Forbidden Fruit
- July 18th, 2008
I was having a conversation about pens the other day, specifically markers. Most people know I’m a Sharpie fiend — I have been for years. Sure, I dabbled in Pentels in middle school. One crazy night in college, I even experimented with watercolor markers. But my first markers, my gateway markers, the ones that freed my mind, that opened my eyes, that showed me the wonders art had to offer… were Mr. Sketch.
For those who aren’t familiar, Mr. Sketch markers are these fragranced, semi-thick markers with a slant tip that come in a flat Styrofoam tray slipped inside a cardboard sleeve. The packaging is much fancier now than it was in 1982, though. And we only had like, 8 and 12-count sets; now they go all the way to 18. Luckies! Each of the colors had a corresponding scent: Black/Licorice, Red/Wild Cherry, Blue/Blueberry, Green/Mint, Yellow/Lemon, Brown/Cinnamon, Purple/Grape, and Orange/Orange, Pink/Melon, Turquoise/Mango, Magenta/Raspberry, and Dark Green/Apple.
Clearly, black was a big loser. I think that’s why I ended up loving color so much and not using black in a lot of my art. Licorice scent = bad. Unfortunately, this therapy didn’t work for my Jagermeister consumption in the ‘90’s.
I also hated Blue. I love the color, but the scent was right up there with Tidy Bowl. Aqua was alright… oh, ‘turquoise’, they called it. In my opinion, it’s aqua, but I won’t split hairs. The Blue, however, was downright repelling. It didn’t smell anything like blueberries! I feel similarly about the blue “blueberry” Jelly Belly. Same medicinal smell and taste… like what I imagine that blue barber comb disinfectant would taste like with a bit of Splenda. *shudder*
I liked most of them, but my faves were Brown because I looooooove cinnamon and well, pink… for obvious reasons. I had, on more than one occasion, been told I had ink on the end of my nose from sniffing Mr. Sketch so often. Did I have a problem? Of course not! I could quit any time. It’s not like they were highlighters or heaven forbid, Marks-a-lot! It was just fruit, I swear.
When I got to middle school, you weren’t down if you didn’t have the too-good-too-be-true golden 24-count Pentel folder filled with exotic colors like Ochre and Carmine, so I was forced through peer pressure to say goodbye to my first love. Mr. Sketch couldn’t go on with me any further. I had to brave the harsh world of art supplies and pre-teen judgement alone.
Eventually, I found a bunch of other ways to get my fix… pastels and Ticonderoga #2 pencils, mostly. And a new box of 64-count Crayolas with the sharpener in the back. Oh yeah, baby…
Now I’ve graduated to a house full of every Sharpie in every color at every stroke size. Yes, even the metallics. But I never forgot my first time with Mr. Sketch. Sometimes we indulge in a few stolen moments together in the aisles of Office Depot, but then it’s back in the box until we meet again. *sigh*
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I bought those markers for my son for Easter a few years back and I swear I spent most of that day sniffing the cinnamon one! It’s definitely my favorite!
Ahh, the memories! And we all know that scent is strongly tied to memory.
Cheap marker sniffing whore.
I attribute most of my brain damage to sniffing those.
I still have a green one from the 70s (it was my sister’s), and it still smells good! Remember, kids, always put the caps back on tightly!
Every time I unearth that marker going through old boxes of junk I think about mailing it back to her.
Mr. Sketch – clearly a gateway marker!
Hm. The brown I had in school was chocolate flavored. I remember this because, of course, I had to taste it.
It tasted like marker.
But ooooh, it totally smelled like chocolate.
I love the new “click” Sharpies– just like a regular pen, but better!
My white board markers at school were scented–it took me the longest time to figure that out. Every time I was teaching and was using the black, I kept smelling Thin Mint cookies. It was driving me crazy until I figured out the marker was chocolate-mint scented. Mmmmm.
Hee! I have like, three packages of Mr. Sketch(es?) in my desk at school. I only let the kids use them if they’ve been especially good. The bad kids are not allowed to smell the goodness of the cinnamon. The bad kids can feel free to smell the black marker though.
@Louise: I like your style. haha!
So after reading this post, I asked a couple people about Mr. Sketch, and everyone knew what I was talking about. I on the other hand, do not for the life of me remember these markers. However, I’m now convinced that I must get my hands on some. Also thinking I’m the only person that loves the smell of licorice!
I can still hear your sharp intake of breath on the
phonehorb when I said the word “Sharpie” as we were dancing around our xmas pressies for one another. I named the puppy!!I recall, growing up, the markers that smelled like marker. You know, that you can sniff and get “school kid high” off of.
Mind you, fruit and chocolate might smell better, but in Canada back in the day, we didn’t have such luxury back then. Nope, it was hard core marker huffing for us.