I have purchased hundreds of rope tricks over the years, but I am about to pull my hair out over this tangled mess of spaghetti that my rope tricks have become.

Have you noticed that about every rope effect looks the same when it's lying around in your area, and it becomes difficult to distinguish one from another at a glance?

I think this is true more so with ropes than with any other props.

Would any of you guys be willing to share your ideas and methods of storing your ropes so as to avoid confusion, and stay neat, tidy, and organized and efficient? I've tried everything.

Years ago Billy McComb showed me how he kept his tricks and props organized especially when he threw them in a case to take off for a series of shows.

I use his method (slightly modified) for all tricks including ropes.

He simply puts all the props needed for a trick in a large zip-lock freezer bag. He labels the bag with the name of the trick and it’s contents. I pretty much do the same. However I not only write on the outside of the bag, but I put a index card inside the bag with the name of the trick, an inventory of the props needed (especially if not all are included in the bag) and the location (folio number) of the original instructions.

When I get a trick, I typically put the instructions in a plastic page protector and then file then in one of several loose-leaf binders. The props to the trick (if any) go into a freezer bag with the above labeling and card.

If the prop is a large size one (bigger than a freezer bag) then it may be stored in plastic shelf boxes (labeled and index carded too). Very large stage props/illusions/tables simply are stored as part of the ambiance of my home. All illusion instructions end up in an illusion binder.

There is almost no work in keeping up with this system as it occurs when a trick arrives.

Hello daffydoug:

Yes, I use Billy McComb's method as well. Very simple, but keeps things from being a mess. Also, the freezer bags protect your props/ropes against water damage.

Ron

I use this as well, as Hank Moorehouse suggested it before the McComb tape was available to me.

One note of interest. Hank buys and sells used magic, and aquires estates. He does not match up instructions to tricks. He suggested not to do this in his lecture.

As a result, I have a Abbott's Razor Blade Trick and an old Silk Blow routine, without instructions. When the auction was almost over, they held up a folder of instructions to sell. I was very disappointed that my instructions went to someone else. No one even offered to let me get a copy from the folder.

I suggest you leave the instructions with the prop. I only leave the instruction out in a container of the magic that I currently us in my shows.

You know, if you have relatives left behind they do not know what a Zombie is, it is a floating ball to them.

Bill