So many people post their favourite effects here but the Linking Safety Pins hardly ever gets a mention.
I don't actually do it but remember seeing it done once and thought it was fantastic.
Do you actually use this in walkabout or is it one of those effects that just get left in the draw?

I used to do it a lot but I liked it because they seemed like a common objects that everyone understood.

After a while I came to think that safety pins in that size are not so common. Diaper pins are long gone and quilting is not too popular any more.

I will admit that when I do them along with the traveling safety pin through handkerchief it goes over very well. I do the non-g***ed method not the Jerry Andrus.

I guess I'm not too enamored with my old patter but the effect goes over great. It is strongest for kids and adults watching kids. The Jerry Andrus set is better for adults only venues, in my opinion. I have them but most of my Close-Up is in hand and some of the Andrus Pins are table top.

-Mary Mowder

"You've seen those large rings that magicians use to magically link and unlink? I can't fit those in my pocket, so I carry these pins..."

I use them whenever I can!

Even better if the restaurant uses cloth napkins, and you can incorporate "The Phantom Safety Pin," from Tarbell 3, into your routine.

You're right Magiguy, Cloth Napkins should never rip as a thin handkerchief might.

Also, I had two kids ask me what a handkerchief was a few weeks ago (and I was so careful not to call it a silk).

-Mary Mowder

I like to use four inch safety pins for the Grab That Pinhead or Pindemonium type routines. They're more visible and the moves are just as easy. They're not made in that size any longer, so I searched Ebay for them. Regardless of the size, I think most people still know what a safety pin is.

"I was cleaning out the attic last week and I found my old diaper pins...Yeah I was a big baby"

Absolutely, all the time!

Mary: Ken Brooke had a hilarious routine with the pin and a thin hanky. He borrowed a hanky and had spec hold the corners TIGHT. He put pin in and swooshed it from one side to the other...TEARING the hanky. He'd then say, "wait, you didn't hold it tight enough." And turn the hanky 1/4-turn and REPEAT tearing it again. Then he repeated it one more time and it would tear. FINALLY on the fourth attempt, he'd swoosh the pin across and it DID NOT TEAR. He'd then say, "Whew, I'm glad it didn't do this." Swooshing it back to the start tearing the hanky.

(Of course he loaned the spec a cheap hanky. To see Ken do this you would be in tears.

So there doesn't seem to be an overwhelming number of people who use this......
Is that because people have bought it and put it in the drawer or that people just have not bought it!
Anybody out there who found it just didn't work for them?

It doesn't fit with a lot of the stuff I do, Jugglestruck...it's one of the effects that lives at the very bottom of my bag and is brought out when I am out of everything else. Not that it's a bad prop. Not at all...it just doesn't fit me. Although there are some wonderful ideas here...

David

One of my, if not most favorite effects. I still have 4 sets of Jerry's pins unopened in the original yellow envelope from 1988. I met Jerry while I was going to the University of Oregon (86-91), Chuck Leach introduced me. I too had a problem with motivating the large safety pins, then I came up with this bit of comedy to introduce the pins,

I would unbuckle my belt only (NOT MY PANTS) and reach into my pants along each side and come out with a pin in each hand, then reach back behind into my pants a pull out an XL cloth diaper, then shake each leg out like I was getting comfortable or readjusting myself...Sometimes I would have a force card printed on the diaper that I would reveal after failing the first time...or have some other funny stuff printed...then I could go into the linking pins...

I no longer do this because there are no more cloth diapers, or are very rarely ever used...Also I only used this bit in nightclub or bar venues, never during a table hopping gig at a restaurant or banquet...Not a good thing having a grown man pulling off a diaper while people are eating or getting ready to eat...

But now that I think about it I may have a way to pull this off (No Pun) with todays generation of spectators. Thanks for getting my wheels turning.

RJ

Have loved performing this effect, it's a great deviation from the typical cards or coins type of effects. I typically leave the house with a packet trick or two, maybe a coin effect and a half dollar but also will always have my pins linked and hanging from a belt loop,a pair of dice in my pocket and a loop around my wrist.
GlenD

Now that is some great thinking. Very funny!

Bought my set from Tony Slidini many years ago. I found that they didn't fit my style and stayed in "THE DRAWER." THEN I saw Sol Stone's routine at a lecture he did for us and have been useing them ever since. Quick, clean and it makes sense. It lasts about 1 minute and it makes jaws drop.

Jack Avis a trick in his book Vis a Vis using the Andrus pins. After linking two pins, you wrap then in a small piece of cardboard, then taking a pair of scissors, cut through them.

Thank you...