My TT is SLIGHTLY darker than my skin. Of course, all I ever hear are anecdotes about magicians using black TTs made out of metal with pink pokadots and the audience still doesn't see them. So I go to perform a simple vanishing silk for some friends, and after the trick they are all very suspicious and seem to know exactly what's going on. I'm caught, in other words. They demand to see the false T I'm wearing. Two of them state that the first thing they noticed was that my thumb was a different color.

???!!!!

I think I was performing it correctly. Keeping the thumb pointed toward the audience. Moving my hands quickly, never letting it be visible for long, etc, etc.

My guess would be maybe you moved your hands to quickly which led them to believe something was up. It's hard to say without seeing your act. I've used a TT for years and never been caught...I think a big part of using a TT is to be natural. Forget you're wearing it, and you'll be even more at ease during your performance.

The TT is far and away the best magic prop ever invented. I use it all the time(a very dark discolored one) and have only been busted once by someone who was looking for it. If your friends all saw the TT, you were definitely doing something wrong. You might want to try pulling the thumb out with TT and using that hand to openly wave over closed hand. All attention will be on closed hand.

If you get busted with it, then you aren't using proper technique with it.

Yeah, back to the drawing board man. Study hard, practice relentlessly, and do not rely on fast movement to conceal it. There is some realy good stuff out there on the subject and it seems to me by your writing that you haven't found it yet. Keep up the good work.

If I see a black person perform with a white TT , the first thing ill see is the white thumb.. IT doesn't matter then that he is performing the routine correctly for 200%.... .U can try a lighter TT HammieSink.

If you are peforming a TT routine correctly then you wont even flash the TT. Check out Losanders TT work, He has some great tips when it comes to working with one.

There are a lot of people that have sometime in their lives seen the TT and thus know about it. I've found that so many magicians have all these theories that they live by and spread on the forums, many are wrong. The thumb tip is widly known, and because of that I rarly use it. I use it for one routine, but it is only out in the open for a second before it is ditched into my pocket. Listen to what other magicians say, but don't let it cloud your mind.

The TT is strong, but its nonsense that people blame the performer, while they don't even know how good or bad he did it. The TT is a good prop, but also a widely known 1. ANd corey, if I don't even flash the TT I know he is hiding 1 finger. I hate that 2 handed display it feels like youre hiding sumthing. IT can just happen that some1 flashes a move or prop, it isn't always because the eprformer is bad.

Yes. The only time I ever got busted with my TT was when I did it slightly wrong, and they still thought it was just a band-aid.

Michael Ammar performs the $100 bill switch with a red tt

You miss my point. WHat I mean is there are people that know the thumb tip

The TT is flesh tone, is supposed the blend to some degree and allow you can move as free as possible. If it's too dark then some additional methods of concealing it may be necessary.

The soft TTs tend to darken with time and there's not much you can do about it except buy a new one.

The harder ones are somewhat transparent and easier to clean.
I'm not sure this works but one tip I read for lightening this type was to color the inside a light color.

I agree that the TT is widely known and if you do the silk or cigarette vanish there's that chance you'll be caught because that's what many duffers do. Learning to handle it differently and including such vanishes in a routine can thwart discovery too.

Jaz, I couldn't agree more... 100% right

Those people who use purple tt, how would they do that? "Here are my empty hands" while they kkep the thumb under the hand, then show the other side and bend the thumb back. It would be sooo unatural.

Don't stick your hands in their face!
The last thing you want to do is a gesture that says, "Here are my empty hands". If the routine is done smoothly there will be no need to prove anything.
Yes. Even a red tip can work.

'Look at my hands, they are empty, the reason I am showing you that they are empty is because I'm hiding something and therefore trying to prove to you fine folks that there is nothing at all in my hands hidden anywhere. errrrr why are you looking so intently at my hands?'

Read the book Okito On Magic. He came up with a method that fooled EVERY magician in Chicago.

I won't tip it here, but I'm sure that once you read it, you'll put your finger on the right method, right away!

Lee Darrow, C.H.

I at times wear the tt around the house doing chores just to feel what it's like for the tt to be a part of my thumb. So you feel natural with it and if you feel at ease, no one will know your wearing a tt. Also Darwin has some useful tips in Darwin's Encyclopedia of Thumb Tip Magic (3 DVDs).

Yes, I know not to put much attention on your hands. But they will be looking. Not at your thumb, but at your hands. And with a purple tt, they would notice. Whenever I do something with a tt, I only show the tip of the thumb in a natural fasion. But if it where red, or purple, or whatever, they would see that. And if you were going to hide your thumb the whole time, it would look unnatural.