ham_fisted: (whut)
Detective Gumshoe ([personal profile] ham_fisted) wrote in [community profile] damned_bulletin2011-12-12 12:51 am
Entry tags:

[first note is unsigned, undisguised handwriting; second note is signed, placed far away from first]

[A few ink marks where he tapped his pen against the page.]

Suppose someone wanted to take fingerprints. How would they go about making fingerprint powder from scratch?

----

Paramedics! (aka Tear & Co.)

Did you want to try again?
ryuuzaki: (detective)

[disguised - laboriously neat print]

[personal profile] ryuuzaki 2011-12-12 06:53 am (UTC)(link)
They would get a sheet of paper and a sharp pencil: a mechanical pencil would be ideal.

Fold the paper in half, unfold it, and place it on a hard surface.

Select a small area about 1cm or so square near the center of the fold. Fill in that area with the pencil while pressing hard (as if coloring with a wax crayon).

If you continue to move the pencil around in the same area, you'll grind the lead down into powder that will gather on the surface of the paper. Collect the resulting dust by folding the paper again and shaking it into a small container. You'll know what to do with it.

Clear or translucent tape will be helpful for lifting prints.