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Hello,

I am looking to get more stage effects for a stage show I may have next year. Can anyone recommend any good manipulation items? Other than appearing canes? No boxes or illusions, but stuff like balls, silks, ropes, bowls, water, fans, masks, etc.

Anyone have anything good?

Thank you!

Michael Kras

i think you just answered your own question bud

I'm a little bit confused, Kras. In a single you post you introduced a difficult situation, asked for advice, advised those who would give advice, and then gave your own advice to yourself. I'm a bit puzzled over this.

What advice did I give myself? I asked for effect using the items named or others!

It's not hard to make up your own routine using those props, and if I'm not mistaken, you have created one or two effects that use silks. Go from there, my child.

I am looking for marketed effects as well though.

"My child"? !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You are 2 years older than me!

It was a term of endearment, my child. It's a joke. I was pulling your leg? Putting one over on you? Yanking your chain? Chillax, dude.

Ok, thank you for clarigying

I added you as a friend on Myspace, by the way.

Well, that should make things interesting.

balls!
learn to contact juggle! it's the future...

Get 'The Art of Card Manipulation' dvd set by Jeff McBride.
Will keep you busy for many hours (more like many months or years to learn it).

Sometimes when i show people some difficult card tricks, they say "that's nice, but pull some more card out of the air again".

Ew. Have you seen an FISM competition recently? The manipulation doesn't even look like magic! More and more performers are resorting to getting up and doing card manipulation and, while it takes a great deal of skill, all it looks like is a bunch of fancy flourishes. This is probably going to touch a few nerves, but I don't see the magic in manipulation; there's usually no story or anything. Even silent magic routines can tell a story, but manipulation's story seems to be "Cards! No cards! Cards! No cards! BIG CARD! Flying card! No card!"

Sure it can be done, but watching magic competitions proves that few can do it well. Mike and his limited experience would be ill-prepared even after a year of practice.

For easy, visual effects you can do on stage, you can't go wrong with rope (think Tabaray, Fiber Optics, or a simple cut/restored) and such. I don't think an illusion would hurt at all; I saw Mike Super perform not too long ago and he did some smaller effects, building up to a levitation illusion using an audience member. Do a YouTube search for "stage magic" or something like that and I'm sure you'll come up with all sorts of ideas. Do remember, thought, that many of the routines you'll see won't be public domain and the themes/plots of some of them won't be suitable for a family (i.e. kids) audience.

Ciao,
Rob

Have you seen David Copperfield?
Statue of Liberty, no Statue of Liberty, Statue of Liberty.

Big difference is the cards actually take skill to vanish or appear, the statue needs no skill, but a clever mechanism and some performance wrapped around it. Everybody who knows the mechanism can perform it. (maybe the performance part not so well, but if your 'gimick' does not fail, it will disappear, even with bad performance)

That is why i prefer to see card manipulations over any other big stage illusion. Whenever they use a box or other item, you just know something is wrong with it. I used to like these big illusions, but not anymore. Close up magic beats any illusion.

Like the video with the rope trick you posted. I know exactly what you did (i learned the Fiber Optics a few months back), but i found it a lot more entertaining than any big illusion.

But maybe I'm a bit biased towards the card manipulations. Because i know how it works, but can't do it that well i appreciate it maybe too much when i see someone who can do everything i always wanted ...

For Andruzzi would make a killer (pun intended ) ending.
A good torn and restored newspaper/other paper might work. For methods used by masters, you should get Teller's edition of David P. Abbott's Book of Mysteries.

Bundy, stage illusions aren't all bad. Teller's "Shadows" looks clean and is beautiful. It's pretty darn close to perfect.