Hi everyone,
I did a search and found this question asked once before a while back but there were no replies, so I'll ask again and hopefully someone will be able to help.

I was wondering if anyone here performs calligraphic cash from Carneycopia. If so, what type of pen do you use? I've searched everywhere I can think of, but couldn't find a suitable pen. It seems like a great trick and I'd love to be able to perform it. Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Landon

Geez, how'd I miss that one? I just re-read the effect and you can be sure that I'll be headed to OfficeMax or Staples tomorrow to check out some suitable pens. If nobody else responds before then I'll let you know what I come up with. I do have a BIC ballpoint that I converted a while back for a Steve Dusheck effect (the metal cap would be sightly less than half the total length after sawing off the tip), and it looks like it might be right for this, so that's probably the first thing I'll look for.

Thanks for the tip, Landon.

Hi Magiguy,
Yea, it's a great trick but it's just SO hard to find a suitable pen! I've looked in about five different stores including Staples, which has a HUGE isle of pens. I looked through every single pen they had but none had the removable cartridge with a cap! I know I had a pen a while ago too that would have worked but I threw it out when it ran out of ink and I can't even remember what kind it was. I'd be really interested to hear what kind of pen you got if you found one.
Thanks,
Landon

Okay...
Tonight I picked up two styles of pens at Office Depot, but I probably won't have time to work with them before the weekend. The two styles I bought were the Pentel Pilot (kinda pricey at $5+ each), and a brand called "Foray," the style is "precision point gel ink pen -- 0.5mm" (these were normally 12 for $9.99, but on sale at $4+ for the dozen).

I'll let you know how it works out...

I also like this effect, and I wish I thought of asking him when he was the last guest of honor....anyways, I emailed John for a source and I will post when he responds.......

Cool, thanks Magiguy and joseph. I'll try to see if I can find those two pens. I was just thinking too that I should have asked Mr. Carney himself while he was here. Oh well.
Landon

Mr. Carney was kind enough to quickly answer my email....His pen is no longer sold as far as he knows, and he said several pens may have to be experimented with to get the desired one......Let's try to fine a suitable replacement..... ..

I haven't gotten much farther along, but some initial thoughts about the pens I mention above... Neither are perfect for this effect, but of the two the Foray brand is probably the best. The only problem is the fact that it is a gel pen, which means the ink leaks out a bit and would bleed, uncapped in your pocket. I replaced it with a standard ink cartridge that I took from another pen and this solved the problem. There was a non-gel version of this pen available but the design was different and would not have worked. I like the look and feel of the Pentel pens but they are all metal, so not only are they a bit too flashy (if you know this effect, you'll know what I mean), they are a bit too "talky" when side by side, and when capping / uncapping, as well. I'll try to work with the Foray pens over the next day or so and let you know how it goes. I may make another trip to another store as well.

Sorry to keep pelting this thread with sporadic responses, but I'm simply adding new information as I come across it.

In Carneycopia Stephen Minch references a similar routine in Apocalypse, volume 7. I looked this up and saw that the recommended pen (although this routine has a bit of a different method) is a Sheaffer "No Nonsense" refillable fountain pen. The closest thing I can find resembling this particular model (all other Sheaffer fountain pens are quite pricey) is the "No Nonsense" calligraphy set (about $14 per 3-pen kit, but you'd likely need to purchase two kits to get two similar pens).

I'd love to know what the original no nonsense fountain pen looked like and how closely this calligraphy pen resembles it. Knowing what it looked like would also enable us to search for simialr alternatives (not necessarily fountain pen style). The Apocalypse version is an equally terrific, though somewhat different, routine. I'd be interested in exploring both methods, given that the pens are available.

A little more info as it is uncovered, piece by piece...

Hey Magiguy - Here's a pic of the No Nonsense Pen (slide your cursor down until you see the heading "No Nonsense"... Maybe this will help?

Go Here: http://www.pendemonium.com/
pens_sheaffer_vintage.htm#no_nonsense

sd

This site has much better closeups of the No nonsense pen:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=h......er/Pics/
SheafferNoNonsense09.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.penhero.com
/PenGallery/Sheaffer/SheafferNoNonsense.htm&h=
480&w=534&sz=85&tbnid=YyD1VSTVh-s2SM:&tbnh=
115&tbnw=129&hl=en&ei=J3F6RL-qLYnGJLuo6LkB&sig2
=s9hvjVDJF9GLhnsLkPkV4A&start=6&prev
=/images%3Fq%3DSheaffer%2B%2522No%2B
Nonsense%2522%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3Dlang_en%26sa%3DN

Thanks, sdmagic! Looks like the one I want is out of production, but the pictures in the link should help me hunt for a suitable substitute.

When I first bought Carneycopia years ago, this was also one effect that I really liked and had tried for years to find a suitable pen and never found one. One other obstacle though was the F**h bill that is needed. I bought a few different versions and they all looked obviously very different from the real dollar. I think there are some more realistic ones on the market today so if anyone knows of a good source, please also post that here.

I settled on the bills put out by Pyrowizard. They're pretty pricey (as are most of the bills I found). They're only obvious if you are openly displaying them, but this effect does not require such an open display. As for the pen, I settled on a Foray gel ink pen which I altered considerably with a coping saw and some ingenuity. The better version of this effect may be the one out of Apocalypse, but I have yet to find the right style of pen (I may be onto a new lead though, so I'll likely follow up again in the future).

Carney must be a genius, to stumble across a one-in-a-million pen, and then create an effect using it.... ...

As I understand it, the pen was much more common about 15 - 20 years ago, when the effect was originated. The group that collectively created the version that was published in Apocalypse even made a few sets which they sold upon request for about $10 each. It's not that you can't find a suitable pen, the trouble is that the very most suitable pens (at least the ones I could find -- and I really did hunt for them) cost $50 dollars and up. It would be pretty easy to make a mistake when making the gimmick, which means you run the risk of blowing $50 with very little effort. Most recently I was in a local department store and saw a new and fairly inexpensive model that I hadn't seen before. I've already gone to the trouble of building a workable, substitute pen, but I may just have to go out and give this one a try as well.

I'll let you know...

I still look for a suitable pen when I remember and I'm in a department store but I still haven't been able to find one. I've found the brand Foray but not the gel ink one Magiguy described.

Magiguy(or anyone else), do you know of an internet source for these pens that would ship to Canada? I don't really want to buy a $50 pen because chances are I'll mess it up on the first few times (I'm not a "handyman"!). I'm going to take a look around on the internet now-I'll let you guys know if I find anything(not likely lol). Thanks,

Landon

Hi again,
Here's my progress so far:
I found these pens at office depot site. Are these the ones you are talking about Magiguy?

http://www.officedepot.com/ddMain.do?lev......M_694699

I don't think I can order off this site and unfortunately, I couldn't find these pens on the canadian site, but I did find an address for an Office Depot in Calgary, so I might have to take a trip down there.Hopefully it will help for someone else though.

As for flash bills, I found out on another thread about new flash bills from hocus-pocus. Kind of pricey and unfortunately no canadian ones. Here's the link for those:

http://www.hocus-pocus.com/magicshop/?hn=1

Another member on the thread also suggested printing them off the computer so I might have to try that for my bills.

Hope this helps, anyone else making progress with this effect I'd be very interested to hear about it. Thanks,

Landon

The Forays I found were indeed at Office Depot (I didn't realize that they were the manufacturer). The cap on mine is considerably different. The item number is 774-104 Precision Point Gel Ink Pens. The new style pen I mention in my last post are Pentel Fountain pens (at least, I'm pretty sure of it) and cost about $6 each. It's been a while since I saw them but I think the barrel (or perhaps the cap) was translucent, which initially deterred my purchase. I need to go back and check them out a bit more closely.

Landon,
Send me a mailing address via PM and I'll send you a couple of the Forays.

Magiguy,

just saw this. THANKS I'll pm you now!

Landon