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I think it was Jay Sankey, on his Earplugs video, who said that there are two great things about sponges. First, they aren't cards. Second, they aren't cards.

It's a while since I watched my copy, so I might have misrembered that!

Sponge routines are one of the few bits of 'proper' magic I still like to do, although I'm a bit out of practice.

There are an amazing number of really good 'basic' DVDs, Joe. I think you're talking about the Noblezada DVD, right? It doesn't seem to be out yet (although the release date was a month ago, so maybe the site I looked at hasn't been updated). I'd say that the best ones I have are:

The Eddy Ray one from Magic Makers (yeah, I know...), as it's incredibly cheap, and comes with a set of sponges.
The World's Greatest Magic one, as it's cheap and has a truly huge array of routines (even if many are a bit similar).
The Sponge Ball Toolkit by Steve Dacri, which comes with a set of sponges and a few extra bits to give you variety in your routine. Steve is amazing with sponges. You haven't lived until you're fooled by a retention vanish using 3" sponge balls.

thanks for the recommendations ill look into them, i was either going to get sponge! or earplugs by sankey just as a begginer dvd as i really should start using them... people say there similar to coins so i should be alrite...

If you're a beginner, I think there's a bit more in the World's Greatest Magic Sponge Ball DVD. There's some nice routines on there. As others have said, many of the moves are the same (or variations on a similar theme), but then, arn't most card tricks like that? There's some classic routines on there, Eugene Burger's classic sponge ball routine is hard to beat, and few other DVDs would let you learn from Albert Goshman himself, but his routine (not my favourite) is on there too. There's some nice ideas, and plenty of different styles, and with a bit of thought, you can combine several of the different moves and routines to create your own.

If you already have Mark Wilson's Complete Course, there's some good sponge ball stuff in there too.

My advice? Get yourself a purse frame and a squeaker (see the Eugene Burger routine), some balls and the World's Greatest Magic DVD, and you'll still save a bit on the cost of the Earplugs one, and have a very good introduction into sponge magic.

As you might have gathered, Joe, I own 'Earplugs', but don't rate it as one of the three best resources I have. In fact, there are at least two other sponge ball DVDs I own that I'd definitely rate above that too.

The good things about 'Earplugs' are that Jay Sankey has come up with something that is a bit different from most other sponge effects and that there's a lot of fun to be had from using those big earplugs.

On the downside, he doesn't really teach that many moves (you don't need a lot for a solid routine, but you might find it more beneficial to have a bit more depth to your starting collection) and I didn't really care for the quality of sponge used to make the earplugs.

Does anyone here have the Spongeball Toolkit? It certainly looks like good value for money what with all the props being included and a 2hr DVD.
Worth getting?

Lord Freddie wrote:Does anyone here have the Spongeball Toolkit? It certainly looks like good value for money what with all the props being included and a 2hr DVD.
Worth getting?

Good enough for me to list it as one of the three best DVDs I have on sponges (at the top of the page).

I have a fair few of them too...

The DVD is good and, as you say, you gets some props too.

Thanks, www.worldmagicshop.co.uk have it for £15 and it seems like a bargain. Even Amazon are selling it!

At £15, it's a steal. The props alone would cost a fair chunk of that.

Gah! I'm sold!
It did seem like rather a bargain and when things are too cheap I'm rather suspicious as to their quality, but as it's a Goshman product then you know it's worth it and if you say the DVD is good too then it's a real catch.

I have experimented with my own sponge ball routines and learnt things from Mark Wilson and Goshman, but by no means am I an expert sponge man and I'm intrigued enough, and enjoy it enough, to want to explore it more deeply.

And Lady of Mystery's enthusiasm for them seems to be rather catching...

Taking the recommendation from Part-Timer, I have ordered the Sponge Ball Tookit. I couldn't find any reviews on here using the search funtion so may post one once I have played around with it.

OK I'm convinced I want to buy the sponge-ball toolkit DVD but I can't find it at www.worldmagicshop.co.uk and Google isn't helping. Anyone know where else I can get it please?

Thanks.

http://www.worldmagicshop.co.uk/spongeb ... -4241.html

You didn't look hard enough mate! It's on back order at the moment as some swine ordered the last one they had in stock, that swine being me.

It's great though, you won't regret it!

Thanks - I blame the site search engine, it can't possibly be my fault

You're welcome. Amazon definitley do it too. Type "spongeball toolbox" in and offensively, it's under 'toys and games'!!!

A few other magic suppliers do it too such as www.world-of-magic.co.uk

I have to say, I have received excellent service from World Magic Shop though.

I think the street magic you tuber crowd who hate sponges should stick to their gimmicky stuff and leave the spongeballs to us who love to entertain.

Now that is true. You can do all you youPUBE rubbish, but nothing and I mean NOTHING can beat the true deep original magic like spongeballs.