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While on holiday I picked up 4 smooth stones on the beach. I was thinking of doing cions across with them, but my mind went wondering, so this is where I'm at:
- Water from a stone (like water from a bill - actually works quite nicely if you make it look as if you're squeezing water from the stone)
- Sort of a matrix with stones and thin chinese coins.
I like the idea of using stones cos you can weave a mysterious, kind of nostalgic story around them, and they're not your typical magic props. I'd like to focus on the stones having magical qualities so I'm moving away from just making them vanish and reappear. I also thought of combining them with an old wooden cup (could be gimmicked as a chop cup) - so things move from the cup to the under the stones, etc.
Any ideas???

Gimmicked as a chop cup? With stones? Could provide a challenge! I shall give it some thought and if anything strikes me I'll let you know.

fish

As a 'style' suggestion, you could think Japanese/Oriental - they seem to like stones, rocks and so on and there's a game called Go or something like that which uses coloured stones as markers/counters. Alternatively, if you want to get a little more spooky, would they be of use as Rune Stones? Put some markings on with a Maker Pen and use them in whatever effects use rune stones and similar 'occult' type tricks.

Gimmicked as a chop cup? With stones?

hmm - that wasn't that clear.
I have this routine in my mind. I have the stones in the wooden cup and I tip them out on to a closeup mat (or something that looks more rustic, but has the same qualities as a close-up mat) and talk about where i got the cup and the stones etc. I pick up a stone and tell a story and eventually squeeze water out the stone in to the cup. I pick up the cup and tip out the contents on to the mat and the water has turned to snow. Give the cup a tap and a large chinese coin falls out of it. I say "oh that's where it is" and tell a story about the chinese coin - rub one of the stones with it, lift the stone and there's a small chinese coin underneath - etc.
I thought it would be cool to gimmick the cup like a chop cup and then introduce something else that can be used in a chop routine with the cup and somehow involve the stones. I thought of gimmicking one of the stones as well hiding the 'damage' with rock paintings or something, but the noise factor can be a give away.

This will probably take a lot of time and thought b4 it's a full routine, but i thought i'd just throw it out here and 'stir the creative pot'

AAAh.. Did I hear you mention the ancient Chinese game of GO, very good game, slow but is very intricate. Yeah anyway here’s what I was thinking upon Mandrakes suggestion. The game of go is an ancient Chinese traditional game where there are two players one having black stones and one having white, the game is played on a standard board of 18 by 18 lines intersecting each other (a Goban), bit like a chess board with more lines but closer spacing. Anyway each player takes turns putting the stones on the intersections trying to capture each others stones and gaining as much territory on the board as they can, this was used by many army’s in the ancient times as a form of entertainment and to train their minds in to a way of thinking. This with a little thought could prove a great angle for a routine, white stones surrounding a black stone and vanishing only to be found in a sealed container bla bla belonging to the opponent or something….you could also use a bamboo rolling mat for added effect instead of a standard close-up mat, large bamboo for a cups and stones routine?
For more info on “GO”, go here, gives you the full rundown.
http://games.yahoo.com/games/rules/go/gohistory.html

The game of go is an ancient Chinese traditional game

Man, I used to love playing that game - but I gave up as just not enough people play it. A big shame.

Just out of interest though I think you'll find it is traditional Japanese game, and not Chinese.

Oops, Sorry, i should have said Oriental. I play go through Yahoo, you ever tried it, though its sometimes a bit hard to get through a whole game coz people keep buggering of when thyre getting beaten!

Cups and Balls with shells and small crabs

What about a Spellbound effect to change a pebble's colour?

hmm - I haven't thought about this routine for a while - it's something that I parked and decided to come back to. I felt that it was a bit too cumbersome to carry around and didn't really suit the kind of audience I perform for (ie an informal dinner with friends or family, or at a resturaunt - I find it needs to be something shrt and snappy rather than this long routine). I have used the water from a stone quite effectively and in one of the coin routines I do I do a bobo switch with a pebble - so I show them a coin - ask them to hold it and they get a stone in their hand. I say something like "it's not that valuable, but it feels good to hold"
I experimented a lot with a kind of matrix routine with stones as cards and thin chinese coins and it has potential. The problem is the coins talking against the stones - and that's about as far as I've got. - But thanks for the help anyway

TIHOIP.

Mike.

that's got to be the record for the shortest post that actually means something..