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How to Build Spy Equipment

Spies are extremely cool because they&'re able to think on their feet, talk their way out of even the most difficult of situations and have the perfect equipment: gadgets that are essential to getting intelligence back to headquarters. Building spy equipment at home is actually relatively simple. It mostly requires looking at existing things in a slightly new way to make them into situational gadgets.

Things You'll Need

Old book (large, thick hardback that won&'t be used anymore)
Ruler
Marker
Utility knife
Lemon or lemon juice
Knife
Two shallow porcelain or glass dishes
Toothpick
Pen and paper
Candle and matches
Tongs
Butter knife
Starch Powder
Make-up brush
Packing tape
Index card
Magnifying glass

Instructions

Book Safe
- 1
  Open the book to about page 20. Mark about 1 inch in from the edges of the book so that you can draw a rectangle on this page.
- 2
  Cut the rectangle out with your utility knife. Cut a few pages at a time. Keep cutting this rectangle out until you remove all but about the last 20 pages of the book. The inside pages will form a void in the book that you can use to store things.
- 3
  Hide things inside the book, and place it on a shelf. A hiding space is referred to by spies as a "slick." There is a trade-off with hiding spaces. The more difficult it is to find, the harder it is to access in a crisis.
Invisible Ink
- 4
  Plan a secret message that you only want your colleagues to find. Use a coded message just to be safe, but use a code your associates can break.
- 5
  Cut the lemon in half, and squeeze the juice out onto a dish.
- 6
  Dip your toothpick in the lemon juice and use it to write your secret message. Wait for the message to dry. You’ll notice the lemon juice actually “disappears.”
- 7
  Pass the code on to your friend. Have her hold the paper over a lit candle to reveal the code. Do not hold the paper too close to the candle to avoid catching it on fire.
- 8
  Wash out the dishes and dispose of all your evidence.
Fingerprint Powder
- 9
  Light a candle and hold one of your shallow dishes over the flame so that a black film forms on the dish.
- 10
  Scrape the black film off of the dish, into another dish. Repeat this process a few times until you have about a teaspoon of black powder.
- 11
  Measure out a teaspoon of corn starch. Mix that in with the black dust so that it forms a very fine powder.
- 12
  Use a make-up brush to spread some of this powder over an area you suspect has fingerprints on it. Continue until you find a clean and clear fingerprint.
- 13
  Put some packing tape over the suspect fingerprint and lift the packing tape up straight off, cleanly, so that it preserves the fine details of the fingerprint. Place this tape on an index card quickly so there&'s less of a chance to smudge it. You now have a fingerprint to compare with a suspect&'s fingerprint.

Educational Toys