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Hi guys mikhail here,

Wel anyway I'm new on the forum so please excuse any inapropriate behaviour.

So here is my little problem. When ever I try to do spongeball routines (which I am "reasonably" new at) something always seems to go wrong.

I have practiced the techniques in detail in front of miror , friends, and camera. But whenever i try to perform it for an audiance i always get things like:

"Oh he just gave you 2 in the first place!"
"Can i see what you just put in your pocket?"
ands so on..

I think that i just cant find the right off beat to execute the item dump, I need your help guys please all tips wil be highly apritiated!

kind regards,


Mikhail

Have you got the spongeball toolbox, I found that really good to learn sponges and since its a DVD you can see things like timing.

I hope that helps.

p.s. It also comes with some sponges and has loads of routines in there.

I think it's all going to come down to practice and timing.

If you want to dump a ball, wait for the right moment, when the spec opens their hand to find their sponge ball has multiplied into 5 is a good time. Just casually put your hand in your pocket while you're talking. Don't rush it, make it look natural and no one should suspect a thing.

I have a routine with 3 steals either from my pocket or waist and have never come across any problems, you just have to get the timing right and dont rush what you're doing. Rushing something will draw attention to it.

When giving a ball to a spectator, try to make it look as fair as possible. Hold the ball in a way that it looks like there is only one ball and visibly put that one ball in the specs hand. Do it slowly and diliberatly, you need to leave no doubt in the spec's mind that there's only one ball

the ramsay subtlety comes in handy for passing off 2 as 1 with a more open appearance

I think the dump issue has been covered by previous comments; suffice to say it's worth working on this to ensure you don't get caught, take it steady and as has been covered don't rush; if possible let the reveal cover the dump.

However if you do get caught dumping it in your pocket you could adapt a technique where a spongeball "penetrates" the pocket - I've seen a method for this in Mark Wilsons Complete course if you have it.

All this talk of dumping...and not one of us is smiling...imagine the smell!

I'll get me coat...again

you can leave no doubt in the specs mind that there is only one ball.... wel I am able to do so reasonably well, but the problem is not the "victem" but the other spectators that surround him/her!

lmw wrote:I think the dump issue has been covered by previous comments; suffice to say it's worth working on this to ensure you don't get caught, take it steady and as has been covered don't rush; if possible let the reveal cover the dump.

However if you do get caught dumping it in your pocket you could adapt a technique where a spongeball "penetrates" the pocket - I've seen a method for this in Mark Wilsons Complete course if you have it.

All this talk of dumping...and not one of us is smiling...imagine the smell!

I'll get me coat...again

if there are other posts about this subject, which discus the same problem that I have could you post the link? because i could not find them!

Familiarity, according to the old saying, breeds contemt. It also breeds more familiarity and that may be all you need to make one of the most magical of all tricks seem . . . well, magical!

Try different methods and rehearse, rehearse, rehearse.

I know it's not "sexy" advice, but it is the only thing that works.

Wirus wrote:you can leave no doubt in the specs mind that there is only one ball.... wel I am able to do so reasonably well, but the problem is not the "victem" but the other spectators that surround him/her!

If that's the case then mix it up abit, it's easy enough to explain a ball splitting into two but how are they going to explain the 5 that suddenly appear next time, or how those 5 balls have managed to change into one big one.

More boring advice here but you mention that you're quite new to performance. It doesn't matter how much effort you put into getting the moves smooth in the mirror, once you're under pressure something will slip a bit. Often the moves will be fine but something about your body language and demeanour will give away the fact that all is not as you're purporting it to be, despite (or perhaps because of) your best efforts to conceal this.

Quite regularly around these parts a new person will show up asking how to stop being caught out with their dl. There's always a deluge of posts about finger position and what resource to learn from but the real answer is to perform in front of people until you don't feel conscious and or guilty when you're doing the move. After all, the only way someone should know that you've done a dl (for example) is if you tell them inadvertently. When you've got used to working for groups, often semi-surounded, you get a kind of sixth sense for what people can and can't see and take actions to cover yourself almost without realising it. When I perform now I regularly ditch stuff on the off beat and don't get caught, nowhere near say James Brown's standard but I'm getting more confident. The only way I've been able to achieve this is to do the same material a lot until I know exactly what I can do and when.

Sorry if this seems a tad abstract for what you're after but in the end I think you'll agree.

Wirus wrote:if there are other posts about this subject, which discus the same problem that I have could you post the link? because i could not find them!

Sorry, didn't mean to cause confusion...I was referring to the amount of times I'd got the word "Dump" and it's derivatives into my post.

First off im not ofended I now understand what you meant (concerning the "already saw this."

As for me performing, i have been performing for some time now. And i can do rope tricks, card tricks, other visual angly effects without any problems. Its these blasted spongeballs And I'm the type of person that if I can't do it I only want to do it more and more, but maybe i should just keep trying.

I just hate the moment when youve maneged to impres people and amaze them, and they find out how you do one of your tricks

anyway thnx for al the advice so far il be sure to look into it!!

Not going to post any more advise because it has already been covered. I agree with everything said. But here is a quote I heard from George Schindler who has been in this business a very long time. And I'm sure he borrowed the quote from another.

"Magic is hard to do, especially in front of people"

I think choosing your audience is also pretty important. The spongeballs are indeed wonderful things to use, and can be very strong, but however well you do a trick, you will run into "puzzlers", people who just openly shout out any ideas they have - and because of the simple nature of most sleights, they'll probably strike lucky. I'm sure other people will leap in with a ton of advice here but there really is almost no way to avoid that - if someone wants to detract from the magic, they will.

It doesn't mean they caught you - I think we're all capable of understanding that, if we're being serious and honest, the magician probably did somehow put two balls into the hand to start with. The better you get, the more impossible that will seem, but it's also important to try to handle your audience ("audience management") - don't leave a long gap after something cool but potentially "reverse engineerable", go immediately into something that would be very hard to work out.
For instance, I do a simple 2 ball sponge routine. I do two different vanish/false transfer type moves, thus loading their hand with two balls leaving my hand empty. While they're reacting to the second one, I secretly grab another ball - so that if anyone accuses, or even thinks, that I'm putting "both" balls in their hand to start with, I then very clearly and fairly put "one" ball in their hand and the other in my hand.

The cool thing about spectators is that if you somehow prove you didn't do it a certain way just once, that is enough to cover all other instances.

But still, some people will just exhibit verbal diarrhoea to an infuriating scale. And remember, random strangers may respect you somewhat as a magician - tipsy mates won't. Unless you have very polite and good natured friends, there will probably be someone who, after a few, will just spend their time going "what's in the other hand? Let me check your pockets! Why not? Why not?! There's something in there, isn't there! Ahhhh - I worked it out! There's something in his pocket! That wasn't his card, was it!".

The best things to do are: a) smile and go to the bar, b) get new mates, c) murder him in his sleep.

I believe that everyone is overthinking this terribly (although there are some excellent thoughts throughout).

Put one in your hand then put one in their hand. Just do it. As a bonus, if you honestly believe that you did exactly that, they will believe it too.

Just do it.

Mike.