Hey all,

I've been wracking my brain trying to figure this thing out and I could use some help.

Here is the idea. I want to be able to finish my cups and ball routine,then after having the lemons put away, I take the hat load object (which I've been using a cantaloupe, but am not opposed to something different like a coconut). Pretend to break the hat load open, find another smaller object inside, open that, and find a lemon. Then finish with the reveal for the bill in lemon.

My original thought was to start with a coconut, go to an orange, then the lemon. Then I thought of a softball, then a baseball, then a lemon. Thought of a set of Russian Dolls (really didn't like this idea though).

So far my favorite sequence of items is still the Coconut, orange, lemon. Any thoughts of some other items/sequences?

Assuming that nobody comes up with something better or easier to put together...

Now the hard part...any idea where I might be able to get something like this made?

I'm not worried about trying to make the coconut look like it is really being hacked open for the first time. And I'm OK with a plastic orange as well. I kind of have something in mind like I use to use with Chalet's ELOC. The fake fruit set was pretty good, and it might work, but I've long since let that go and George is nowhere to be found. Anybody else put out a good set of fake ELOC fruit that might be able to be modified?

I contacted Michael Mosher with Wack-O magic about maybe getting something made, but he was afraid that a one off prop like that would be way too expensive. Not sure where else to go with this for now.

I could really use some help and/or some suggestions.

I'm going to cross post this in Every So Sleightly section as well so I apologize in advance if this is redundant.

Thanks in advance...

It sounds like you have your answer, it'll be too expensive to have it professionally made. It might be best to make it yourself. You could probably do this for fairly cheap. Assuming the lemon was real for the bill, then you just need a fake orange and a fake melon/coconut. Most craft stores sell realistic looking oranges you could cut open and hollow out, so that just leaves the coconut. Assuming you were doing the coconut, you could take a plastic ball about the correct size, and glue real coconut fibers onto it to make it look real, or find a way to make a fake looking fiber. You could also buy those realistic looking coconut bras and use magnets to hold the two halves together. I'm not sure how to do the cantaloupe.

A pineapple would work too, and be large enough to hold the orange, and I'd wager you could find a fake pineapple online easy.

Hope this gives you some ideas.

I found this site, that sells fake fruit, and has coconuts and pineapples for very cheap, along with other cool things. http://www.displayfakefoods.com/

What about a finale load of Russian dolls. You open one, then the next and on the third you open it and its empty you shake it and a lemon pops out.

There is a well known routine called Orange-Lemon-Egg-parakeet.