Ok guys, help ole Houdini escape from this dilemna. When I vanish a silk there is no room for it. Using a 12 in. silk. This is a Rice's silk (100%) Can't find the pick for the lock on this one.


Share the Wonder,

Jim Wright

Try a diamond cut silk. It has less surface area than a square cut silk and should therefore be a better fit! If that fails try a smaller silk my friend!

Good advice Martino.

The silk could also be a little thick, though a 12" is a big silk for a TT in the first place. The diamond cut is a good idea, or ask your local magic shop for the thinnest silk they have.

Sable

Nice one Martino. I wish I had thought of that. Thanks.

Thanks for your nice comments guys, but I got the idea from Jay Scott Berry when he lectured over here in England about a year ago. You can probably get the diamond cut silks from him if you can track him down.

Hi Jim,

Try different makes of TTs, or a King-size version. Maybe a TT mod?

-Marduke

You can get the Diamond silk from Magicsmith.

You're asking specifically about a TT, but you might consider using another method if you must use a 12" (or larger) silk. For example you could use a pull, a wand (gimmicked), a silk to candle/cane, and many others. As noted by others 8" and smaller is about the largest comfortable size for a TT.

You know, there's still the old silk poke. Nobody seems to use it anymore, but it works very well and vanishes large silks. It can be used close up or on stage. I even used to use my T-tip as a poke.

Sable

semianimus is right, the silk poke is quite effective.

In fact, David Williamson uses a wand and a TT with a silk poke handling in his routine "Whirlybird Silk Vanish" ("Williamson's Wonders", Richard Kaufman, 1989)

Such a great book.

Ok, I give up. What is a silk poke???

It's a device that allows you to vanish a silk via the process of "poking" it into your fist with something other than your hand (a stick, pencil, wand, etc.).

Makes for a super-clean vanish.

An example of a silk poke is described in http://www.allmagic.com
(see Stage Magic, "Silk Vanishing Wand").

It's fallen down toward the bottom of the list so it may be gone soon. Go take a look.

I agree to all but if you insist on using that silk you may try bigger TT's, for example Vernet's kingsize is versatile or you may use a fliptip as an alternative. Naturally no need to insist on TT as it was mentioned above there are other alternatives such as pulls, pokes, silk vanishing wands, mirror glasses, etc...

I get an 18" diamond cut into a kingsize Vernet with enough room left over for another silk!

If you use a Fliptip you may even vanish one more silk. It is quite big and very well manufactured from a rubber material. Try it.

You could also just palm the TT and not put it on your thumb. Just becuase it is a TT doesn't mean you have to use it like one. If there is room to put the silk in, but then no room for your thumb then try Tenki palm or middle finger palm to get it to the ditch.

houdini...

For silk work, I always use a TT that is made from aluminum. I find that the silk slides in and out just beautifully. I used to use the Vernet King size tip, but I learned from SALVANO, that a metal or aluminum tip is usually better for silk work.

Because of the 'roundness' of the aluminum tip, I personally find it easier to perform certain sleights such as a 'Poke'. It palms easier (much like a Dye Tube) also. My aluminum tip is not quite as long as a Vernet King size, but I can still get an 18" diamond cut silk into it just fine, as well as a 12" regular square cut silk.

There are many magicians that swear by the Vernet brand of TT's. This may sound strange, but I've been using different 'materials of TT's' (aluminum, vinyl, hard plastic) for different applications (effects). I'm not stuck to some of the limitations that come up with strictly using a Vernet TT.

Magically,
- - Troy

I have never understood the fascination of using a TT for vanishing a silk. It limits you to a very small silk. To me, a diamond cut silk usually looks like, well…, a diamond cut silk up close. Maybe stand-up and away from the audience it is OK. I think vanishing large silks (24 or 36 inchers) is much more magical and not that much more difficult, even close-up. Most people know that silk handkerchiefs compress rather small. So using a large one helps make the effect appear even that much more difficult.

The literature is ripe with vanishes (close-up) of larger silks both barehanded and gimmicked methods.

Imagine the effect on your audience when you pull a large 36-inch scarf out of your breast pocket and stuff it into your fist. It seems as if it is too large to go into the fist. Then you tap your fist, snap your fingers, stamp your feet, and open your hand to show the hand empty. Show both sides of both hands, hey no TT! Reproduce the silk by your favorite method (say, reach into your breast pocket and pull it out again, showing that it returned to the pocket!).

This can be done impromptu barehanded or using one of two gimmicks that I can think of. Three simple (and I stress SIMPLE) methods to achieve the same effect! Well it’s almost the same as vanishing a 9-inch silk into a TT (or even a BIG 18-inch diagonal cut silk stuffed into the TT) but it is more dramatic and more magical! Perhaps it is even better!

Reserve the TT for a different miracle!