Michael, your tip about the "method by which the trailing end of one silk is twisted around the leading end of the next silk being loaded" is something that my mentor, Earl Edwards, passed along to his students. I think of it as the "Kleenex" method of loading silks so that the corner of each successive silk pops up so it can be easily pulled from, say, a square circle without having to dig into the device and fish it out. It's a fine point that another mentor of mine--Bob McAllister--called "That Extra Touch." In my Alumascreen I load some 24 inch silks that way and have the last silk pull out a streamer. The twist/"pop-up" method is a great alternative to tying a string of silks together by the corners.

----- Sonny

I believe Duane Laflin teaches that same technique on his hank ball DVD.

Mark

I use a gimmicked egg because it will hold more. (Brown eggs don't flash!) I'd rather be caught with an egg than a tube.

I still make the Rosini style silk winder and it is good in some instances. The accordian fold of a streamers has been done before but I know of no loading for the same except the hands. Boxes will work to some degree but the hands still do the work.

Richard

I experimented a bit recently with a Rosini style winder for a project... and found I could get the same volume of fabric into the load chamber without it. Still, it might be more effective than hand loading for longer lengths. I was loading only 50 feet of 12" silk streamer)
Regards-
J.Neal

I can see where a Rosini Silk Winder load would be a great finale for a Phantom or Ghost Tube. Easy to steal and load.

Yes, Bill, it's exactly as you suggest, The silk bundle (load) has a solid feel even when removed from the winder. There are definite advantages to that!

i ended up making a paper tube to hold the load so that the gimmick (the paper tube itself) could be crushed and tossed aside during the routine...so far its working well!
Regards-
J.Neal

I rediscovered this thread and wanted to let the active members know that I am looking for a Davenport Demon Wonder Box!
This would be for performance use... (I'm not a prop collector per se) so it has to be in reasonable condition.

Regards-
J.Neal

PS. Having the Bumper (Torpedo) added load device would be great too!
PM me

Found one...Thanks! Looks like I'll have to make the added 'torpedo' load