See Lectures Notes by Dick Oslund for this. He has a great handling for it.

Pete

Great idea!

I'm not familiar with the workings, but it sounds like you could use some tiny rubber bands designed for holding pony tails. Sometimes you can get clear one, some are colored. The dollar store is a likely source, although I've also seen them at more up-scale establishments too.

The rubber bands requested, and supplied by manufacturer are 1/4", or 5/16" orthodontic rubber bands. Don't complicate matters, they are available on ebay for pennies.

Rev. Bill. Wish I had said that.

I like this idea... however, wouldn't it be easy to see when around the Tube in it's starting position? Because with a brightly colored balloon, I would think it obvious to see.

Don't the magnets make them fall weird on the miss?

I had bands on my brace as a kid. My teeth have started hurt.ing just thinking about it. Wish I'd kept a few bags now though

You can pick up the orthodontic bands at many pharmacies. At least here you can.

I have used 1/4", and 5/16" rubber bands. I do not think that the 3/8" rubber bands are small enough to hold the scarves together.

Love this trick!
I get othro bands off ebay or you could also buy folding quarter elastics from a magic dealer.
Always have a 3rd back-up on the tube.
If you are doing a show for an ethnic group, for example Irish or Italian, use the colours on their flag in your routine. It gets noticed.

I do mine with a red, white, and blue silk, then I change them to a mis made flag routine.

The rubber bands for the folding quarter are the 1/4" bands.

I know this is an old thread but you can do the same effect with the Mikame dream tunnel. I think it looks better and the 3 silks are actually tied together so a spectator can hold them.

I agree with Peter!

Or check our pages 273-276 in my book, "DICK OSLUND -- ROAD SCHOLAR".

Here is the basic problem. As "it" comes from the box, like oatmeal, it's not ready to eat. All you get is a neat plastic cylinder, three 12" silks, and a few "sneaky things". They aren't gimmicks. They aren't fekes. They're sneaky things. The instructions tell you to insert the silks, one at a time, into the cylinder, As you're doing this, Use the sneaky things. Then, blow thru the tube, like a fat pea shooter, and the silks will come out, projected by your wind power, tied together. HO HUM

As someone above said, "It aint much of a trick."

As S.H. Sharpe said, years ago, "Those who think that magic consists of doing tricks, are strangers to magic. Tricks are only the crude residue from which the lifeblood of magic has been drained."

You must realize this: Ya didn't BUY a trick. Ya cannot BUY a trick. A trick only exists while it is being performed.

Ya bought some props and a secret. Using those props and the secret, you can perform a trick. IF you perform the trick with a good PRESENTATION, you MAY entertain your spectator(s).

Magic is not inherently entertaining!!!

A good presentation requires SHOWMANSHIP. First rule of showmanship: "It aint WHAT ya do, it's HOW ya do it!"

I wrote up the presentation, that I developed for a young magician whom I was mentoring him, almost 50 years ago. He turned full time professional, and, used that presentation, successfully for years.

I had shown him how to apparently convince the spectators that the silks were really tied together, when they were blown out of the tube. I had shown him how to keep his fingers from getting tangled, and, how to display the "tied" silks at the finish. Every thing that I had shown him, was 100% simple,and required no knuckle busting manipulation.

My slogan for over 50 years, has been, KIS MIF. (acronym for "Keep It Simple Make It Fun"

P.S. My dear old friend, Gene Anderson, who tears up newspapers, has his own name for those "stretchy rubber loops". He calls them "variable tension grippers".

If you're going to do this, do it right. Get the Groove Tube from Dan at Smokey Mountain Magic. He provides "gimmicks" that are made from polyethylene or some plastic - they are virtually invisible on the tube. I use Silly Billy's routine and use three regular 18" silks. Looks more like a big trick than the original. And you can handle them normally without the fear of them coming apart.

Before I bought Dan's, I did use the standard blow tube. However, I used diagonal cut silks. Looked a lot better than those 12" postage stamps silks being blown out of the tube.

Loom bands: 500 for $1. Come in every color you want.