talkmagic.co.uk

payo wrote:in all books are max 8 rings

There's an 11 ring routine in Tarbell 4. Odd.

Barry

Paperhouse writes in part: ". . .I was wondering if anyone could give me a few tips on new things to do with these (linking rings). . ."

Oh, oh; don't ask unless you are prepared for some physically uncomfortable suggestions

The reason that 8 rings are the standard is all Professor Hoffmann's fault along with that of the magic dealers profession.

Up to Professor Hoffmann every magician used 10, 11, 12 or even more rings. Professor Hoffmann described two routines in his book one with more than 8 rings and one with just 8. The magic manufacturers of the day realised after reading it that they could get away with 8 rings as well as more for the same price.

So they did. Now you know.

Dante used rings which were approx. 15 inches in diameter. At the end of his routine he threw the rings across from him & they were all linked into one chain. In my Dante Show I funked this and only used 3; mainly to give my Stage Staff time to set, Fountania, the Japanese Water Fountains Illusion Finale.
Chefalo , whom I managed to see at the Smethwick Empire around 1951 also used huge rings which weiged a ton. I was on the front row and he handed me one to examine. How he held and manipulated all the rest I do not know!
Milbourne Christopher said Chung Ling Soo used 10, Hugard says 11( and he saw Soo in 1909). 'They were large, more than the usual thickness, heavily played with a musical ring. Soo displayed them against a black under garment sp thery were not lost in a blaze of lines & colours to the viewer at the back of the theatre.' Some of Soo's moves & a description of his routine, are to be found in Hugard's Magic Monthly.
Matthew Johnson, th young Canadian magician( originally from UK) has a breath taking routine all done to the Big Band sound.
You really have to se Roy Davenport for pace, flash & brilliant routining.
Also for a different approach..Victor Voitko & his Floating Rings.

Allen Tipton

Jim Cellini has a great two ring routine, they just melt through each other, it's beautiful.

I put together a 6 ring routine which has gotten some decent words from the few folk who have seen it. It's a comedic routine and will certainly be some time before it gets regular use, but is great fun. The only source I have used and needed thus far was the L&L Worlds Greatest series on Linking Rings.

Oh and in response to the question about hand positioning, simple one word answer. Both.

Cellini's is beautiful Great on stage to music. You could also use it to build a crowd to start your act. Uses only 2 rings. Use 10" rings.

Chris Capehart has an in your face routine with 3 rings. Chris recommends cheap 10" rings. Nothing fancy. Great on the street. Lots of opportunity for comedy and interaction up close with many spectators. Chris does the routine with one rings up on his arm at the shoulder. I moved the ring over my head and around my neck. Much more comfortable and I always liked the idea of performing the routine with a ring around my neck. Not sure why. I like how it looks.

Ninja Rings are fantastic for walk-around magic. A reputation maker. Just figure out how to dump the "table moves" from the routine and make it your own. You'll be able to do it anywhere and everywhere. If you don't want to spend the money on his rings you can get cheap ones of the "Empire" brand that are not half bad. Don't get the Royal brand. They look horrible and are the same price as the Empire.
Uses 4 4" for the ninja style rings.

If you do small stand-up shows you can use the Ninja routine with 8" rings and almost all but the one-hand-blocked-crash-link will carry over to the larger rings. That routine can also play will (with larger 8" rings) out on the street.

Tom Frank does Jack Miller's routine 5 15" rings to Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven" patter. Really nice moves in that routine.

Whit Haydn has a comedy 4-ring routine (he also uses 15" rings) that is kind of a do-as-i-do routine meets look-don't-see routine. Not flashy or overly magical but funny and a nice stand-up, parlor piece.

fstarsinic wrote: Don't get the Royal brand.

I now have a nice set of full size, professional rings. I learned the trick with a set of Royal rings, which I bought in Micky's Magic Shop in the Magic Kingdom at Disney World when I was about 14. You could clearly see the welding joins in mine, and they definitely weren't pretty. Avoid at all costs.

In saying that, they are a lot better than the Royal egg bag - horrible blue PVC plastic bag, with a hollow plastic egg. The phrase chocolate teapot, and waste of bl**dy money spring to mind...

Royal does make some nice stuff. One item in particular is the Royal Card-to-Wallet. I've sold more of that wallet than any other.

They are a bit like the Real Man's. But much easier to load.
They are a LOT like the Mesika.
They are a LOT like the MagicMaker's Professional Card to Wallet.

In fact they are almost exactly like the Mesika and the MagicMakers except for one minor detail that makes it 100 times better than both.
You don't need to fold a card to be able to take it out nicely.
It's possible to not fold a card to load with all of them but taking out the card is another story altogether. The Royal is the best of the bunch.
Easiest to load, no folding, card comes out of zipper area, normal hip pocket wallet.

Too bad they are currently hard to find. I've had them backordered for months

Royal's not all bad, in fact, I quite like their playing cards. I have several different gaff decks from them, and they were doing gaff decks long before the Ellusionist lot arrived on the scene.