Hi all,

I've (finally) got hold of the Spongeball toolkit. It came with a bunch of soft spongeballs. I'm having difficulty with some of the vanishes, as the balls seem a bit too "bouncy", and I can't get a proper clip on them. A friend told me I should try get hold of some supersoft sponge balls as these will be easier to clip etc. Has anyone had experience with this?

Thanks!

My 2 cent:

I have been where you are now. Clipping the sponges will in fact be easier with supersoft ones. If you feel more comfortable with supersoft sponges, then go for them. I did, and I am perfectly happy with them. The only drawback I found is, that one type of appearance (clipped between the tips of the fingers) is not so fast as desirable because of the softness of the sponges. But this drawback does not matter for me.

And I like 2" sponges best. If you can handle bigger sponges, then smaller ones are easy for you.

Hope that helps.

My 1.5 cents:

I very recently got a spongeball toolkit, too - and developed a VERY simple "one in the hand, two in the pocket" kind of thing. I used a CP to perform the vanish . . .

A tip from Goshman many millenia ago is to grip a spongeball between the thumb and fingers of both hands and pull apart with the objective of tearing the interior of the ball. Do not pull so hard as to tear pieces from the exterior of the ball, you only want to tear the interior of the ball. Continue several times and you should feel the ball soften to some degree.

And as you use them, they do become softer. Have you tried rinsing them a few times, squeezing them out and drying them? That also seems to make them a bit softer.

The problem I have with SS is that when you or a spectator opens your/their hand with them in it, they come out limp. The regular sponge balls practically leap out of their hands, which makes for a nicer showing. It leaves the impression that they barely fit in their hands. Especially if you do an ending like Eugene Burger's with 18+ balls in the spectator's hand.

When there is a choice, I take the super soft.

Bob Sanders
Magic By Sander

I highly recommend the little extra work it takes to get comfortable with regular sponge balls.

When I was working a lot of close-up shows I inadvertently took four 2" super soft balls with me to a show..... I had packed up at my then magic shop in San Diego and grabbed the wrong box of new balls, etc.

The VERY first spectator I worked my sponge routine for said, "Oh, they work because they are so soft they just squeeze together!" That was it. I knew from previous experience that it would happen.....just had hoped once I realized what I had that it would not happen so fast! Put the balls away and just did other material.

Spectator's are not stupid. I know lots of guys like and use super soft, but I have never found it to be nearly as powerful as regular sponge.

That said there is one use for super soft that really rocks and that's when you want to produce a large load of say 20-50 1" balls. Secret is to dampen the sponge first. Squeeze as much water out of them as possible. They will now compress down, down, down and still spring open violently, etc. The secret of how to have them all compressed and ready at hand when you need them is another story ......

Best,

I don't think it makes any difference to the spectator whether they are soft or super soft. They know they are sponge balls. Whether you use super soft or soft should really depend on what you're most comfortable with.

I seem to remember that the super soft sponge balls will actually be a little larger than they started out AFTER you've just washed them...

Julie

They're a little larger after you wash them but after they totally dry out they go back to their original size. Washing them does restore and freshen them up though.

Hi All,

Thanks for the very useful advice; I ended up getting a set of standard and supersoft sponges, and am practicing with each on different days, when its time to perform in front of people, I'll hopefully be comfortable with both types, and then see which I'll stick with based on reactions.