I’ve been looking at closeup pads from Murphy’s and notice they come in different thicknesses- Deluxe (8mm), Standard (5mm) and Economy (3mm). For shell practice, I’ve been using a dish drying mat. The foam padding on it is sort of spongy but it seems to give me just enough “action” to work the pea. So my question is, what closeup pad thickness would be the best for shell work? My thinking is the closeup pad material will be a lot more firm than what I’m using now. I just don’t know how much firmness is too much or not enough.

You have to experiment. It depends a lot on the pea you use. If you are using a firm pea (does not compress much) it is helpful to have a spongy mat. If your pea is soft (compresses flat easily), you will want a harder, less spongy mat.

Pop I’m using the S4S perfect peas with Street shells.

You can use a pretty firm mat with those because the shells do some of the work for you with the Chanin Dip. Those will work without a mat, even on marble or glass--but they work best with a firm mat.

Thanks Pop. I think I'll try the 5mm thick pad and go from there. BTW, I'm really enjoying the Street Shells and peas. Those plus the "Intro to Shells" DVD has been one of the best purchases yet. After a day of practice I'm even fooling myself.

The perfect pea does a lot of the work for you. In restaurants I work on a folded cloth napkin laying on the table. On the street I have a thin closeup mat attached to my table top.

Is 3 shells hard to learn?

Also I take it that the pea & the shells you use make a big difference?

The 3 shells has been fun for me to learn. I've been working on it in my spare time over the past year. The moves were not that hard to initially learn. Working on a routine and having it performance ready is what's been taking me so long since I've been doing it as a side project while focusing on mainly on cards and coins lately. Last year at the IBM close up competition there was a guy who had a neat routine that I wanted to talk to afterwards but never got the chance.

Have you ever seen a 3 shell con mant pull out a close up pad to work on?

Yes. I have also seen folded newspapers, pieces of carpet, jewelers display boards, or a piece of felt. They learned about close up pads from magic stores. I have not seen, but I have heard from others that some operators use S4S and other "magic store" peas. It is a lot easier than carving a pea from a pencil eraser.