hey guys, i'm about to put my head on the chopping block for this one. so fire away! its me doing the sponge ball routine.

go!

there were several things that i wasn't really happy about during the performance, so i hope some of the more experienced members could give me some feasible advice.

I'd say not bad. The spec look very pretty :) .

I think your routine is a bit too short. You may want to add in some more stuff (eg. 2 in the hand 1 in the pocket).

i knew she was gonna take away some of the attention. heh heh.

yeah i thought it was a tad short too after viewing it. and i didn't show how i produced the balls as well. but well, that was my first time performing it so i'll defnitely add in some more stuff.

thanks for the comment, Magicdow.

I would say well done!! So did the girl asked you for a date? That was the routine from Inside Magic right?

Makes me want to do Sponge Balls too.

Anyway, Jerome did the same routine for my girlfriend on Sunday at the CCF, and well, bro, if you are reading this, my girlfriend was impressed!!

haha. she was my classmate, muscleaxl. besides... i don't think it would work out. haha! yeah that was the routine from Inside Magic. ;)

GOOD JOB!!!!!!!

You did it like a pro.

Yeah..u made me wanna do sponge ball again ^_^ :P

thanks man. that means alot to me.

Hi Cioxxx,

Hmmm where did I see that sponge ball routine before? Haha... :lol: Gd job dude, I can see that you got the attention of your classmate. You practiced well. I only have 2 suggestion to make.

(1) Make the routine longer. I suggest you make the sponge balls appear magically. Since they are compressable, it can be done easily. Use your creativity. Or you can use what Brad taught in Inside Magic. Where something appeared from the Spectator's ear, remember? :P

(2) Putting your hands in the pocket is fine. You looked totally natural and relaxed so it won't occur to most spectators but if you come up with a tough customer, I would say pockets might be a tad risky. Nowadays I no longer place my hands in the pockets. I have a couple of much better ways to prepare myself. Come to our jamming session next time and me or Aloy can show you. Our Aloy is also another sponge ball fan :lol:


Axl: Wow, Thanks bro! :D Appreciate that lots man. So glad that your gf liked it ^_^ Say Thanks to her for me as well. Looking forward to our next jamming session... ^_^

i forgot to get my friend to take down the part where i produced the balls. i think what i did was rub the table and got the balls to appear. ;)

k, pockets noted. thanks man.

I think Aloy would have some suggestions for sponge balls as well... it was his favorite routine during the last CCF leg :lol: And yeah, he got the reactions he wanted from the women & children!

Sponge balls are fun..... B)
I think your routine is pretty good overall, there might be more bits you can
put in, but i think you have the technical handlings to add them in.
I suspect there should be more variation possible with sponge ball routines than what is commonly used, due to their similarity to coins effects in general. Just waiting for someone to discover them....maybe it could be you ;)

Anyways, here's just some personal thoughts on some bits...

1) Consistancy of action.
Make the 1st time you put the ball in your left hand as similiar to the 2nd time you do it as possible.

2) Putting the sponge balls on the table.
This is just to keep up the motivation of the action. When the balls are on the table (or being held by a 3rd person when there's no tables) it gives you a lot more reason to pick up the ball and put it in their hands, rather than when it's already in their hands. Hope you know what I mean by this ;)

3) Turning their hand down.
When you have placed the sponge ball in their hand, turned it palms down to prevent any premature erm...."actions". Personally, i go as far as holding their wrist very lightly and gently with my fingers just to psychologically put a "weight" on their hands.

I think your loading is ok. It's quite natural looking. :)

For me, the whole thing about sponge balls is they are generally quite silly looking things which you can get away doing rather silly things with, because they set the mood for it. And i prefer it a little faster paced. But that's just personal perferences. B)

Nice going there lucius, wow now you're doing sponge routines? haha i'm into coin now.. Flourishes flourishes. Well, hope to see your sponge ball routine when we go for jamming soon.

And you got the girl right there, stunned. Ask her out for a date man. :P

well i'm sincerely gratified that you think i have the technical capabilities to handle the routine, Aloy. i'll definitely add a few more stuff into the routine. i guess the performance was a little raw considering that it was my first. always room for improvement. :)

ahh, i think it was mentioned in Inside Magic that it'd be better if i turned her hand down. you could see in the video my hand was over hers, just in case she opened it prematurely. that was a little bit nerve-wrecking, but luckily for me, she didn't. heh.

thanks again guys for the comments. :)

I agree with Aloy's advice 100%.

He's spot on with the consistency of the loading of the balls. The concept of making the fake look real and/or making the real look fake is something I try to integrate into my magic.

The smoothness that you see in other magician's sponge ball routines can only be attained through constant performance and practice, so if you feel that your performance was raw, just know that it will get 'less raw' the more you perform.

For a first performance you did very well my friend. I, as like many here, would have wished for it to be longer, but we can't ask much as it's just your first shot at it, so I can understand.

So, you might want to think about adding more sequences to it, perhaps producing them in the beginning and making them vanish at the end?

I LOVE sponge ball routines, mine's a very basic routine, basic but effective. The reactions I reap from each performance are always heart warming. So keep practicing and soon you'll relish in them as well!

Aloy,

After reading about your inside knowledge on the sponge balls, I would love nothing more than to watch you perform them!

Very brave and commendable indeed for you to post up your video here. Sponge ball routines are very visual, simple and appeals to almost everyone. Generally, you did the effect well!

I'll just go through what I think can be improved.

Besides what have been mentioned of:
-Devise a longer routine
-Turning the volunteer's hand down

I would like to add:
-On the feint, I feel that it is rather unnecessary here (the only thing it covers is the suspicion aising from the sleight which is executed too quickly). Moreover, it is unnatural to open the hand, take the ball up with the other hand, only to put it into the hand again.
-On the retention vanish, as I have mentioned earlier, while the sleight is good and invisible, try to do it just a little bit slower and smoother. I assure you it will be as devious (if not more, as it removes suspicion).
-On pointing (to the hand which apparently contains the ball), please do not do it. As Dai Vernon said "There is no place for pointing in close-up magic", contrary to traditional, yet popular, thinking. While I may not agree to what he says in his absolute terms, it is true to a very large extent that pointing, rather than acting as a convincer, actually raises suspicion due to seeming "over-proving".
-On holding out, a not so important point, but if you can, try to have your hand a little more relaxed. You do not have to squeeze the hidden ball so tightly anyway.
-On loading, while it is good that it is done on an off-beat, it will definitely attract attention from audience members who are sharp (that's the bad point of an off-beat). It is common for audience members to suspect whenever the magician's hands are out of sight. How about doing the load as part of the routine (when you apparently put away ball(s), you load)?
-On motivation, when you take the ball out of the volunteer's hand only to put it back again, try to create reason, such as taking it up to show it to the rest of the audience.
-On attention control, I think it is better not to draw attention to the placing of the ball (together with the hidden load) into the volunteer's hand, which you do by asking the volunteer to close her hand around the ball tightly, emphasising it.

You may not agree with all these points, but nevertheless, I do wish you all the best in creating a sponge ball routine which appeals not just to the audience, but also to you. Good luck!

GordonLi, any advice is much appreciated and i really really would like to thank you for taking your time to offer me some much valued advice. it's always good to hear from someone who is much more experienced. i'll take note of your points. :)

Logan, i did produce the balls beforehand. i just didn't get my friend to take it down, which now on hindsight, is a pity. but thanks for your comments. :)

LOL.... :lol:
Don't listen to them Logan, I'm all-talk, no-(much)-action.... :lol:

I play with them because they are fun and play well with children and babes :!!:, no "inside knowledge" here. :D My routine with sponge balls is very basic and bare-boned.
I do think there should be more effects possible with sponge balls than what is commonly done though, considering they are very "coin/manipulation based" kinda sleights.

We should definitely meet up for a gathering when you drop by Singapore again mate. B)

Aloy i agree them, i remember you had show us some of your skill.
it is real cool and good. B)

See Aloy... ^_^

Now come on...show me your balls...

I've seen his balls before during the CCF gig. Its big, round but dirty. :blink:

aye i wanna see Aloy's balls too. my balls could learn alot from his balls.

You guys are weird. :wacko: All of yous....... :huh:

:lol:

Her reaction is damn good.

And nice try pal. try to design a patter for your routine. Your style is very "brad christian". :)

yeah! i know. my bad. like i said, my first time at it so i didn't really wanna deviate that much. i was more concerned about how my sleights would come off... so that was negligence on my part. thanks for the heads up. :)

Medium sized lah. Won't say it's big but ya... quite dirty.

...Happens when you've had your 2" spongeballs out in the open where dust bunnies can attack them -_-

Diu... How come when I do magic for girls, I don't get this kind of reaction?

Think I should start doing sponge ball routines too. *ponder*

Oh yea, the video. Pretty good job. I like your style actually, natural, unassuming, calm... pretty cool demeanor. Nice work.

Right, back to pondering... Ok Ning, got sponge balls to sell me? :lol:

You're in luck! My last complete set of sponge balls... 4 red super soft spongeballs can be yours... if you just PM me :lol: LOL. You guys should really consider the 3D Bunnies too... super good for kids and ladies ;) Michael Ammar even wrote the patter & presentation for it. Good quality stuff!

You guys seen it before right? It's Aloy's fave trick to do to girls... :rolleyes:

Thanks man. Actually, I just love the way she reacts to magic so I got her as my spec. Maybe I could get you to do some magic for her? Urm, no pun intended. :)

Some people just react better to magic than others. Some don't want to be amazed.

I've met them all, soon you will too, and those who love to be amazed, like that girl you performed for, would be amazed at almost anything! It is such a joy to perform for these people because they truly appreciate the effort that you take to do such feats. They don't mind opening up and believing in the magic that you perform. They're not interested in the method, or curious about what's in your pockets, they just wish to have their heads blown off.

Another example would be John, from the L&L videos. He's the blonde haired, moustached guy sitting in the audience who always screams at everything. Some say he's over-reacting, but I personally know some people who behave like that as well, so I doubt it.

I wish all my spectators were as reactive as he was, my job would be so much easier!

I hate those know-it-all cynics who just sit there whilst you perform, with this look on their face <_< and of course, after you amaze them, they won't admit it, they'd just look at you and say, "You got fast hands..."

Oh well, you can't please everyone! :rolleyes:

Oh my god... John... yes, we all know about him!!! :rolleyes:

Nice spongeball routine. I think it needs just refurnishing of the moves and such. Actually I want to get some spongeballs myself and play with them, but did not get a chance.

Maybe someone could invent a routine called "Spongeball Squarepants".

:off: L&L Videos always rock. They have great audiences that react very very well. After I get bored with the magic, I get interested in the audience. :)