Fantastically timely thread for me! I have a couple of old pocket protectors, and am currently trying to fill it with five or six pen and pencil tricks. (Sort of along the lines of the 'magic show in an Altoids tin' meme that keeps showing up here.) Now I've got a lot of good ideas for it! Thanks.

Some of the best pen magic I've ever seen is done by a chap called Rick Merrill. He does a whole routine with sharpies which is fantastically entertaining. You can read his stuff in Antimony magazine or order his lecture notes at http://www.rickmerrill.com/

Well recommended!!

Merlin

I do a pen thru bill and then go into bill thru quarter using the same bill.

I was thinking of doing a pen through quarter, revealing the gaffe on the quarter, then doing pen through bill. That would leave 'em confused! Only problem is, I really don't want to reveal the quarter gaffe.

Me be the following impromptu effect was already mentioned with a name I don't know:

The optical illusion of a pen, which seems to be made out of rubber.

Wonder Pen-tration....Recap....

I posted this in "Rings & Things". Here's a re-post since this is a better place for it:

Go to OfficeMax or Staples and find the Zebra Tele-Scopic Pen:

http://www.officemax.com/max/solutions/p......36907923

You get 2 ball point pens in the pack for $4.49. Here's the magical part - If you push on the ends of the pen it instantly contracts from just over 5" to 3 3/4" in length!

So... grab some super glue and glue one of the pens into the "shrunken" position.
Start by showing the full length pen (don't let 'em handle it because they'll figure it out right away!). Using your best acting crush the pen into the shrunken position... switch it out for the super-glued shrunken pen which you hand out for examination. They won't be able to make it grow back to its original length since you super-glued it!

One more thing. The pen barrel is silver and black. The word "Zebra" appears on one side of the black barrel. Before you do the shrinking routine you can do a few paddle moves to make the word Zebra appear and disappear.

Very cool effect for less than 5 bucks! Enjoy!

Other ideas?