talkmagic.co.uk

Hi guys
I want to try and get into dove magic but I am not sure how to go about doing it. Where can I get the Doves and at what price? Where can I find books on the Moves and things to do with dove magic and how to modify your clothes to be able to do it? Is there any specific type of dove I need and how do you keep them etc.
Any tips and answers would be great.
Thanks
Tom

As you might expect there have been some previous threads on this very topic - check the Search function but one is at

http://www.talkmagic.co.uk/ftopic21924.php

and another one (which is exactly 12 months old!) is at:

http://www.talkmagic.co.uk/ftopic18048.php

Give Mike Danata a call. He had a top dove act that he travelled the world with. He may share some of his experiences with you if you ask nicely.

Think long and hard before you start with animals, (the non human kind) the venues are getting harder to find and more important you are taking responsiblity for a life not a prop. It amazes me how many magicians start looking first at effects and then at the up keep and the doves themselves.

I think I'll start on hamster productions, hamsters are fun to take care of. Plus our mom hates birds.

Being lazy I haven't bothered to click on any of the handy links provided above but I do know a guy who does a dove act and I had an interesting chat about it with him recently. He told me the following handy things;

It's a hard branch of magic to break into as the number of people that do it is pretty low and they all tend to sit on their techniques and don't share much, likewise there's little handy literature or the like.

The doves are specific (Java I think) and take a long time to train, it's frustrating because you can only practice for as long as they want to, if they get bored or tired they just fly off and or do a poo on you.

They'll poo on you anyway.

It takes ages and ages and ages to get an act together but it's fun.