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Howie Diddot Inner circle San Francisco & Los Angeles California 3288 Posts |
I wanted to use my stratosphere for a Christian presentation and I was very bothered by the black color of flip box; additionally the shape of the box did not at all look like a church and the final straw was the joker decal on the front was not a symbol I wanted to be associated with a church. I watched a stratosphere video on the Laflin website where Dwayne’s explanation of the box was that sometimes our relationship with God was a joke; I did not want to include that comment into my routine; so the stratosphere was not a routine I performed
I was browsing in Michaels’ Art Supply and came across a wooden bird house; the bird house had the doors and roof that was built in the same manner as a traditional church would be built. I took measurements of the bird house and compared the measurements against the flip box when I returned home; everything seemed to fit nicely, so I returned to Michaels and purchased the box and then sent the flip box and bird house off to a prop maker to cut the top off the bird house and fit it to the top of the flip box and then cut the front doors of the bird house and placing them on the flip box and painting the flip box to look like a church; photos of the finished project are below. The box looks like a church and during my routine, I can now after placing the red ball through the removable top of the church, I can place the top back on the church and then I’m able to open the sides showing that the red ball is not there and point out that the church does not house God; while picking the white metal outer tube up, I can show the missing red ball from the church is now in the clear inner tube and hold the closed church with the top in place in my hand and announce and the church is a building where you go to learn about God and associate with Christian friends and that God is within you. Photo of the flip box with the top in place Photo of the flip box with the top removed And lastly for the members here that will begin a discussion that Dwaine would not say that “relationship with God” comment, click on the link below and look at 3:00 on the video on his website http://www.laflinmagicstore.com/product-p/mpbsos.htm |
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DougTait Elite user Sebring, FL 492 Posts |
Very nice conversion. I just glued a picture of a church onto the doors, but your modification is much, much better. You also got me to thinking about modifying or building a flip box that would allow me to load the ball from the front door.
I have modified the Stratosphere by adding the letters J - O - Y top to bottom on the colored circles. The Stratosphere now becomes "Priority Balls". I ask if the children if they know what priority means. I explain that priority means, "to keep the most important thing the most important thing", ask them about making a Christmas list; what they want the most is at top of the list, etc. Explain the three balls represent Jesus (J) red; Others (O) yellow; and You (Y) green. We need to keep Jesus the first priority, Others next, and finally You. I sometimes juggle the balls and drop one (don't drop the red one!) "sometimes we drop the ball". We get our priorities mixed up and Jesus sometimes becomes our last priority (on the bottom).' Some people think that if they are searching for Jesus, they can find him in a church, but He doesn't live in a church and can't be contained in a box, etc. Reveal red ball on top where He belongs, bringing JOY into our lives. This is not original with me, but I can't remember where I read it or saw it. It must have been 8-10 years ago since I've been doing this routine for that long. Thanks for the great idea and the photos of the "new" church. Doug
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men [and women] to do nothing."
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DougTait Elite user Sebring, FL 492 Posts |
Addendum to above post:
Duane Laflin markets Strat-O-Sphere and Joker Tube as "Priority Balls" and has two videos demonstrating the effect. In one video he demonstrates the effect and in the newer video his son, David, is the demonstrator. They do not use the JOY acronym that I mentioned. I just wanted to give credit for "Priority Balls" idea to Duane, but still can't remember where I came up with the "J-O-Y" idea. Doug
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men [and women] to do nothing."
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Howie Diddot Inner circle San Francisco & Los Angeles California 3288 Posts |
Doug;
Thanks for posting the routine. The routine has some very good points to it and I am going to read it very closely after the weekend; it's Friday now and I have shows all weekend, but I wanted to acknowledge your input before I go. I will post a more complete reply early next week |
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DougTait Elite user Sebring, FL 492 Posts |
Howie;
That's not the entire routine of course, but you may do anything you wish to suit you. I always ask the children if they know what priority means and depending on their age, they may or may not know (but come up with some very funny ideas). To explain priority using the Christmas list example, I will say that I know that thing they put first on their list is underwear! You can guarantee a reaction and then play with them; "I can't believe you think an X-box (or whatever) is more important than underwear." Good luck with the shows this weekend. Doug
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men [and women] to do nothing."
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Jeffini New user Atlanta 52 Posts |
Thanks for posting the photos of your modifications. It looks great. And, Doug, thank you for adding your routine on priorities. Both of these are very helpful and great creativity finding ways to effectively share the Good News. I have never used the stratosphere, but am adding in Smokey Mountain Magic's Stratoblocks for my school assembly shows. This gives me some great ideas about how I can also use it in my Church programs. Thanks for sharing.
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themagiciansapprentice Inner circle Essex, UK 1381 Posts |
Yesterday, I walked through Frinton-on-Sea (England)
many shops were selling models of beach huts (for candles to be inserted)- these a similar size and shape to the gung ho boxes - some even had pitched roofs - only a few pounds, but were better than the bird boxes / feeders
Have wand will travel! Performing children's magic in the UK for Winter 2014 and Spring 2015.
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John Long Inner circle New Jersey 2826 Posts |
Howie & Doug: nice work, good thinking.
For those less ambitious, I converted my SOS box into a money collection box by simply printing a picture of a "$" onto a piece of paper; used double sided tape to attach it to a piece of cardboard (to make it stiff), and then used poster putty to attach it to the front of the SOS box. The intent was to make money disappear that was put in the box throughout the show. I also didn't want to permanently alter the box. This minimalist's approach could be used for other approaches by changing the picture. John
Breathtaking Magic;
Not Breath Taking |
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Howie Diddot Inner circle San Francisco & Los Angeles California 3288 Posts |
Quote:
On Aug 10, 2014, themagiciansapprentice wrote: The bird feeder was not my first choice, but it had the pitched roof and the doors that would fit on my existing Gung-Ho box, so I purchased it for $3.99 and had the top part cut off, the cross under the roof covers the hole where the bird sticks their head in and the whole box was painted to cover the yellow and black paint; the doors cut from the feeder covers the joker decal It works |
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Howie Diddot Inner circle San Francisco & Los Angeles California 3288 Posts |
Quote:
On Aug 10, 2014, John Long wrote: John, Thanks for the kind words; I get the impression from your post that you use the box for a few different types of shows and don't want to make a permanent change to your box. I also didn't want to permanently alter the Gung Ho box, but after a discussion with God in my head about how I would perform the illusion and how important it was to get the point across about making God a priority, I decided that altering the box for a Gospel routine and making the point that God does not live in a church as realistic as possible outweighed the cost of a new Stratosphere if I decided to include it in future children's shows. |
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Howie Diddot Inner circle San Francisco & Los Angeles California 3288 Posts |
Doug;
I've been reading and rereading your post for the last few days and the more I read it the more I like it. If you don't mind, I want to incorporate the routine into my show as you have described it; I think kids will be very interested in seeing the routine played out. Is it possible for you to further explain the way you perform it in a show? |
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DougTait Elite user Sebring, FL 492 Posts |
Howie;
You may use the routine any way you wish. I don't have the patter written down as I have done it so many times, it comes naturally. I will write it out and email it to you. As I said, your modification got me thinking about how to make a Gung-Ho box that will load from the front. I have a prototype built with a permanent roof and steeple, two front doors that swing open and the traditional back door which is just a brick wall with windows. The vanish of the ball requires that the ball be gimmicked instead of the ****. I have tried a temporary mod to the ball an it works fine. I am waiting on a package of 2.75 inch plastic balls to arrive to try the permanent mod. I got 50 balls for $7.07 shipped on Ebay so I'll have plenty of them to work with. I also will try to fill the balls with expanding foam to give them some more weight. I like to juggle the balls which leads to the "often we drop the ball" line. However since the balls are so light, they are more difficult (for me) to juggle, hopefully that will help. I may be over-thinking the whole thing, but I have lots of time on my hands and enjoy puttering around. I'll let you know how things turn out. Doug
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men [and women] to do nothing."
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Howie Diddot Inner circle San Francisco & Los Angeles California 3288 Posts |
Doug;
Thanks for the email containing your routine of JOY. I have decided to alter the outer tube to add the J-O-Y lettering and use the routine in my show; it's a great routine. My main reason of removing the trick from my normal show was that trick has been around for so many years that more then a few times during my shows, when I pulled out the tubes and balls a kid has yelled out that he or she had seen this trick before; now the J-O-Y routine will be different enough that even if a kid in the audience sees the tubes and balls and yells out that he or she has seen the trick before, I can announce that "I bet you've never seen it like this before" Thanks Doug; I'll post a photo of the outer tube when I add the J-O-Y lettering. |
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DougTait Elite user Sebring, FL 492 Posts |
Glad to help.
Best wishes, Doug
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men [and women] to do nothing."
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Howie Diddot Inner circle San Francisco & Los Angeles California 3288 Posts |
Doug, you did more then help; you perfected my routine; thanks for taking the time to write it down and emailing the routine you use to me, it was a big help and changed the routine around to perfection.
The pastor was very impressed with the change and approved it for me to include into my show. Based on the advice you were kind enough to share, I further modified the outer tube to the J-O-Y configuration, here are the results |
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John Long Inner circle New Jersey 2826 Posts |
Quote:
On Aug 17, 2014, Howie Diddot wrote: Doug, I think it was in Silly Billy, that Kaye wrote that it is not necessarily bad for a child to say this. Depending on the age(younger), it may just mean that he likes it, and makes him feel empowered. Although if you heard this from an older kid, then the reason could be different. Either way, Kaye did change the look of his coloring book, in part, to make it seem like a different trick. John
Breathtaking Magic;
Not Breath Taking |
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DougTait Elite user Sebring, FL 492 Posts |
John:
It was Howie who made this comment, but thanks for the Silly Billy remark. As we all know, kids will say almost anything, often to get attention. I don't do a lot of kid shows, but my hat is off to those who do. I believe that good child control is an art and a science. I sent you a PM re: the routine. Best wishes, Doug
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men [and women] to do nothing."
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Howie Diddot Inner circle San Francisco & Los Angeles California 3288 Posts |
A few days ago, I finished applying the J-O-Y lettering to the outer tube; thanks to Doug and his fantastic advice.
I demonstrated the trick to the Pastor of my church that oversees the children's ministry and he loved the new presentation of the routine; I have been approved to present a show at church.. Doug, thanks for a great routine. Here is a photo of the finished J-O-Y tube |
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Rickfcm Veteran user lower Michigan 382 Posts |
If you use rubber cement sparingly, you can glue any picture to the front of the box and remove it to change a theme.
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Terry Holley Inner circle 1805 Posts |
Quote:
On Aug 22, 2014, Howie Diddot wrote: I think the tube would be more pleasing to the eye if you only had the JOY in the circles and not across the top. I think it looks cramped. Just my 2 cents, which I realize you didn't even ask for! Terry
Co-author with illusionist Andre' Kole of "Astrology and Psychic Phenomena."
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