Does anyone know of method to take a Sharpie marker apart? I have something I want to do on the inside of one but I'm not sure how I can get it open without breaking the plastic. Any ideas would greatly appreciated, Thanks, Chuck

I'd try twisting it and pulling it apart. There will be some type of adhesive to hold the halves together, but I doubt it would be too strong to keep you from breaking the seal.

Be careful! It's permanent ink. You might want to try this outside, just in case. Also, if you break the plastic, they are cheap enough to throw away and say to yourself..."Well, that didn't work!"

Good luck.

Mark.

Now, that was funny!!

Bill

I was thinking along the lines of some sort of solvent, but so far paint thinner is not working.

To get the tip off, I have found that I can twist rather hard to "break" whatever seals it to the tube, and then it comes out easily, along with the inked thing inside. Not too messy with a paper towel handy.

Yep. You should be able to do something like this:

1 - Take off cap.
2 - Get paper towel.
3 - Hold barrel in one hand, hold writing end with paper towel in other hand.
4 - Pull really hard.

Shouldn't be too much of an issue. Good luck!

OK I'll try it on a different marker, the particular one I have is very well attached, I'll try another. Thanks.

Ask KyletheGreat here on The Café.

Bob Sanders
Magic By Sander

Try stomping on it.

Jim

That's funny Jim...

I tried to pull one apart with a paper towel and it was really stuck. But when I grabbed the grey barrell and placed my thumb on the colored side and gave it some pressure it worked it's way apart pretty easily. Just spin it and apply pressure. I didn't see any adhesive.

Later
Tim

Get a good grip on the black tip end with a pair of pliers Assuming a black sharpie). Protect the tip housing from any scratching by first wrapping in with a piece of t-shirt cloth. Now firmly but slowly start bending and pulling it back and forth. The only thing keeping it secure are a series of ridges that you have to overcome. It will very quickly pop right out along with the ink stick/well.

You can now remove the ink/stick well and insert a different colored inkwell from another red sharpie that you did the same to and recap the tip housing.

Start drawing random lines on a clean piece of paper until the ink from the original color bleeds out and the new color bleeds in. This will take about 10 minutes of doodling.

You now have a black sharpie that writes red.

I've been changing the color of the ink in sharpies for a long time. It's one of my best tools in some of my mentalism routines. If you own UNBELIEVABLE then you'll see in the instructions that this method is a whole lot better than the one recommended in order to change the color of the ink.

peace, charlie

Thanks, guys, I knew this was the place to get the answer!

I would just switch caps.

Not a good idea with sharpies.
The ink tip housing is usually the color of the ink.

peace, charlie

This months issue of Make magazine shows you how to take apart a Sharpie so you make a telekinetic pen.
It also shows how to build a lot different tricks as well and gives away some patents on illusions.

Barnes and Noble or Borders has it in stock $14.95.

I took a look at Make Magazine in Barnes and Nobles, they give away the Change Bag, Fire from Palm, Cobra Sharpie,even David Copperfields Flying Illusion(not in great detail)and many other magic effects were disclosed including how to make them yourself.

Chain Saw.

OOps!!

From the Ernst Blofeld School of Magic: High intensity laser beam.

Charlie,

Many thanks for your post about changing the ink cartridges! I've been trying to get that done for a while!

Stay safe,

Logan

Here's a little gem...

Remove the tip from the sharpie.
Remove the ink cartridge and throw it away
Let the tip dry out.
Coat the tip with super glue after it's dry to ensure it will never write again
Take a playing card and roll it length wise...stick it inside the marker and replace the tip.

When I'm at my restaurants, I open every table with my 2 cup routine. I use the sharpie as my "wand". It's out on the table the entire time. Later in my set, I hae a card selected (force the duplicate card of the one that's IN the sharpie). Lost back in the deck.

Hot Shot Cut spring their card out of the deck. Flip it over...but it's a blank card. NOT TO WORRY...here, take the marker and write the name of your card on the blank card. They can't. The marker must be out of ink? Pull it apart to reveal their card inside.

I usually END the set with that one...I will usually have about 10 of these cards rolled up in my jacket pocket so it takes nothing to grab one, load the pen, tip it, cap and on I go to the next table.

Enjoy!

Christopher