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I bought a book on thimble magic. I forget why, just seemed like a good idea at the time. Anyway, for practise purposes I bought the cheapest set of plastic thimbles I could find - set of four, totally ungimmicked, just plastic thimbles.

Long story short they didn't fit. Well they fit in that they went over my fingers, but they weren't exactl snug. Thinking maybe I just had small fingertips and would never be able to do finger magic, I resigned the book to the shelf... until on a holiday in York, where I found a porcelain souvenir thimble that was just perfect. Soon I was doing the vanishes playing around with ideas, it was great. Then on a trip to an airshow, I found more porcelain souvenir thimbles! These had pictures of WWII planes on them and again were just fab, and I started to design a 3 thimble routine around them.

Today I came to Norway on a business trip and knowing I'd have spare time but be travelling on hand luggage only, as well as my laptop and word items, I packed a TT, 2 red silks, some old english pennies a set of unequal ropes, 3 sponge balls, a 3 card monte set, and my original York thimble. I didn't pack a wand, i figured that it might be considered a weapon by airport security.

So I was playing with ideas and practising my vanishes and productions with this thimble, and in a from-ear production I accidentally got my hair caught in the thimble under my finger, so when I pulled it out the hair pulled the thimble off my finger and it fell. Delicate porcelain souvenirs do not mix well with hotel hardwood laminate flooring.

Cursing myself for only bringing one thimble, I got thinking. The plastic thimbles I bought before were too big but would survive such mishaps, the souvenir thimbles were just right but very fragile, and neither of them had a size listed. One magic supplier sells packs of plastic thimbles, labelled simply as "size 11".

I have no idea what size 11 is. I've looked online at sizing charts and they're all about measuring round the thumb (not the finger, which is what these are for) but they warn about the snugness of the fit and how it's best to try them on, and frankly it would all just be easier if I knew one thing:

Does anyone know what size these porcelain souvenir thimbles are? It seems to be a standard thing (I've seen many of them around and they're all the same size) and they're just right for me. I find so few things that fit me just right, it'd be lovely if I could find lss fragile plastic (or hell, even metal) ones which fit the same...

-Stacy

PS: I do hope you enjoy these little glimpses into my everyday meanderings...

I wish I could help you. But I was never fond of thimble magic. But I'll tell you what, I absolutly loved this post, it almost sounds similiar to some of my blog posts, not in content but in feel if you know what I mean.

Thanks for making me smile at work. Now my co-workers can't complain that I'm always pi**ed off.

Perhaps the haberdashery department of places like John Lewis or other large stores might be able to offer a selection of thimbles in different sizes? Places selling knitting and cross stich/embroidery supplies might also be worth checking out.

Hm.

You know the funny thing is: I'd sort of forgotten that there was an actual use for thimbles. I have never worn one to sew and other than those rubber ones used to turn pages in offices i don't think I've ever seen one used for anything other than ornamentation or magic.
I'll be off to Sew Creative when I get back from Norway.

-Stacy

Stacy,
The fact that the supplier sells "size 11" suggests they may be using the sizing checker here - http://www.thimbles2fit.com/sizing.html
If that is the case, have a look at this, find out what size you are, and then search appropriately.
I love thimble magic, Joe Mogar's DVD (http://www.joemogar.com/) is fabulous. Incidentally he also uses size 11.
If you want a huge supply of porcelain thimbles cheaply, have a look in the glass cabinets of UK antique shops, you will almost always find a small collection hidden away, and I am sure you could haggle for a load of themcheaply.
Bruce