Although Fakinis are excellent as a set that will serve you well for many years, I had a great deal of success, as a kid, with Goshman's Multiplying Sponge Balls. The balls are denser than his typical sponge balls, making them easy to handle, and they're great for small hands. They may not work if your hands are really tiny, however. Also, the GMSBs will deteriorate, at least the set that I had back in high school, some 30 years ago, began to crumble after a couple years. They're great as a cheap starter set, until you can handle and/or afford a set of Fakinis.

Unless something came earlier, these were originally known as the Chicago Balls. It may have been Magic, Inc. or Ireland that put them out. I have a set , and I'll check to see if the instructions are still with them.

Fakini's are the tops, but to start out check out everything, I have a drawer full of rubber, wood, plastic billiard and whatever balls. Find what you like...try stuff out. If I am going for a walk I have cheap balls to fiddle with, that way the street drain only gets small change from me.

Play.

Loyal R,

As Faulkner said, PLAY.

Start out with just one ball. (it can be any ball. doesn't have to be expensive. toy shops have rubber balls) With just one ball you can create ALLOT of magic. Seeing youtube videos of people playing with 4, 5 even 8 balls is great. But start small. One is plenty. How about a ball that keeps haunting you? It keeps popping from your hand during your show. It becomes a little annoyance. An audience will laugh with you as you go about handling this pesky little ball.

A great video/dvd set on manipulation comes from Jeff McBride's World Class Manipulation. He teaches thimbles, balls and coins. All practical, effective material...The cheaper route is to go to a library and take out all the books on magic and learn for free......one of the great things about America....libraries!

play play play

I agree. It will supply you with a lot of information.

Good Evening, Gents.

While the thread is still somewhat fresh...

I've made some balls for manipulation. They're just 1.5" wooden balls from the local Michael's craft store. I gave'em a coat of red paint and a few coats of 'Ardcoat (a wargaming miniature sealant from Games Workshop). I find that the surface is...not-as-slippery? Kinda tacky? Not-quite-nonslip? It feels so much better than the cheap wooden set of multiplying balls I got a while back.

Just wondering. Has anyone found a varnish or laquer or some such substance that improves the grip on home-made or customized spheres? Testors gloss spray, perhaps?

I'll also vote for the McBride series of videos. I use it in conjuction with my Mark Wilson and Bill Tarr books.

NickW above spoke about using a single ball. I LOVE playing with a simple wooden orb. I don't carry much magic with me during the day, but my red wooden ball is always on me. In character, it's a family artifact. Everyone in my mythological magical family makes one when they matriculate into the higher levels of their training...kind of like a jedi's lightsaber. In my embryonic show, I bring out a wooden ball vase, go through some motions with it and the ball with the ball becoming increasingly capricious. I haven't decided whether or not to use the line, "It's got everything you think it's got. Wires, magnets, trapdoors, smoke and mirrors. It's tricked up nine ways to Sunday. Let's count them..." As NickW said, there's a lot of magic in a single ball.

Regards,
Rob

I really like Chris Ballinger multiplying foil balls. check it out.

I agree, I have the Goshman's Multiplying sponge balls too and they work great for my small hands.

In regards to what kind of balls to use, I would have to disagree with Regan. If you have never done balls before, I would start off with Vernets, because they are cheaper. You may end up deciding that you do not like ball manipulation and Fakinis are 4 times the price of Vernets.

Vernet's are horrid and would make just about anyone not want to do ball manipulation. They stick into your fingers like little barbs. Get some high bounce balls for practice.