Dissection of a Sharpie

I post announcements of my tests on my various Victorian and Steampunk Facebook groups I belong to.  Eviljohn Mays of the Denver Victorian and Steampunk Society suggested I cut open a Sharpie and use a straw to blow the ink around, thus avoiding the streaking problems of The Sharpie Method, test #1.  This is my dissection report of a Sharpie marker.

Here is a picture of a standard black Sharpie marker.  As you can see, it is basically a two-piece shell, the black tip and the gray handle.

Using a pair of standard plyers, I clamped onto the point end.  With my hand, I twisted and pulled off the gray handle.  This revealed the three parts pictured above.  The long black cylinder is the ink.  However, it is not an ink well.  It is an ink-soaked sponge coated in plastic. 

With the aid of a box cotter, and some plastic gloves, I split open the casing to reveal the sponge inside. Seeing it was, indeed, a sponge, I had the thought that I could just run the sponge over the lens, thus eliminating any blobs.

And this is my paper test.  As you can see, the spread of the ink is much more even than had I tried to use the tip of the pen.  If I bend the sponge correctly, it would be wide enough to cover a lens in one sweep, completely eliminating the need for multiple passes to cover the entire surface.  I might, however, need to go over the same lens multiple times to get the darkness I desire.

I would call the dissection a success.  The next Sharpie test will be with a split-open marker on actual eyeglasses.

PS: While I performed this experiment for my own purposes, it would be nice if I could somehow claim all of its expenses on my taxes. Therefore, I have created a PayPal donate button, which appears at the end of this entry. If you can spare a buck or two, I can claim the expenses as a tax-deductable business loss.

The Sharpie Method, test #1

While looking for more detailed instructions on how to use RIT dye to tint eyeglasses, I came across the procedure to use a Sharpie to color a lens.  The instructions were simple: Draw on the inside of a lens with a Sharpie.  Here are the results of this test.


Here is a picture through the lens I will be using for this test.  I have cleaned it with my own home-made lens solution (purchase here).  I also tried to focus through the lens so you can see how the glasses would perform if they were being worn.


These are the markers I ended up purchasing.  They are the chisel-tip Sharpies.  I first looked at Hobby Lobby; they wanted $12.99 for this pack of 8.  Checking at Wal-Mart, the same package was only $7.97.  I was a little shocked to see such a large price difference for the exact same merchandise.  Sorry, but I had to buy Wal-Mart.


Now here is a picture of the same lens after the inside had been colored with Sharpie.  I’m not sure you can see in this picture, but the lens is very streaky.  That is one of the two problems with this method.  The Sharpie does not create smooth coverage.  Also, this picture seems to show a lighter tint than when worn.


On this picture, I hope you can see the streaks. You can also see the second problem with the Sharpie method. The two lenses are different shades. A third problem is Sharpie will melt any previous coating of Sharpie on the lens, so you cannot just draw over the old in hopes of filling in streaks and darkening color.


This is a picture of me wearing the final result. It doesn’t look too bad; it is very close to what I was trying to accomplish. The streaks are not as evident in the picture, but I am sure they would be noticed by someone standing close. In addition, they are very hard to see through. I am not sure I could use these in low-light situations. Also, because of the streaks, it feels like I have constant floaters.

I tried smoothing out the streaks in the following manners:

1. Using a paintbrush.  This just changed the streaks into brush strokes.
2. Applying alcohol to smooth out the streaks.  This removed most, but not all, of the ink, which was way more than I was attempting to do.
3. Buffing with a cotton rag.  This had little to no effect.  In fact, it did not even seem to scratch the Sharpie at all.

I am going to try a few more things to see if I can smooth out the streaks, including a quick alcohol bath, spraying with a sealer, and buffing with a Magic Eraser. Unless one of these fixes work, I would not use this method for prescription glasses.

PS: While I performed this experiment for my own purposes, it would be nice if I could somehow claim all of its expenses on my taxes. Therefore, I have created a PayPal donate button, which appears at the end of this entry. If you can spare a buck or two, I can claim the expenses as a tax-deductable business loss.