Okay - so maybe this isn't the right forum - but I'm hoping it is.

Not for a show or performance - but at home - in your "practice" area. How do you organize your tricks? Decks, packets, etc. Do you keep an effect like Red Hot Mama ready to go in a box - or assemble it when it's time to perform. Etc. I'm just wondering what others do - as I've gathered enough "stuff" now that I need to keep it better organized. I have about 20-25 packet wallets, and plenty of "boxes" but not sure the best way to organize stuff.

Ideas?

Grizzpyre

I have a 4 shelf unit with bins. I label the bins and keep my stuff in there. One bin has cards, another is marked bizarre, another silks, etc.

I don't do Red Hot Mama so I don't have to worry about that. But I do have some decks that are specific to an effect and ready to go. I have the decks marked on the end so that I know what it is. To a casual observer it means nothing.

I love packet effects but only perform a handful for the public. Some I like but feel aren't suited for general audience consumption due to the amount of cards or sleights involved.

The packet tricks I do perform I keep in the standard black vinyl case that most come with. I have one vinyl case that has 4 packet effects in it. Sometimes I'll split it between two cases just to keep things better organized and eliminate fumbling during an actual performance.

If you have too much stuff, or more stuff than you can perform...eliminate what you don't need and keep what you really enjoy performing.

Hope this helps.

It helps a great deal! Thanks Dan! I hope to hear from more folks what they do with theirs!

I inherited my Father's "high boy" - it has a ton of drawers. I keep regular card decks together in one drawer, gaffed decks in ziplock bags which indicate what is in the bag in another, packet tricks in ziplocks the same way but in shoe boxes with dividers in another, all coin magic in a box in another (more bags) , etc., etc..
If I don't use it after two years, it goes to the auction or to my kids if it is proper for them.

Thanks Denis! The ziploc is a GREAT idea. And glad to see another hobbyist lawyer around here.

As for Red Hot Mama, I will usually keep an odd-backer somewhere where I can slip it into the deck at some point undetected, long after the spectator has been handling the deck.

As for storing, I bought a wooden machinists-type chest (check online auction site...I got mine at Sam's 10+ years ago) which is perfect because the drawers are not high, perfect for most effects...and there are many drawers.

Best of luck!

David

I use plastic bins for categories of magic.Dvd's are taken out of cases and put in notebooks you can find in office stores that hold about 200 each. I use a similar device for packet tricks. Go to a baseball collecting store and you can find boxes that will hold multiple decks. You can label these also. Another attorney/hobbyist.

Wow - how many attorney/hobbyists do we have here? Should we have our own board?

Myself, I use these:
http://parts.digikey.com/1/parts-kws/k-bins
The bins I have are almost the perfect size to stand up decks of cards or packets in envelopes/wallets. I use plastic dividers with labels so that I can easily index them. They fit perfectly on a shelf and I can lay them side by side. I also have special boxes that will hold 8 decks that I can close and throw in a case to take to a show. They were ploastic necktie gift boxes that latch closed. I wish I had more of them, but I had to buy $24 ties to get the silly things. LOL

Kingman

So I guess you are now doing the "Cut & Restored Tie" comedy trick? ;~)

Have fun,
John