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been trying to figure this out all day. covering the lead with nail varnish, paint or superglue doesnt seem to do the trick, the bu**er starts making marks on the paper after about 10 cm of contact. i dont want to say the effect this is for because it'll be getting dangerously close to exposure but if i say its in the mentalist arena im sure most of you will work it out. either way, the reason is not too important really.

unfortunately i cant use a dried out sharpie, because i need the spec to write 3 pieces of info on 1 business card initially and i think they will struggle to make it fit using a marker pen.

thankyouuuuuuu

use a dried out biro. they never write.

Using a dried up biro works but I've always found that varnish works fine. It's never left any marks etc?

If not, for a pound you can buy "dummy" pencils that don't write whatsoever from here...

http://www.topsecretmagic.co.uk/accessories.html

Scroll down a wee bit and you'll find them. £1 each.

Either use some Superglue to coat the lead or some clear nail varnish. Put a few coats of nail varnish on if you are saying it wasn't effective the first time. Otherwise maybe the pencil you are using has too soft a lead. If so try using a harder pencil, like a 2H or 4H pencil.

Thanks for the tips, that should do nicely. My guess is that its a soft lead issue. i'll give ya suggestions a go and see what works best. My only worry with the rubber-lead pencil is that it won't feel right, but for a quid its worth a stab. Thanks everyone

Yeah it does feel funny.

Even with harder pencils I still had the same problem with superglue, haven't tried the varnish yet.
I did muck about with some pens though and found the perfect solution...

Drum roll and ticker tape at the ready!

Buy a bic biro, aquire pliers and pull out the nib. This is about a centimetre long and made of metal, its the last little section and protrudes only a few mm, it clips in to the gold coloured plastic which in turn clips into the clear plastic of the main part. Try and use up as much of the ink that's left in this little bit as best you can. Apply superglue into the hollow cylinder that would normally stick up into the reservoir and leave to dry. Reinsert nib into pen. Superglue should block the flow and the bonus is that spectators can SEE there's ink in there so shouldn't suspect a thing. In performance: Start with a normal biro, do some writing with it, switch to gaffed biro, switch back to normal pen at end. Collect huge tips and grin smugly, nay lecherously at the envying crowds, take off shirt and set fire to the place

(This works with bic biros, but I assume it will work with other makes too)
Ps. My phone autocorrects 'bic biros' to 'big girls'. It really is childish how much this amuses me.

Sorry if the "in performance" bit at the end seems patronising at all, I was thinking of any newbies who might stumble across this thread in the future looking for a solution to a similar problem

I am a little confused. If the spec has a pen/pencil/sharpie they will see that it does not write.
If you have the pen/pencil/sharpie, then just hold it near the tip so that the tip is off the card/paper and its your finger that is in contact with the surface of the card/paper.

I want the spec to think they are writing/drawing while under pseudo-hypnosis or maybe just blind folded, when actually they aren't making any marks at all.

If they won't see the pencil making a mark then just take a piece of wooden dowel, paint it to look like a pencil, sharpen it in the pencil sharpener and use a marker pen or real pencil to add the graphite point. If you can get the eraser and brass ferrule off a real pencil and put it on your feke then it would look even more convincing.

This may or may not help you, but it may help somebody else. And yes it is exposure so stop reading if you are offended by it.

There is a pen on the market that writes in both red and blue. It is not one of those thick pens that writes in four different colours. But only two, you click once to make the first nib appear, click again and the second appears, click a third time and the nib vanishes.

I recomend this type if you can find it for 2 reasons. It is not obvious that there is more than one ink cartridge in the pen. The second reason is the cartridge is metal, not plastic. So if you find the pen here is what you do.

Find out which cartridge comes into play on the second click. Remove that cartridge from the pen, (they are replacable) Put that cartidge in a vice don't squish it, you just want to hold it. Have the non writing end pointing down. Place a little jar or something underneath, otherwise clean up is a real pain in the rear. Now get a candle or a lighter or whatever and hold the flame midway up the cartridge. The Ink will heat up in just a few moments and run out of the pen. Really only takes a few moments. Put the pen back together.

See what we have now done? Click the pen give it to the spectator have them write something. Then when you need the other thing done, just a quick second click on the pen and voila.

I suppose you can just put nail polish or something on the tip of the pen rather than remove the ink. But in my book, any day you get to play with fire is a good day!

Was going to say what Mandrake said, just don't give them a pencil - but instead something that looks like a pencil.

An alternative option that you may wish to consider would be, instead of creating a pencil which was incapable of writing to switch the paper that they have written on out for a blank piece. This would of course be dependant on the surface they are writing upon but should be a simple matter with a pad or business card.

The obvious solution is to hand your spectator a normal everyday quill to write with, but when they hand it back you secretly switch it to the feather that you've had hidden in your hat.