Anyone here work with this effect from Sankey's "22 Blows" DVD? I've been playing with it but haven't felt comfortable with a good presentation just yet.

Some of what's been going through my mind:

1. the purse may be unnecessary - the effect can probably be performed bare-handed, but is some element of theater lost by doing that? Or some red herring? Or is the method just too obvious?

2. *IS* the method too obvious? This may be less of a concern depending on how charming an effect one makes of it (i.e., as long as the spectators WANT to be fooled, the method is good enough to do so).

3. how about a small X-mas sock instead of a purse ... too cute?

4. is a jingle-bell too generic a thing to give away? They're cheap (less than 25 cents a piece - the spoons I bend cost me more) but it may be a waste to give out something that's not signed, magically transformed or inherently special in some way.

The first time I saw Sankey's Mute performance on the DVD I noticed the "move". But I tried it on my significan other, and she had no clue as to how it was done. THis just proves that we as magicians, mentalists, and sleight of hand artists we have what is called the "magic sense" we can catch all sorts of sleights with our eyes because we are trained and somewhat feel what the person is doing when he does it ( if you are a good card guy and see someone do a ACR you know what I'm talking about)....

give it a shot, but practice before you do it!!