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TommyJ Inner circle Foxboro, MA 1750 Posts 
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On Apr 21, 2014, frankieacemagic wrote: Awesome!!!! Love the idea of using the three kids Frank. Love hearing routine ideas. Thanks for sharing. I wrap a piece of felt around the prop so it doesn't get scratched in transit. Felt is cheap enough.
"Keep the Kids Laughing!"
https://www.tommyjamesmagic.com/store |
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pbj100 Special user 516 Posts
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On Apr 21, 2014, frankieacemagic wrote: Wow arrived on the 12th in the show on the 19th ! Phil |
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frankieacemagic Elite user 498 Posts
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Absolutely, Phil. The great thing about the prop is it's not complicated. That just leaves presentation. It helps that I have 2 of my own kids to practice on all week! Now...something like Lopsided Cyclops, Miser's Dream, or Fiber Optics? Yikes. I was afraid to perform those the first time, even after practicing them for months. But the Blooming Wands are all presentation.
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randyburtis Inner circle 1256 Posts
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I will be using mine this weekend. The prop is very well made, little details such as spots machined out for the wand ends to go when they are in the front cover, white marker lines to show you(into the audience) where to slide the regular wands in. The flowers are bright, vibrant, well made. The wands are solid, won't have the color scratched off and the box is solid, colorful, but done tastefully so it stands out, but in a good way. Excited to use it this weekend!
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randyburtis Inner circle 1256 Posts
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Well, tried this out at a 5-9 year old birthday today... let me tell you how it was supposed to go...
This was my first time to use this prop. I have put it in combo with laflins "paint my flower" effect using an ultra tube. I planned to use a girl from the audience and I placed this effect s my second to last effect prior to bringing the birthday boy up to do the magic for the final trick. Over 25 or so years of doing shows, I have sculpted 3 really strong closers that I love( I have 3 different bday shows). They are strong magic and end the show well, so I figured I can try out Blooming wands and then know I can end strong while I think through how to work thru the bugs etc of new routine. I figured a girl would work great with the flower theme. Here is what happened...I get to the place where I am supposed to do this trick but the show has run long, I have time to do one trick. I felt enough confidence in the routine(I was basically doing it lot like Tommy has it, with some adjustments here and there) to use it and somehow felt I could use it to close despite it being played with a number of what I suspected would be a weaker environment for it(It was a closer, it was with a very boyish 5 year old pirate themed boy, and it was untested to this point). Wow, it killed! it ran nearly 9 minutes with the paint my flower trick, the bday boy LOVED it, he was so expressive and surprised when the flowers came out and he loved waving them to make the magic happen and make me sneeze on top of it all.Not only did it work amazing with a boy(I know it will work great with a girl), the number of comments and reactions I got from the adults was super. It was at least equal to my current closers. The trick entertained and amazed them. The audience really got into the bits of business and the visualness of the effect was strong. Coupling it with the paint my flower, for me adds more bits of business and logical reasons for the wands turning to flowers. I love how it ties it all together nicely. Once I get more comfy with it and smooth the script out it will become a staple closer for me. It was more than worth the money, to get this strong a reaction the first time through it... well that amazed me and made me even more delighted with this purchase and the reaction I got from my crowd. Thanks Tommy for another great effect! |
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Dynamike Eternal Order FullTimer 24148 Posts
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Randy, your story made me watch Tommy's video again. LOL
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Jimmy Joza-001-square-crop-low-res.jpg "View Profile") Special user New York City 760 Posts
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On Apr 28, 2014, randyburtis wrote: Nice, Randy. For a few years now, I have been using Wonder Imagery's Scribbled (based on a Warren Stephens' routine) with a botania as the final result. And, coincidentally, I had been thinking about getting Tommy's Blooming Wands, using Scribbled with this (good to hear the response you have been getting using Paint My Flower, which is a similar routine) and then using one of the blooming wands to "produce" a large botania (35-bloom). It's great to hear you having joined these two. I also tend to do that with a number of my routines. I think it does make them more complete. Great to hear your routining led to a great closer. Thanks for sharing your experience. It's helpful. Jimmy
"Those who simply walk in others' tracks leave no footprints."
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randyburtis Inner circle 1256 Posts
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I think you can use blooming wands with most tricks but it was,for me,a real bonus to tie the two together. I think it makes for a stronger presentation and the flow goes smoother. I love when that comrs together and it is an effect I now knows plays well regardless of the volunteers gender!
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randyburtis Inner circle 1256 Posts
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Wanted to share and extra bit of business. I had an older, mainly boys birthday party today. As a bit just for that age group I had a small, palm sized water gun. When you do the bit with the squeaker nose, I didn't do that part as I thought it might be too young a bit for them, but I had the water gun hidden in the silk. I then pretended to sneeze and then shot a few blasts of water out at the boys.
It was great. I did reveal it was a water gun after the reaction was over(and it was a great boy reaction). I would only do this bit for a predominately older boy party. I steer mainly clear of the gross out humor that seems to be the heart of their existence but tried this out, it worked well. They were cool with the overall trick too. I played it a lot straighter than when I do it for younger groups. |
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TommyJ Inner circle Foxboro, MA 1750 Posts
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Nice for you to share this Randy and, DON'T think I won't be using the water gun gag! that's simply a great bit of business!!!!
"Keep the Kids Laughing!"
https://www.tommyjamesmagic.com/store |
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frankieacemagic Elite user 498 Posts
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This is an older post, but I thought you'd like to see the Blooming Wands in action! Lately, I've been adding the 3rd wand to TJ's nesting wands so the flower is produced at the end. This routine was recorded before that idea. I love this prop Tommy!!!
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kg0OdCyIg8Q......vvK3ieQz |
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TommyJ Inner circle Foxboro, MA 1750 Posts
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Great stuff Frank!!! Love your style. You can tell the kids really like you. keep up the good work!
"Keep the Kids Laughing!"
https://www.tommyjamesmagic.com/store |
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Jimmy Joza Special user New York City 760 Posts
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On Oct 11, 2014, frankieacemagic wrote: Frankie, it was great to see you in action using the Blooming Wands and in connection with Magic Painting Professional. The kids really ate it up. Thanks for sharing. I received my Blooming Wands earlier this week. For the past couple of weeks (as I was debating whether or not to get Blooming Wands), I had been thinking about how to use them with other effects. I had narrowed it down to using them with either Warren Stephens' Mismade Flower Silk Routine (available from Wonder Imagery) resulting in a Botania after the final silk is produced or Dazzling Magic's "Magic Painting Professional". I think both of these combinations had been suggested either in this thread or the Tommy James Nesting Wands thread by other members (including Tommy). I will be using Blooming Wands for the first time a week from now. I think both will play nicely. And, it was a plus, to see how someone else is using Tommy James' Blooming Wands. And it motivates me even more. Now that I have had these for a few days, here are some initial impressions: PROS Well thought out routine. The wands are solid. For some reason, I was anticipating the wands might be extra light wands but they have a nice weight to them. (Tommy does mention on his website that the wands are made of solid PVC stock..... and solid they are.) Bright colors (the online pictures do not do justice to the brightness of the colors on the box, wands, and flowers). A while ago, I had asked Tommy if he could make me the wands in red, yellow and and blue. It seems a couple of other folks had asked for blue in Nesting Wands so he was able to accommodate my request for this in the Nesting Wands as well as in the Blooming Wands The flowers bloom open to about 6-7 inches wide. (Suggestion: store flowers open and try to load them in the box before your show so the spring open better when produced.) It doesn't have to be "a stand alone routine, but can easily be attached to another routine, adding continuity to the show." -wwhokie1 Invites the use of a lot of humor. You can engage three volunteers if you wish. Practically self-working so it lends itself you customizing your routine for it. CONCERNS/WISHES (I don't see these as cons) Take care when transporting (this is true for all of our props). You can use the box that Tommy ships it in. I'm thinking of adding something to inside of box (similar to p****t in Temple Screen) to produce either a long colorful silk streamer or spring flowers after all the wands have been produced. Not sure yet. Wish: yellow wand turns into yellow flowers with yellow wand stem, red wand turns into red flowers with red wand stem and blue wand turns into blue flowers with blue wand stem. That will be for down the road. I know one member had asked about the quality of the bouquets. And there were a couple of responses. Here are my two cents: I would also say they are of decent quality. Now folks, keep in mind that the whole effect is $275. Are these bouquets on the same quality level as those of Richard Hughes? No they are not. I own about three flower bouquets from Richard (which I have had for about 10-12 years) plus a few months ago I had gotten him to make me a Karrell Fox Snake Bouquet. Richard currently charges $350 for one 5-bloom bouquet. His work is beautiful and is worth the price. But, in all honesty, the bouquets used in Blooming Wands are of a decent quality. The other things to keep in mind is that the se bouquets will not be getting pulled from s*****s and so the wear and tear on them will be minimal. Make sure you don't just throw them down somewhere after they are produced. Place them in a vase or container. I will share more after I have used them for the first time this coming weekend. Thanks again, Tommy. I love so many of your products as well as the accompanying routines. Keep 'em coming!
"Those who simply walk in others' tracks leave no footprints."
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Starrpower Inner circle 4070 Posts
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I recently used mine for the first time at a party. I used it in conjunction with Mismade Flag. After the first two "mistake" flags, I blamed my wands and introduced the prop (as Tommy does in his demo video with hid "Picture Frame", I used the final wand from the Blooming Wands to make the real flag appear). Since I only did this once, I am not sure as of yet how this breaks the flow of the Mismade Flag routine.
Blooming Bouquet is a nicely made prop. Overall I am happy with it. If I could change anything (which I might to my own) here would be the changes: 1. Latch the door. The door hinges with what appears to be gaffer's tape at the bottom. The only thing that holds it closed is tipping it backwards slightly. If it moves forward past vertical the door will drop open. This may be considered a minor point, but it's one less thing to have to concern ourselves with in presentation. 2. Add a track or guide for sliding the panel. There is nothing to keep the panel, which holds everything -- the wands, the flowers, the hiding space -- from moving forward right out of the box. Again, like the front door, if one were to inadvertently tip the prop forward past vertical the entire thing could conceivably drop out. Frankly, I'm a little surprised that this was not done. The biggest challenge is resetting the prop. You end up with a beautiful flower display, and it makes a great photo op. But if you want to pack up and leave in a hurry, you'll want to plan on what you'll do with the flowers. As with any fragile prop, handling these flowers carefully will be the key to having them last. You'll certainly not want to just toss them into your case. I haven't figured this out yet after just using it once. Maybe I'll use the tubes Tommy ships them in, but those are a bit bulky too. Any suggestions? |
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TommyJ Inner circle Foxboro, MA 1750 Posts
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Starr thank you so much for the suggestions. I actually have replaced the hinge with an Acrylic spring hinge. I can send you one if you wish. You will just need super glue to glue it to the door and bottom of the box. I did indeed think of having some guide or track for the box but haven't devised a way to put one in without interfering with the removal of the partition to load the flowers again after each show, or take up more room in the box.
You have my mind cranking now on how to keep the door closed. When I came up with this idea, I wanted to keep everything simple, simple, simple. Maybe it was too simple, but I'm willing to try to make it better for the performer to use.
"Keep the Kids Laughing!"
https://www.tommyjamesmagic.com/store |
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frankieacemagic Elite user 498 Posts
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Hey Starrpower--
When I'm packing up, I simply put the flowers back in from the top. No need to even open the box. I slide them back in wand first and reset quickly at the next show. And as everyone else suggests, when not performing, keep the flowers in a cup/vase. And I can testify to the improvement with the hinge. My box fell off my table after it was bumped by a crazy hyper bday boy, and the bottom cracked. I duct taped it and it was fine for awhile, but then I finally had to contact Tommy for a new box. He sent me one for a good price (just the outer box), and the hinge is great. If you want to keep the box closed, you could try small magnets or small pieces of Velcro. I imagine that would be easy enough. |
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Jimmy Joza Special user New York City 760 Posts
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Now that's what I call excellent customer service, Tommy. It is what I have come to expect from you.
I just received mine 5 or 6 days ago and it has the Acrylic Spring Hinge. I guess that is why I didn't list this as a concern. I see your point, Starrpower, that if you move it forward past vertical the door will indeed drop open. I guess I didn't list this as a concern because as I have been rehearsing with I noticed that the grip I use to hold it keeps the door from dropping open. I didn't d this consciously.... it just happened that that is how I was holding it. There is a variety of small, strong magnets these days so I think that is one possible solution. In fact, I think I will try it out later on in the week. Even velcro cut to the width dimensions would do the trick but the sound of it being pulled apart may be kind of annoying. I'm sure there are other simple solutions to address this. But it is not much of a concern for me. That track guide for sliding the panel is a good idea, Starrpower. I am not handy but I would think if the box was slightly deeper then a 1/4 or 1/2 inch thin piece of wood or hard plastic on both sides would keep the panel that holds the wands from tipping forward. It's a good point. For now, I will just keep in mind not to tip it forward.
"Those who simply walk in others' tracks leave no footprints."
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Starrpower Inner circle 4070 Posts
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I'm thinking of some kind of pins that can retract to keep the panel in place but still allow its removal when desired. I know, as Tommy said, this is taking away from the simplicity, but it might work. And Tommy, I think I'll take you up on that offer for the hinge. I'll be in touch. Thanks!
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Jimmy Joza Special user New York City 760 Posts
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I used mine for the first time late this afternoon. I decided to use Blooming Wands in conjunction with Dazzling Magic Professional Painting. It went well really well. The kids got really into it. I decided to change it up a little for myself. I wound up using a total of four volunteers (which included the birthday boy). If I am not mistaken I believe Randy had tried this out and shared that with us. I go through the whole secret hiding place bit and then remove them from there and give each volunteer (except birthday boy) a wand and have them wave their wands around and have other children take colors from their clothes and throw them in the direction of the drawing. The drawing still does not get painted. And I said something like the following to the kids, "You know. It's my fault. The Super Secret Hiding Place also serves to charge the wands up with power. You know, just like we have to charge our cell phones, our iPads or iPods, our tablets, and other things. These wands are no different. They need to be charged up with magic power and just never know what will happen. So let us put each one back in to be charged. While we are waiting, Joey (not actual name of birthday boy but you get the idea), we are going to need your help as well. I have a different wand for you. These will help to charge up the other three wands faster and will also help out with the magic. (I then use Tommy James Professional Nesting Wands.) OK, Joey, point all the wands towards the wands box. Is everybody ready to see if the wands have been all charged up? (I then look at my cell phone [wasn't wearing a watch, lol.] You know what boys and girls, I think I left the wands in a little to long. Do you what happens when you leave these wands in for too long? I don't really know. Something different happens each time. They do get magic power but when left too long to charge, the wands sometimes start doing magic on their own. Let's take each one out." An then the rest was pretty straightforward.
As an additional note: I had asked the mother of the child to send his picture for one of the effects (I didn't specify which one). I designed my own artwork (will include a caricature of myself in this as soon as it is completed next week) in which I have a picture a of young boy behind a large birthday cake. There are other graphics on the drawing and Happy Birthday on the bottom. When the picture is "painted", everything is in color but it also added is the numerical birthday (e.g., 4th) between HAPPY and BIRTHDAY and the child's name appears below this. And in the face of the boy is now the actual face of the birthday boy. Thanks, Tommy (and Marty at Dazzling Magic). I wound up closing my show with this combination.
"Those who simply walk in others' tracks leave no footprints."
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Starrpower Inner circle 4070 Posts
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I am thinking about something like this to use as a track for the panel. It could guide the panel, yet retract for removal of same. For those who are unfamiliar with this type of hardware, when you pull the ring the little pin pulls back. You would need on on each side. It's a bit unsightly, but this is just an idea at this point.
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Posted: Apr 22, 2014 01:23 pm 
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