Silk

This month, we have a simple effect, that’s more about the utility of it all than it is the actual effect. Magic with silks.

Effect:

The magician displays a small yellow silk. He then balls it up in his hand. When he opens his hand, the silk has changed into a small yellow ball. The silk is nowhere in sight, and both hands are empty (other than the ball).

Method:

This is the standard vanishing silk that you’re all familiar with using our friend the Thumb Tip (TT). The only difference is that you’ve got a small yellow sponge ball finger palmed ready to replace the silk. The sponge is in your left hand finger palm. The TT is on your right thumb. Your right hand holds the yellow silk at the index and thumb tip concealing the TT. Then, per the usual procedure, load the TT into the left fist as you stuff the silk inside of it.

The only difference is that you already have a sponge ball hidden in your left hand. When you finishing poking the silk into the TT (supposedly your left fist), you remove your right hand (with the TT secretly stolen onto your right thumb) and show the right hand apparently empty using the standard display to conceal the TT by holding it in the audience’s line of sight.

You then draw attention back to your left hand and slowly (finger by finger) open it to reveal something yellow. For a brief moment, they’ll likely think it’s still the silk. Then open it all the way and show that it’s a sponge ball.

Going Beyond:

That’s a simple effect, but it goes beyond. Here are a few ideas you can use.

If you know a couple of good sponge ball vanishes, you’ll find that you can perform most of them with the thumb tip on. You can then do a vanish and a reappearance. You can make it vanish in such a way that it’s apparently in your left hand, but it’s hidden in your right hand (e.g., retention vanish). Then claim that it jumped into your right pocket. You can then reach in the right pocket, ditch the thumb tip and reproduce the sponge. While you’re in there, why not secretly grab another sponge in finger palm in preparation for a splitting effect or a color change.

Rather than reproducing the vanished sponge from your pocket, keep the TT on your thumb and reproduce the sponge ball from under your knee, behind someone’s ear, etc.: Flurry style. I’m not a fan of Flurry effects, but if that’s your thing, you can do that. Then when you’re done, you can vanish the sponge completely the exact same way you vanished the silk by using the TT that’s been on your thumb the whole time. As you go to tuck the ball into your left fist, load the TT into your fist. Then stuff the ball into the TT. It’ll fit in there with the silk with no problem.

You then vanish the ball and the silk without ever going anywhere near your pockets. You could do this trick naked . . . freak.

Notes:

Think back to the beginning when you first read this, and I mentioned a yellow silk. I’m guessing that your mind did NOT immediately go to TT and vanishing silk. If I started by saying “red silk,” however, odds are you would have gone right to that effect in your mind. Lay people are no different. They know about the “fake thumb” trick. However, for some reason, using a yellow (or any other color) leads their thoughts down a different path. You further obscure the “wrong” path by NOT vanishing the silk, but rather, turning into a ball. Then there really is no heat on the TT.

But to continue down this “better” path you further sell it by doing a couple of vanishes and reappearances with the ball without ever ditching the TT. Then finally, you vanish the ball in the TT as well which something that nobody knows you can do. This can be a fun little routine on its own, or it can be used to introduce sponge balls.

What if We Went the Other Way?

That’s my all time favorite question when I think about magic. In this case, the “other” way would be turning a sponge into a silk. Use the exact same technique but backwards. Have a silk rolled up and finger palmed in your left hand. Then hold the sponge in your right hand which is wearing the TT. Then load the TT into your left hand and stuff the sponge ball into it to effect the change. You then slowly open your hand to reveal the silk in place of the sponge.

Of course, if you’re a clown, this is perfect. You can make some comment about needing to blow your nose. So as a gag, you remove your nose (the sponge with a split in it), then with your mouth, blow on it. You “blew” your nose. Then you joke and say, of course, that’s not how normal people blow their nose. Most people use a hanky. It’s at that moment that you’ve changed your nose into a silk. Feign blowing your nose, then shove the whole thing, silk, TT and all into your pocket.