Hey there all,
I am working on doing a short, small stage act (rather like stand up actually) and thought of dumping in a thimble routine (right after watching Shoot Ogawa's Promo vids... *** he's good!)... But after consulting some friends, the question sorta popped up... "Who knows what's a thimble?"... So it'd be like manipulating little globs of color on your fingers and kinda meaningless... I am still sincerely interested in learning a thimble routine, but would just like to know what your take on this is... Also, what sources should I look into for developing my own routine? I know next to nothing about thimble manip, so any help in this field would be appreciated... thanks!

The problem for any manipulator using any object is to get the audience to understand what the object is. If it is a small object, a pantomime gesture of what you would do with the object normally, may be all that it takes for the audience to catch on what it is.

For example, when I did an art act, I manipulated pain brushes. From the audience, it was hard to tell what they were. So, I created an easle which held colored silks. I could produce the pain vbrush. Haold the pallet and produce a colored silk. In this manner, the audience knew immediately it was a paint brush without me saying or doing anything more then that. It set me up well for my sequence.

Kyle

This is the book to get to learn all about thimbles, Digital Effects – The Magic of Joe Mogar, written by Steve Beam.

I agree with William. While I have many ofht eold Abbotts and other short bookso n thimbles-the Mogar book is the sine qua non. Some of the moves you will find diffiuclt unless you get thimbles that are easy to stack (and even then they ain't easy!). McBride's tapes go tme interested, but it was other resources that really set me on the journey.
David

Thanks a lot! Was feeling kinda blurry on this field of magic (could only find some routines in some really really old catalog from a friend).

Kyle... Thanks for the reply... Only problem now is no one uses thimbles any more, sort of a forgotten relic >.< Oh well, guess I'll have to work around it.

Cheers,
Shan

There is a routine published with plasters on the end of your fingers. It is essentially a thimble routine, utilising thimble manipulations, but not using 'blobs of colour'. Or alternatively, you could find a context which thimbles could fit. Just use your imagination. White thimbles can act as the tips of a magic wand... theres an idea to start your creative juices flowing.

Kevin

Shan:
Afer re-reading your orginal message, seeing a dvd and getting excited does not get one ready for perforamnce (though it does make all the dealers very happy). Let me assure you, you CAN NEVER "dump" a thimble routine (or any other stage manipulation routine such as billiard balls) into an act. Buy the thimbles and the books and vids today. Get ready to do your thimble act in 2006. At the earliest. Not before. Thanks.
David

Thimbles are used a lot by seamstress in sewing. That is the link to using ordinary objects. As far as the use in magic by others. This is good everyone does not use it. Mike Caveney made his reputaiton with thimbles. Doing something that everyone else is not doing, sets you apart from them. Make yourself unique. You might pick up Mike's book that outlines some of the things he developed in his thimble act. Like the production of a jumbo thimble.

Depending on the size of your audience, there's a big chance some people in the back will not be able to see the thimbles very well and wonder what you are doing.

Why not take the thimbles off the top of marker pens (ie pretend they are the lids), or even use the tops of coloured marker pens. You can get giant markers for a jumbo finish. Have a look at the jeff McBride manipulation dvds.

David is right though, this will take time!

David:
I understand what you mean, rest assured that I am not the kind of person to give an effect less than its due (although my language might've implied that); I would never do anything that has not been properly practiced/planned on stage (after a major slip up on TV some time back... Yikes! Learnt my lesson well, I did)

The reason I typed it that way... When I started out scouring for material, the only exposure I got to thimbles were the basic color changes and vanishes, never really knowing the full potential... But after seeing Shoot Ogawa's performance only did I realize how visual and startling it can be.

What I am rather worried about is what Christopher Moro mentioned... I was thinking using bright, colorful thimbles would help overcome that, no?

Cheers
Shan

[quote]On 2005-03-13 04:53, shan wrote
"Who knows what's a thimble?

Shan,
If you establish a relationship with the prop and create a reason for having it... does the audience need to know it's true function? My grandmother collected them on here travels, her mother didn't like getting poked with pins or needles.
Think of all the caps that fit small tubes, lipstick, chapstick, candy...

Good Luck,
Kregg

I've seen Gary Darwin perform a great Thimble Routine, I think he included it on his recent 3 Volume "TT" Dvd's as a Bonus Effect.

Find my stand up routine, put out by Ken Brooke, titled "Pete's Peeper" simple, direct and kicker finish.

Great info by all. Remember the magic is not what it is all about . without showmanship and stage presence any thing you do on stage can become worthless.

I did a small color changing golf ball routine with a real yellow golf ball and a white plastic practice golf ball. I had cut out a small hole out of the white golf ball and inserted a white thimble inside.
I did my switch from a yellow golf ball to white ball stuck my pointing finger in the thimble as I gestured throwing the golf ball in the air producing the thimble and palming the golf ball in the same hand . dithched the ball and started the thimble routine . I hope the explanation is clear . But you get the point creativity. Also keep the routine short . nothing worse than a drawn out routine doing the same moves over and over

When was the last time you saw a sponge ball outside of a magic shop or a magician's hands? That is still one of the most effective tricks you can ever hope to perform. That appearing and dancing cane is a prop that is common in today's culture? In the text of 'Digital Effects' by Joe Mogar, he points out the necessity to make the introduction of the props make sense, then you can do whatever you want with them. At someone in the audience has seen a thimble or maybe even collects them, but that dove pan...

Lewis Ganson has a full stage routine with thimbles in the book 'Routine Manipulation' Part 2. There are a couple of booklets out there, Lloyd comes to mind.

I am using the fakini thimbles and they look like a cap from a magic marker. so my suggestion is to make a magic marker and put the timble on it. now you can do all kind of effects like the flipstick then take of the cap(thimble)and start a routine.

or make bigger toothpaste tube and put the thimble on that (reasambling a cap)

Robert is right on with this one. The idea here is to learn the thimble moves and study them. However, do not lock your creativity to just thimbles. think of thimbles in terms of their shape and not as the physical being that they are.

Once you start thinking them by mere shape, then you can start finding other objects that look like thimbles in various ways but are vastly different. These then can be used for a variety of the thimble moves. But now you are opening the door to a wide range of possibilities and creativity.

Think outside of the norm.

Kyle

Russ Walsh had a set of Multiplying Golf Tees... which were basically long thimbles... great routine. You can take the head off a cane, you can use magic marker pen lids (or say that's what they are)...

I rolled up a dollar bill (around a finger tip) put a rubber band around it and... same as thimble routine.

Here's an idea.

Use fingertips... Stick your finger into a small can of paint... now the paint jumps from finger to finger, changes color, etc.

JUST THINK MORE.