talkmagic.co.uk

I've been reading a few bits about rope (and rope and ring) magic and fancy learning some.
Being both frugal and skint I'm trying to figure out the real-world use of the soft, coreless cotton rope magicians tend to use. That way I can bypass magic-shop markup and get some of it on the cheap. (I know it's not expensive stuff anyway... but like I said... skint!)

Any ideas?

When I buy rope, it usually come from Magic Box. I've tried with different types but have never really found anything that works as nicely as proper magicians rope.

When I first started in rope magic I used a piece of ordinary rope which had been soaked in water for a few hours (sorry, can't remember exactly how long for) and dried out. It became soft and flexible. Or you can apparently remove the core from ordinary rope.

Barry

MagicBox would be my port of call aswell.

When i was a kid the washing lines of the time were a proper rope with a nylon type inner. I used to take the inner core out and use the outer soft rope for the routines in Mark Wilsons

Nice to see you back BigShot


jim

I recently bought 50ft for £6.99 from Magic Nevin.

I just happened onto an Abbott's listing for all sizes and colors of magician's rope. You may want to check on it; Abbott's Magic in Colon, Michigan used to be the biggest supplier of magic world wide for a number of generations, they just didn't keep up with things when the Net came into being.

I use Ann summers. The girlfriend loves it

Beardy wrote:I use Ann summers. The girlfriend loves it

Doesn't Ann mind that you nick her rope?

You missed a trick there, Hecks.

Doesn't Ann mind that you knicker rope?

Thanks all.

"Proper magicians rope" - I know there's a lot of us worldwide... but are there really so many that it's financially viable to set up a rope machine especially to make rope for us? I can't help thinking it must be a rope with another function that happens to be perfect for our purposes. Or am I wrong?


I'll have a look at MagicBox and Magic Nevin if I don't find something suitable next time I'm in town. I'll have a look in the haberdashery and see if they've got something suitable.

Craig - shipping from the US tends to bump up the cost of things quite a lot. It needs to be a huge saving or something I just can't get in this neck of the woods to order from the states. I'll definitely add it to the list of places I need to pop into next time I'm over there though. (At this rate I'll be needing a year long visa or I'll never get around everywhere I need to go.)

Jim - thanks. Good to be back. I seem to have been enthused to work hard at this magic lark again. We'll see where it goes. It's a nice distraction if nothing else though.
The only washing lines I remember from being a young'un were the plastic outers with metal cores and, in Ireland, sturdy synthetic 3-strand.

EDIT
Hat tip to the innuendo, smut and puns. Nice work folks.