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MagicBus Inner circle Kalamazoo, Michigan 2869 Posts |
FYI (this is not a sales pitch): I modified my 8 foot appearing wooden pole (made by Sorcery Manufacturing in California, many magic dealers carry it for about $30 retail) so that it has now become an "appearing cross." I use this with the Pastor Bill Hybel's evangelism presentation found in "Becoming Contagious Christians" with the excellent "DO vs. DONE" illustration (e.g.- Would you like to know the difference between religion and Christianity- if so- I can tell you). I use Lincoln Logs, some large "DO" vs. "DONE" letter stickers, and a filthy rag as part of the routine. My question is this: Would there be any interest in me making up a dozen of these specially modified "appearing crosses" (complete with the necessary hardware) along with my Scripture referenced routine if I could get them to you for about $35 complete including shipping? In other words, I would be making almost zilch "profit"- actually losing money if including any of the time needed to do the needed modifications. I will also film my routine for the next "Magic With A Message!" program for http://www.ChristianMagician.org
If there is no interest in this, I will just keep my own and be very happy with it (packs small, plays big as they say) even though I am willing to share the idea and even the cost of making it with my fellow FCMers. Let me know what you think. I'd hate to put out 300 bucks making some up only to find out later there was no interest in it. Personally, I think it is a pretty neato illustration and reinforces the idea that in Christ- He has DONE it all- there are no earthly hard works or payments we have to make or stressful hoops to jump through to DO what we need in order to impress God and hopes He then lets us into heaven based on our own merit. What say ye?- your responses are requested even including if you think this is a dumb idea OR if you have another idea on how an appearing 5 foot high cross could be used (the cross bar is 3 feet- I cut one 8 foot pole to make this work). Mine is produced from a Laflin "Dump Box" labeled "DO" as it folds flat for easy packing. Or I could also ask the idea just be published in "The Voice of the FCM" but I don't know how many would take the time to make their own appearing crosses. Thanks again all for your expected input. FCMer Roger Magic Bus from Kalamazoo |
jamiedoyle Special user Lafayette, IN 619 Posts |
Sign me up! I can paypal you or whatever - if the moderators would rather we handle this via e-mail, we could do that... but please count me in for one.
Be blessed Roger! |
MagicBus Inner circle Kalamazoo, Michigan 2869 Posts |
If I get any interest in it here, I will probably make up a dozen or so and will put a very small ad in "The Voice of the FCM" for it. I am not a dealer, so I will probably just put in the ad for folks to send checks or money orders only. Appreciate your first initial positive comments. If I get a few more, I will take the time and make up a dozen of them, and let you know here what the final cost will be and put it in my FCM ad as well. I hope to basically sell tnem for not much more than cost. Ironically, I discussed this idea also with Greg Bordner at Abbott's- he said he wanted to sell them through Abbott's if I so wanted to. So that was good feedback also.
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randyburtis Inner circle 1256 Posts |
I am curious about purchasing one,but price is a factor and shipping, as it has to be sent up north to Canada...
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MagicBus Inner circle Kalamazoo, Michigan 2869 Posts |
Hey, I love Toronto. By the way, as an aside, Williams Magic in Arizona sold the same appearing wooden pole by Sorcery Manufacturing with a terrific Gospel idea of rather than one picking at/criticizing the speck in a brother's eye, remove/consider the beam in one own's eye first. So the trick not modified still has an excellent Gospel application. 8 feet is a long pole and the younger kids love to see it appear out of a paper sack (I used a Burger King bag and threw a toothpick/"speck" into the bag as sometimes you will hear people in line or in public places like Burger King pick on one another...) Ties in nicely with the Bible verse.
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tbaer Inner circle Pennsylvania 2003 Posts |
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foY6wX1jCso
MagicBus, when you modified the pole, as it comes out of the bag, will the cross section actually be there at the top that it looks like a cross? |
MagicBus Inner circle Kalamazoo, Michigan 2869 Posts |
No, it currently comes out as one long pole first. It is "hinged"/connected. Then the cross bar is swung out (connected at 1.5 feet) to form the cross after first rounding out to another "pole" directly behind the lower 5 foot section. So the original 8 foot pole is cut into 5 feet and 3 feet sections, and held/hinged together by a series of small bolts, washers, etc.
My carpenter Jake Wolthuis is still rigging this up/working on this effect, and in fact, he was today playing around with an appearing pole/cross in his workshop to try to make it work as smoothly as possible. Jake has made a lot of stuff for me over the years including "The Vanishing Area Paradox" which I filmed MagicBob doing over a year ago and will be in our very next "Magic With A Message!" program when I ever get around to editing it. He is a fine craftsman and aways surprises me. I tell him what I want and most times he figures the mechanics out for me. He said he would get the final version to me probably within a week, so I am eager to see what his final solution will be for the first ever larger Appearing Cross that I am aware of. We will still make use of the Sorcery Manufacturing "wood" pole (I believe there are others on the market but this is the one we are currently using and modifying). I don't think Sorcery Mfg. will mind as we are still buying their original poles through Abbott's- not trying to copy or manufacture their idea/product which often happens so many times today in this global economy. I have been buying their pole(s) retail, then modifying/experimenting around with them after that. So it's like buying a basic Ford first and then putting on my own custom wheels. I was shocked when in a magic store in Mrytle Beach SC I saw an exact copy of an Abbott's Disecto which they have made for years in Colon (paint job copied as well) that was instead imported from India. So I will keep you posted, and if I sense enough interest, and Jake gets it to work better/well enough, I may have Jake put together a dozen more for me and advertise their limited availability in The Voice of the FCM. I love this creative part of Gospel Magic, taking tricks and modifying them. If only I could be even a fraction as clever as Duane Laflin in doing this- Duane has come up with a zillion great Gospel adaptations that are usually fairly easy to perform but very visual as well. |
revmike Special user Annville, PA 646 Posts |
If it works out, count me in too.
Mike
The magic is not in our sleights and illusions, but instead in our ability to bring love and joy.
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MagicBus Inner circle Kalamazoo, Michigan 2869 Posts |
Thanks- Jake is still working on the prototype of "the appearing cross" for me as of 12-6-2011- he says he wants it to work smooth... We'll see.
Speaking of new things/great ideas- my wife and I were visiting a little tourist town in northern Indiana called Shipshewana last Saturday- all kinds of little shops there, several performing theatres, great restaurants ("The Blue Gate") and an enormous flea market. We were in a large indoor commons area and there was John Begley doing Gospel Magic! How cool is that? Doing Gospel Magic ala street style with the full permission of the store owners! John said he also does Gospel magic at the nearby flea market (this is like the size of 10 football fields)in the summer at an antiques booth- wow. Ice McDonald used John's doves at the 2010 FCM convention. John by the way if performing outside, he produces and then RELEASES homing pigeons that fly back to his house-- they do that within a 500 mile radius. He said they often beat him home before he gets back after a show. Now that is very cool too! http://www.iseei2i.com John said he will be at the 2012 FCM convention in Marion- I will be there as well and hopefully both of us will be for all/most of the days this time around. And yes, we have been granted permission to do Close Up in the IWU Caféteria again in 2012- next year I will actually do it! So please bring your close up routines to share! |
Kif Anderson FCM forum Staff 1961 - 2012 386 Posts |
Your generosity is wonderful. I'm too am interested...and admittedly curious how it will come out of of something...but it is probably because I'm not seeing it correctly mentally. But yeah...count me in for procuring one of your creations.
><> J Kif
We are not cisterns made for hoarding, we are channels made for sharing. - Billy Graham
<BR> <BR>Sharing the gospel with Comedy & Illusion www.ozandwilde.com |
maps Inner circle 1124 Posts |
I am interested too!!!
I was wondering if the cross bar can be made like the appearing ladder so that when it's produced,it looks like the crossbar is joined to the sides of the vertical pole instead.As of now,the produced cross will have the cross bar looked like it's nailed behind the vertical pole. Just thinking aloud.
the heart is where the magic begins
Visit my website [www.mascotsandpuppets.com] |
MagicBus Inner circle Kalamazoo, Michigan 2869 Posts |
Well, I got the completed appearing cross back from Jake yesterday, it basically is two poles pinned together in a special way so it is strong enough to stay in the form of a cross but still not away at tear the plastic pole, etc.. The problem with it- it is very hard to "pull out" the cross bar from the "skin" of the pole section. So I am going to play around with it some more, maybe figure out a way to put tabs on the cross part or something. If I can get it to work smoothly, I will get it posted to http://www.ChristianMagician.org and you can let me know if it's still worth producing. So I would say it is kinda a "semi-success" at the current point. Maybe I got carried away with this idea initially, we'll see. I can get it to work, but not as quickly as it should.
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MagicBus Inner circle Kalamazoo, Michigan 2869 Posts |
Well, I fooled around with my appearing cross for about an hour- I can get it to work cleanly- e.g.- unrolling it naturally and not "exploding" open about 50% of the time. So I will film it (I can do as many takes as I need), but probably will not try to sell them as I can't sell a product that works right only 50% of the time. Rats. It really does look terrific when it does work though! I may ask Jake to work on the concept a little bit more, maybe he can fix the nesting inside the pole to exploding open pole problem.
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MagicBus Inner circle Kalamazoo, Michigan 2869 Posts |
Boy oh boy do I feel ridiculous. I cannot get my "appearing cross" to work EVERY time. It works some of the time. I played around with it for over an hour yesterday, the "crossbar" section at least 50% of the time "pops out" or
springs out due to the tension of the rolled plastic. So... I probably will just go back to what I did before- you produce TWO poles (one pole cut) that has velco strips on it- then simply velco the two produced poles together to form a cross. Not exactly a revolutionary idea or what I was hoping to achieve (an appearing cross). So I guess I won't be trying to sell or market these- mine is just too unreliable. But you can still make one up yourself with some velco an an appearing pole available at many magic stores or online... |
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