The larger silks are an inexpensive way to make an at home birthday party show larger for a platform or stage show. They help you use the space. A common problem for beginners is the failure to use that space.

Of course, printed silks become instant blendo tricks with a change bag and solid color silks in the appropriate colors.

Bob Sanders
Magic by Sander

David Cresey used to get a lot of criticism, especially at magic conventions, regarding the way he treated his silks. He actually has a pair of shoes that he never wears for any other purpose, so that when he steps on the silks he does not damage them.

He makes sure the stage is clean before he goes on.

For a couple of years at the Texas Renaissance Festival, I did a production of about 90 feet of 1 foot wide streamers, ending up with a very large surprise final load. Immediately after the streamers and load were produced, one of my assistants took them backstage where they were placed into a special container specifically for the purpose of keeping them clean.

Even though they were brightly colored, there was no reason to display the streamers once they had been produced and the big load had been produced from them. We had a much bigger illusion that followed the silk production.

There were actually four large streamers involved in the production. I had two sets of two streamers. I did this show three times a day. When the first set was used and placed into the plastic container, the second set of silks was loaded into the production device. Then the first set was wound onto a large spool made of smooth plywood, which was varnished to make sure there were no splinters to catch the silk, and large diameter PVC pipe. This kept the silks neat and wrinkle-free.

If you will think of silk sizes in square feet of exposure it will help you estimate "cargo" space requird for the production. Then look at stage size to be filled and that will help you calculate the shape of the large silk used.

Unfortunately, few magicians have a stage show that actually makes good use of the stage available. Large silks really help solve that problem.

Bob Sanders
Magic By Sander