What are some working effects using IT (or iet) that you feel are practical and that have worked repeatedly on audiences in the real world? I'm afraid there's too many effects using thread that simply isn't practical at all. Any advice is appreciated! (:

I think you are in for some serious reading! There's a lot to using IT and IET - more than can be easily explained in a couple of posts here. Hopefully someone will post some good resources for you here.

Jim

Also, what skill level do you feel you are at with IT or IET? Are you currently doing something that is just not getting the reaction you hoped for? Are you getting "called out"? I guess we don't have enough info to really help you out yet. Anyway welcome to the Café and if you are anywhere from beginner to intermediate with IT, check out this new and really inexpensive download just packed with gems. http://floatingcardtrick.com/ Probably the best $15 you will spend this year He is a great teacher, packed this project full of great material and tips and then WAY underpriced it.

If you are up to a bit of a challenge with IT invisible by damien Savina is a great ressource and not to expensive as it comes with an nice ITR. Or else I would suggest looking into loops...

Get Gaeton Bloom's Stand Up Card. It is great.

http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/3673

Watch the demo video.

John Cornelius Vanishing Nickel, great trick to carry around always ready.

Doug Henning did it on his national television show.

http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/S2271

I love working with IT and I do mostly impromptu effects. I often incorporate it into other routines as a simple levitation, such as basic borrowed coin, ring, or bill effects. Some examples are as follows:
I like asking a spectator to hold out their hand flat and placing a crumpled bill in their palm. I then look away for something else, and levitating the bill up to my hand while I'm not looking. I then look back, and say "where did it go?"
Sometimes I use it as a vanish from the spectator's hands where I pull the bill to my hand as I wave it over, then show my hands clean with a move I learned from Ammar's classic renditions 2 (Which his buddy John teaches, used for coins). Very visual vanish, could be done with no sleeves at all.
I also do a borrowed finger ring and string routine which ends with me attempting a complicated setup, where my hands are full of string and I'm obviously struggling to keep things in order. I say "Screw this, this is too complicated" (or something similar) and drop all but the end of the string, and let go of the ring to have it floating in mid air. I then simply thread the string through the ring, and then unlink the borrowed ring, all with it floating in mid air.

For impromptu purposes, I like doing levitations of bills, napkins, reciepts, etc. (anything paper that I can crumple around it), or using it to roll cigarettes or pencils with my mind. I also like sneaking IT onto a person's paper napkin with wax and casually reaching over and sliding it around the table with my mind during another routine. In coffee shops (i love hanging around doing magic at my local coffee shop) people love when I stir my coffee without touching the stirrer, just swirling my finger (magic with a purpose is always so powerful).

Recently, I have been playing around with a Matrix coin under cards effect where the coins really do move from under the cards, having them sliding using one IT under the cover of my arm. It seems a bit too complicated to pull off at the moment, but perhaps it will be figured out by me or someone else.

Anyhow, those are my thoughts on IT, and thanks to the previous replies for good resources as well.
Chris

Animate, Don't Levitate!

Check out Friend by Bruno Copin

Floating bill, ring leviation ...
For static thread, you should look into "Who's Afraid of Invisible Thread by John LeClair"

I second Burno Copin's' Friend'; incredible effects for tabled close up magic, great routines.

I second the John LeClair "who's afraid..." DVD. And would also add that Reflections by Yigal Mesika & Finn Jon is also very handy. Loops are also good and I believe the latest Blaine special had a nice effect with one. Not sure I can mention which effect it was here publicly.

I pretty much use it only for Haunted Deck or PK touches

I like the version of floatingcardmagic of the PK pen.

With loops, PK pen too of Yigal Mesika. Very easy, good reaction.

I agree! I'm new to the whole IT/ITE thing but I believe animating something seems more magical to my eyes. Some of the levitation effect videos I've seen only make me wonder "o.k. where is the thread?"Examples others have shared are like when someone does a dancing cane routine that goes on for several minutes or longer. Does that make sense? ...it takes me out of the moment and into a more analytical headspace. I'm favoring a "less is more" approach as I move forward in using IT in my own work.