So after a good amount of time deciding if a mini chop cup is what I need in my life, and then figuring out if I should get it from RnT or go for a cheaper one. (I mean, do I REALLY need to spend the extra money on a "nice" cup?)

YES. I ended up giving in and buying a Mirror finished copper mini don alan from RnT and I am so glad I did. My cup arrived and the thing is KILLER. I immediately noticed the nice solid weight and feel of the cup, which was shocking for its midget size. I feel like the balls (5/8) are just a tad too small for my liking, but my 1 inch balls look too big, plus it looks better when I produce the final load when I use the smaller balls anyway, so I am sure I will get use to the tiny size.

I had sent a few emails before I purchased the cup and Donnie was on top of replying and when I did purchase it, he shipped it out super fast and it arrived just as quick. Like 2 days. I'm really quick to judge magic props harshly, and regret my purchases, but I can honestly say that I am super pleased with this product, and knew I would be the moment I held it in my hand. This is absolutely going to be a staple routine for me from this day forward.

If you are thinking about buying something from Rings-N-Things. Do it. It's totally worth every penny.

Just wanted to share my excitement with the community! There's a happy camper over here haha

Take care!

A couple questions, Is there a way to darken the inside of the cup myself to make the ball stand out more? I know the bronze cup sold at RnT is hand painted, so there has to be a way out there to be able to paint or stain the inside of the cup to darken it up.

And, I'm about to raid youtube to watch some chop cup routines, anyone have some specific videos/clips to check out that they really like? I know there is a move where you have a spec hold onto a loaded cup, and you vanish a ball and smack their hand to make it seem as though the ball penetrated their hand into the cup? Anyone know where I could view a performance of this?

The guy that made my Okito boxes used India ink to darken the inside of the box and lid.

There are several methods you could use to darken the patina of copper. Here is a list of 5:

http://www.wikihow.com/Darken-Copper

I've personally used the Liver of Sulfur method. Its smell is very unpleasant, but the results are worth the pain.

Whatever you do, avoid immersing the cup in any liquid, because the liquid might creep into places where it can cause damage. Also, do not heat the cup.

This should do the trick: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4irXQhgMqg

The bronze cups by RNT 2 are not hand painted, not even close.

Hi Derek! Thank you so much for your awesome review of the Don Alan Mini Chop Cup. The cup has a good weight to it because it's made from .050 gauge copper - that's a thick copper for such a small cup.
Couple of things:
The balls included with the cup are 3/4" diameter (not 5/8"). 3/4" is the optimal size, as they attract well to the gimmick. A larger ball would need to roll around inside the cup to find the sweet spot, and a larger ball doesn't have much wiggle room inside the cup to do that. You might be able to get away with 7/8" balls, but no bigger.
The inside of the Antique Bronze cups are darkened during the same process that darkens the exterior of the cup, so I don't have to paint the insides.
The inside and outside of the copper cup will naturally darken over time and with use. Leave it mouth up when you are storing it and the inside will get plenty of air to do the job naturally.
Like Bill said, never heat chop cups. Heating copper provides a quick good looking patina, but heat kills the gimmick.

The segment of a chop cup routine where the spectator hold the cup, and the ball penetrates the back of a spectator's hand is my favorite thing to do with a mini chop cup. I'll tell you right now, that it's so strong, you MUST go immediately into the final load afterwards, there's nothing you can follow with that is stronger than the thru-the-hand penetration. I don't know any source for the method and timing. I worked it out myself. My determination was that MY free hand is ABOVE the cup, holding the cup onto their palm, while my hand "holding the ball" comes up under their hand. You need the stability of YOUR OWN hand on top to pull it off. There's plenty of misdirection when you pick up the cup to reveal the penetration to get your load into the cup - but the timing and body language is the secret.
I can help you out with that via PM.

Thanks for all the help and info Donnie! And my mistake on the balls sizing. The bag they were in say (1 5/8). And I thought that read: " One 5/8 ball" haha. I'm thinking now maybe that sticker belonged to the the final load ball? Lol. Either way. I have done the effect a ton of times now and I'm use to the smaller balls. It's perfect. I am so in love with this thing. I'm sort of doing a version of what I saw Jamie D Grant do on his review video of this cup, but I'd definitely like to add a few more phases ending with the ball through the spectators hand before the final loads. So I'll need to play around and I will absolutely send you a msg so we can discuss. Thanks for the offer.

I do have another question. I just picked up the cup this morning and noticed that it has significantly lost its shine and there is a haze over the whole cup.... Is this already starting to Penttila? (Sp?).

What can I do to keep the outside of the cup looking perfectly mirror and polished while letting the inside dull out a little? I've never had to care for copper before, so any info on products to use, or any info to just take care of the cup would be great. And how do I get rid of this "haze" that's already starting to appear on he outside of the cup?

Thanks

All you have to do is polish it with any metal polish to restore the shine. The surface is unprotected and will tarnish just being left exposed to the air. Yes, it's called a patina. If you don't want the cup to patina, try polishing it and then waxing it.
But, if you just let the tarnish develop, the copper will turn brown and stay that way. It's going to look dirty and blotchy until the tarnish covers the entire surface evenly. Just keep handling it, it takes awhile - depending upon many environment variables. In the end though, you have a copper patina all over the cup.

Now that you have your Mini Don Alan, this should be your next purchase:

http://www.sendwonder.com/products/the-d......-routine

You will want one of Donnie's micro chop cups for that.

Now you tell me

What about the Silver Satin finish, is the surface protected on these? I think it must be because I have one and its peeling or something. I got one last year and it sat in the drawer for a few months and when I brought it out the one side of it is bubbling and spotting or something, I'm not quite sure - but I cant rub it off or clean it...its really ugly and I wont use it unless I can get it cleaned somehow. Any ideas?

(and before anyone asks - I have sent a few notes to the website for assistance with no reply)

Dman11, I just read your post from last month and I'm not familiar with what you're talking about. Who did you write to for help?
What's a Silver Satin finish? What kind of cup is it?

Dman11, can you send me a picture of the spot you mention? My email is bbw100@icloud.com. Either Donnie or I can suggest how to remove it.

Donnie, I think he is talking about a Satin Aluminum cup.

Satin Aluminum is not clear coated, there is nothing to "bubble" or "spot". He said he tried to clean it, and any basic metal polish would clean off a contaminate from the drawer that contacted the aluminum.

There is one element that will do what he describes. Rubber. If the cup is laying on the rubber as it starts its natural rotting process anything it touches even non metal I can not be cleaned with traditional metal polishes. He'll have to start with Tripoli to cut out the rotten rubber
that has embedded its self into the bare aluminum. After the nasty goo is gone it will need either color polish with White diamond rouge or retain the whole cup. It's not just aluminum, it's copper, brass, plastic and so on. You could use Acetone, or at least try to, but there will
still be clean up as far as the Satin or Polishing of the cup.

The bubbling part is probably the remnants of the rotted rubber. I lost all the tubes on my TeleSphere from Tenyo, Lucky I found a plastics shop that could redo the tubes, even the special one for me. The culprit...A rubber friggin chicken had rotted from the heat.

Jake Sr.

I'd like to point out that as soon as it was noticed here that I was having a problem they contacted me by PM and email. They asked that I send my cup back (which I have) and that they will send a new one to me. Cant ask for better service than that !

RNT2 (donnie) has amazing customer service... I just got the mini don allan chop cup beauty... Do you guys recommend using golf balls for final loads?