Long ago there was a running competition at the Magic Castle, to see who could get away with the boldest TT... one guy nested about six of them on his thumb and no one noticed; another had a bright glowing orange tip no one noticed and even a chrome plated and highly polished tip and again,
NO ONE SAW THEM.
WHY?
Because they learned how to work with the gimmick in a way that was NATURAL and had proper misdirection in place.
Ted Lesley had a "
Think a Drink" routine that actually used a TT... a very large (it held a full shot of booze) hard-plastic thumb and yet, when I worked the routine the way Ted taught it, I was never found out. . . and to my knowledge this goes for all that learned to work with the gimmick in the proper manner. . . I should add that this same TT has been used by a couple of well known Vegas performers, for producing fish in a glass of water. . .
Most people fail with a TT or similar devices because they are self-conscious and fearful that they will be found out. Magic is filled with such phobias such as billet work and even a good number of coin & card moves; we simply fear being caught-out and/or failing, which ultimately translates to our being "second rate" compared to what we could be if we but sucked it up and went balls to the wall when it comes to confidence and, as the Nike commercials say,
JUST DO IT!
Don't worry about how well the TT matches your flesh tone or any of that other over-thinking that goes on early in the game. Learn how to work the gimmick properly and you'll be fine. . .
. . . after all, it's one of the oldest gimmicks in the biz (suspected to be more than 2,000 years old)
