Marker blacked out ink?

Question

i have a piece of paper with printed words on it and part of its blacked out on both sides(front and back) with black marker. i can make out a little of what is written at the bottom and top but is there any way i could do something to it or something to see what it says?

ive held it so the light shined through it from the back and could see nothing, its better when i shine light directly on it and i can see some words

Answer 1

Depending upon how the text was printed you can try placing the paper in a solvent to dissolve and wash off the marker.   A color fast printing ink or laser toner would work. Ink jet ink will not work with this method as these inks are not color fast and can even dissolve in water.

Try testing on a small section of the paper to see what solvent will work and the durability of the printed text.

Solvents that you can try.

Alcohol

Acetone (nail polish remover)

"Lift - off" brand stain/spot remover

Brake cleaner (Contains TCE so use outside in a well ventilated area. obtain from an auto parts store)

Answer 2

Depending on how the text was printed, you might get better results if you look at it with light shining on it at a sharp angle.

If the text was produced by a laser printer or photocopier, it might reflect more light than the paper where there's just marker.

If you have access to an ultraviolet light, you might try taking the paper into a dark room with it and seeing if the print fluoresces (glows) in a different way to the marker. (Very CSI, this!) Bug zappers often have UV lights ("black lights").

If this doesn't work, and it doesn't matter if you destroy the paper, you could try carefully holding one area of the paper over a light bulb and seeing if maybe getting the paper really hot results in either text of marker-covered areas browning to a different degree or if there is any other change produced by the heat.