I am amazed that no one as yet has had anything to say about the section dealing with the Sanada gimmick. If you have not yet used this excellent device for producing and/or vanishing sponges and silks, that is an excellent reason for purchasing the Toolkit. Both Steve and Dan Garrett explain the use of this contrivance extremely well. Even those already familiar with the gimmick may learn something from Dan's use of it.

I happen to think that Gary Darwin's analysis of sponge ball vanishes and productions in the Toolkit is one of the best I have ever seen. I feel that his section upstages Steve's work in this DVD.

Here are a couple of additional thoughts on this subject. I have well over a dozen DVD's in L&L's World's Greatest Magic series. I greatly enjoy most of them, but I was quite disappointed with their sponge ball DVD. IMO another extremely mediocre sponge ball DVD is THe Encyclopedia of Sponge Ball Magic" produced by Magic Makers. I feel that I really wasted my money on that one. It isn't even in the same league as the SBTK. Finally, I happen to strongly agree with a prior posting that had high praise for Brad Burt's All About Sponges video

I agree that the Toolkit is definitely slanted towards less experienced sponge ball workers, but for the low price I think it would still be a nice addition to any sponge worker's library.

I already perfomed SB magic before I picked up this set and still managed to find a few gems to add to my routine.

I picked up this Toolbox a while ago, and in around a couple of days I had a solid spongeball routine which was perfect for my opener in my act. I have been getting GREAT reactions with my routine, which is mainly constructed from the ideas on this DVD.

I wanted to dabble into other forms of magic, magic other than just cards. This toolbox offers much more than expected for the price, the teaching is very good, the routines offered are superb, in my opinion. Of course, I'm very much a newbie to sponges so I may be wrong!

The only downside is that the structure of this DVD is a bit so-so, the vanishes/productions/routines etc. are taught in a disorganised way, but still, a couple of viewings of this DVD and you'll know what you want to learn, so you can skip right to those chapters.

The props are very good quality, and for the price, you can't really beat it!

I bought this for my daughter, who is becoming interested in magic, and thought a beginner set of props and an introductory DVD would be useful. On the whole I feel this was a bit of a wasted purchase. As many have noted, the teaching style of the DVD is poor. Mr. Dacri (who I was sorry to learn recently passed away) is not a tremendous teacher, and most of the routines he offers on the DVD are simply a repetition of his one signature move, which is a retention vanish. It is a ridiculously clean move (esp if you sit on his right, which is where not coincidentally he always positions the spectator). I found his personal style and long, manicured nails a bit distracting, lol. There are a couple other people performing on the DVD who have some valuable instruction to impart, but on the whole, this DVD is poorly produced. The props are not impressive. The rabbit sponge is a cut out and looks cheap. The coin purse is fine but very small, and a little hard to open. The sponge balls included are rather small (and are smaller than the ones Dacri uses through most of the DVD). I feel like a sponge ball routine has a stronger impact when the balls are larger, as the production is more visual and startling. On the whole I cannot say I highly recommend this, but if (like myself) you are introducing a young person to sponge ball magic, a set of slightly undersized sponge balls and some standard props is not a bad way to begin.

Is the footage on this dvd different from:

Dacri's L&L DVD set and
L&L Spongeball DVD

I was impressed with both of these two dvd's and put together my routine from the Dacri DVD set. I was impressed with the L&L Spongeball dvd because it had so much more than their regular DVDs, many more performers - so I was worried that the Toolbox DVD might have some of the same footage.

Is it the same or different?

Its a different set.

I bought years ago the toolkit. It wasn't all the money worth!
The dvd looks like a soap: Not serieus at all and you have to wait before you learn the next effect. And the probs are .... uh there! But they are not special.
After all I got a lot of regret of this buy!

If got the second chance, I bought the spongeball dvd from Ben Salina and a box super/ultra soft spongeballs.
Just my two cents

If I was just starting out, and I wanted sponge ball stuff...WOW! Look at just what Penguin has:

http://www.penguinmagic.com/search.php?q=sponge+balls

Doug

Thanks for the replies. Doug, you recommend the Jensen books? What do you like about them?

I don't have them, but the price alone is a factor. I read the contents of the ads, and really, this is just another great source of info! I hear there is a third book planned.

Doug