made the learning process feel. Rather than expecting perfection, it encouraged experimentation and practice, giving beginners a place to start without feeling overwhelmed.

More than 45 years later, I think that's one of the kit's greatest strengths. It wasn't trying to turn someone into a calligrapher in an afternoon. It was simply inviting them to begin.

With a little patience—and a surprisingly short dip in water—the markers came back to life, and the project became a reminder that vintage art supplies sometimes deserve a second chance before we assume they're unusable.

Watch the Video

Final Thoughts

This wasn't just a review of a vintage lettering kit.

It became an experiment in preservation, problem-solving, and giving old art supplies another opportunity to do what they were designed to do.

Sometimes the fun isn't just in making art.

Sometimes it's in discovering that a 45-year-old marker still has a little life left in it.

Documenting the history, nostalgia & wonder of Crayola, one item at a time.