OK, in an attempt to extend a silk vanish routine, I want to "vanish" the 9" silk to the sharpie cap. This seems to only work with a Super Sharpie because of the larger size, but I like the smaller size as I'll then continue into a couple phases of vanishing Sharpie but if I want a shot at this, I need to create more space in the cap which is filled with the soft marker part and it's neck.

So once the cap is off, I need to remove the black pen part, shorten it, and reattach. I'm drying out some sharpies now and am wondering if anyone knows an easier way to remove the black section other than taking a hack saw to the pen, carving out the insides and shortening it, then using a little superglue and epoxy to keep the shortened body in the pen.

Any ideas? I'm hoping someone notes "just give two twists and a shake, it is slides right out."

Where's that hacksaw?

Thx.

Alternative: As long as you are planning to use other Sharpie gags, think about a growing/shrinking Sharpie. That would allow you to use both sizes in the course of action.

There used to be a trick that vanished a small 6" or 9" silk into a bic pen. It worked like the old silk vanishing wand.

Are you having trouble shortening it? I would try cutting it with a mini tubing cutterI would think that the cut lines would be be cleaner.

Thanks for the posts!

As I was drying out a super sharpie for practice (I drilled a 1/32" hole in the bottom of the pen to aid in drying), noticed that the cap actually holds onto the portion of the black tip near the connection with the rest of the marker. This means that if I shorten the black section, then the cap won't have anything to hold onto.

Aargh.

I was at Wal Mart last night and noticed that they are now making "clickable" Sharpies that have no cap. I use a modified Sharpie cap for a specific routine so I hope they don't quit making them.

Regan

Those new Sharpies are great if you do balloons. No need to worry about the cap.

MDS

I think it is a good idea, but I really hope they keep making the old "capable" Sharpies also. Maybe they will make them available both ways.

Regan

They wouldn't discontinue capable Sharpies.

Just like BIC makes capable and clickable pens.

What about an exacto knife? that's what I use to gimmick uniball pens

Worked brilliantly! Thanks for the idea. I picked up a tubing cutter (The Ace Hardware guy gave me "that" look after he asked me what I cutting) and it cuts perfectly!

I've figured out how to cut it so that I can load the silk in the body of the sharpie. The head comes right out but fits very snugly. Thanks for everyone again.

<Drying more sharpies>

You could have just used a pull and had the silk go into your sleeve. From there you just go on with the routine and then you can hand out the sharpie, and let people use it to mark things if you need to later on in the performance.

Guys just a question, suppose I wanted to load a playing card into the sharpie, how the heck do I open the thing, after 2 hours of blood sweat and tears I decided that the sharpie had won, How do I get the black pen bit out of the gray pen shaft? please help!

Tom

Mike and Tom
I've been modifying several dozen sharipies over the past few weeks, and have had great luck with completely taking apart the pens.
To take the black part off, remove the cap. Grip close to the gray body of the marker and bend the "joint" (where the black and gray meet) several times. It almost always just slides out with a few tries. Then, you can clearly see where to cut the black section.
I think the part that holds the cap on is the part closest to the point of the marker. slowly put the cap on, and you'll see what I mean.
I'm also working on several effects with the sharpie, and am drilling, cutting, slicing, etc.!
Good luck, let me know if any of this makes sense or if you need more!

Yowza-good tip dearwiseone! I'll give that a shot.