I have used it a couple of times in a live performance, but not so much yet. So far I have used it as a gag, where I am to cut a fruit, I miss and I cut my arm. Claiming this knife is to sharp, I remove it and bring out another knife for my purpose..

I want to do it in a more bizzare fashion tho, with blood and everyhing (I have Tony Parx version wich I like a lot even tho I find it hard to get the amount of blood I want, and the blade can be a bit woobly, but I figured out to handle it in a good manner).

I am therefore a bit curious as to how you other people who use a knife thru arm use it. I have seen some performance where two people do it simultainously to classic music "playing" with the knifes on their arms to the music. Very interesting approach I must say! And of course I have seen a couple of performances from Amazing Jonathan doing his thing (would really want to own one of his knifes some time if I manage to find one). I imagine it can be a powerful effect in itself, or combined with something more. Saw Amazing Jonathan do some sort of card prediction where his blood on the table cloth turned out to have dripped the choosen card (he was trying to stab the deck to find the right card, failed and started cutting his arm instead). Pretty nice and I have similair ideas.

I am not asking you to give up your patter or so, just some ideas and thoughts around it would be nice! Maybe combine it with some other trick? I got a nice arm chopper that might fit a suiting patter.

Also, while we are at it, I am considering to grab me a "Slasher" from http://www.blackhart.co.uk/page55.html.
Seems like a very nice item, and could be a nice more subtle approach for causing some blood sheed

Be well, and happy arm cutting!

/Ronnie Kash

Slasher is great for Eugene Burger's Retribution.

For others who haven't seen it, I think you're referencing Barry and Stuart's "Suicide in C Sharp" -- viewable on YouTube and quite a powerful routine.

If you want to tackle/explore a serious psychological issue, you might research the topic of "cutting", depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. However, it would be difficult to do well and sensitively, I think, and may not be the direction you were thinking of going.

I was asked to do a gory routine for a Heavy Metal Halloween show again this year. I did a long voodoo needle routine the year before. Blind folding my assistant and puncturing her in the neck, arm and face. After forcing her to drink from a bottle of whiskey I produced from a balloon popped with one of the needles. The Metal guys loved this. heaps of blood from three puncture wounds.

This year I did a tribute to suicide in C sharp, its a great routine. Before doing a spooky version of a shadow box, with demons/spirits manifesting objects in shadow such as knifes, nooses and deamon hands. Before one appearing in shadow and bursting through the paper and attacking a plant in the audience with the knife.

Knife through arm

That was great man! Just the kind of input I was looking for to give some ideas and hints on what to do with this. In that scenery it was a very fitting way to use it!

Gory indeed. Noticed you got the Parx version just like me. And I assume you have modified it to suit your blood amount. I guess I should do the same, cause I cant seem to get as much blood out of it as I wish.

Also, any special type of blood you use? Myself I have been using the harry anderson stage blood and some more gel type of blood I got along with the knife, trying to mix them to get a good blood.

Nice performance, and I liked your ending. Very grim and brutal.

Thanks for sharing!

Lin, thanks for the input. Suicide in C sharp it is indeed. And I do not think I wish to perform this kind of effect in the context of depression and cutting. Thanks for the advice non the less

I have the idea that if I use this WITH the blood, I want to do it in a supernatural way. Not as a "funny" gag. So I guess exploring the heavy metal theme you performed under would be a good bet for this as a stand alone effect. Might make a whole act around razor blade magic, needle thru arm, needle thru tounge, knife thru arm etc.. End it all with "accidently" cutting my head off on a guiljotine..

Oh well we will see. I am not quite the gore/dark magician performer. But I have some ideas for the future for a stage show.

All the best

Ronnie

Yeah I modified the knife attaching two syringes to the handle. This gives a decent amount of blood. I have both Harry Anderson stage blood, as well as just water mixed with red food dye and corn syrup. I don't think using corn syrup in the original blood well would be a good idea. As glucose/corn syrup can dry out either hard or sticky blocking things up. With a removable syringe this isn't a problem.

Here is a link to a photo of me doing the 'spirit box'. It was funny to see a load of metal heads sit around on the floor like little kids while doing this...

This is my version :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5Omv_m8geY

thank you for looking and have a nice weekend !!!

Thanks for sharing guys. Really helped me out with a lot of ideas!

Hope you will have a good weekend aswell! I like the other knife thru arm version aswell. Noticed it's in Tarbell as I was looking thru them the other day.

Ronnie

Whow...'wham, bam, thank you maam'. Whow hackmonkey! Why so QUICK! Blood and gore only make sense in the context of innocence, trust and humanity....etcetera. And,where is the tension between the former and the latter, please? What's the hurry...why the speedy gonzales stuff...

Notice the tension Harry Anderson created in his 'needle thru arm' routine...It is created through his story telling and through his contact with a particular audience member.. and these are integral for creating a situation in which he can merely show the needle in the arm (+ a bit of blood)for near on 5 minutes while keeping the audience participating through their uncomfortableness and squirminess!.

You, on the other hand, are all done and dusted in just a minute - and there is hardly any audience
involvement !!

Also, like 'suicide in C sharp' the silly large amount of sawing the arm becomes unconvincing when you have not set up to produce blood that spurts, that pumps out of the body....That behaves like blood behaves once you have hit an artery.

You end up looking like you are just playing around with a trick knife and tomato ketchup..for your own pleasure: you distance yourself from the audience!!!

I liked Hackmonkey's performance. Apt for what it was. Nice!

Knife through spectator's finger?!
http://youtu.be/O5cU8Ouhspw

Hello Havagrim

You can buy Slasher with confidence. I have sold these all over the world, many have gone to productions of Sweeney Todd! Remember that as with all my products it carries a 90-day money back guarantee. If for any reason you don't want to keep it you can return it for a full refund on the purchase price!

I used to use a KTA in my act but the problem was it looked a bit too unbelievable. I now use Slasher as it actually looks like you have really cut yourself. Also a cut throat razor looks very sinister and carries a lot of 'baggage' regarding violence with it. This helps to put the spectators in the right mood.

I use Slasher and used KTA as a blood sacrifice before raising a demon...

Regards

Keith Hart

I really enjoyed that, it was a well crafted multiple phase routine. I loved the premise and the execution.

Why thank you Bynn!
That night wasnt the best flow of the performance, but it's real.

Many of us are martial artists here - can you see the blocking and controlling technique of the overall arm-bar?!

Nice elbow control.