Ink decoration on steel drum

I have been asked to advise on the best way of protecting a steel
drum (the musical instrument variety) that has been decorated and
signed by the artist on the outside. As far as we know, the
decoration has been done with marker / sharpie pen, but nothing has
been done to seal the ink.

Ideally, the drum would remain playable afterwards, so leaving it as
it is is not an option.

I suspect that the solution would be to coat the outside with
spray-on clear varnish, but I'd appreciate any other options.

Flick


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 21:19
                 Distributed: Wednesday, August 8, 2007
                       Message Id: cdl-21-19-013
                                  ***