Today was pretty exciting. Story and a question.

Nov 10, 2014
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As a teenage magician meeting up with a professional magician for the first time to talk was a pretty intimidating idea. Today I met up with him and ended up very surprised, he said that he didn't primarily deal with card magic, but the card magic I did was about on par with his, that was super exciting. I mentioned I was looking to expand fields so he recommended the standard stuff like Bobo, and he also gave me a couple of sponge balls. I got to playing around with them some, I love them. I have a couple of questions about them, what sources can I use to learn more sponge ball routines, also I saw I can get a set of four on penguin magic for a little under 5$, how much does penguin charge for shipping on something like that?
 
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Tower of Lunatic Meat

Elite Member
Sep 27, 2014
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The shipping depends. Shouldn't be too much. If anything it depends on what the sponge balls are packaged in. The ones I got from Magicgeek many moons ago came in a box that looked very similar to a small box the size of the box for 2-3 golf balls for a set of 3 sponge balls. Hopefully, this helps paint the picture a bit

As far as resources. Look in Mark Wilsons Comolete Course in Magic. There's about 8 pages of sponge magic, however it's filled with magic of varying sorts: cards, coins, billiard balls, rings, rope, silk, etc.

Sounds like it'd be up your alley
 

RealityOne

Elite Member
Nov 1, 2009
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Books

Mark Wilson's book is great, as long as you don't point at the hand where the spongeball is supposed to be.

The best resource is Frank Garcia's Encyclopedia of Spongeball Magic BOOK. It is out of print and beetween $80 and $100. However, there are some great DVDs

DVDs

L&L World's Greatest Magic - Spongeballs DVD - This has a bunch of different routines and styles. That's what I like about the World's Greatest Magic Series. This may be the best bet if you just want to learn routines.

Encyclopedia of Sponge Ball Magic DVD by . Ben Salanis does the moves in the book pretty well and presents a bunch of routines.

Sponge Ball Toolkit - OK, this DVD is hilarous. I love Steve Darci. May he rest in peace. You get some great props (including the purse frame) with the DVD. Well worth it.

Patrick Page's Sponge Ball DVD - There is some stuff on there you can't find other places. Probably save it for more advanced study.

Daryl's Mastercourse in Spongeball Series - I don't have this, but Daryl is a master at everything he does. Heck, for $44 for all four volumes, it is a pretty good deal.

Sponge by Jay Nobelzada - I don't have this and have read some negative reviews.

Sponge Balls

Get the Goshman 2 inch Sponge Balls.

Get a purse frame (it is a great way to begin a routine)

Check out Pips a Popping. It is a card and sponge ball (actually sponge pips) routine. I love it. You would need to get some extra sponge pips if you wanted to do a longer sponge ball routine.

Shipping

After picking up the sponge balls, a couple DVDs, etc. you are probably close to $50 to get free shipping.
 

Justin.Morris

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Aug 31, 2007
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That's super fun! I remember seeing my first professional magician live. I remember when I saw David Blaine's first special on TV. Magician's raged because he was doing the same tricks as many other magicians. Personally I, like you, find that encouraging. As far as skill goes, many working magicians are average in skills, but their real skills are around working with clients and working with an audience. Lots of kids I see on youtube have tons more dexterity than I do, but they are still stuck in their rooms! Other kids are getting out and performing any chance they get! If you have skills, then get out and perform lots (perhaps you do already!). You never know if it will develop into a side job or something more! Getting paid to perform magic is an amazing opportunity!
Thanks for sharing your experience!
 
Oct 19, 2015
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I too am working on sponge balls! I love them, but they are a good tool and challenge to learn hand skills. Many moves cross over to coin magic. As everyone said, Mark Wilson's book is great, it is a must have, I cannot put it down.... but don't point to your hand on sponge balls or coins as suggested above. I got a used book on recently on amazon for like $8.

Having a DVD is also critical, you can only learn so much from drawings in a book, seeing someone do it and then explain how is so much better for learning moves. I have Into to Sponge Balls by Michael Dardant, from system6magic.com, Someone on this site recommended this to me. Good Luck...Have Fun. My hands are smaller and I use 1 1/2 inch balls....I think that is a good learning size....
 
Oct 19, 2015
317
220
Books

Sponge Ball Toolkit - OK, this DVD is hilarous. I love Steve Darci. May he rest in peace. You get some great props (including the purse frame) with the DVD. Well worth it.

I got Mark Wilson's book based on your recommendation, what a great book, I cannot put it down! Above you talk about Steve Darci's Sponge Ball Toolkit....I see the DVD available on Amazon but no mention of the 'purse frame' any idea of where else I may find this?

Thanks....in advance!
 

RealityOne

Elite Member
Nov 1, 2009
3,744
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New Jersey
I got Mark Wilson's book based on your recommendation, what a great book, I cannot put it down! Above you talk about Steve Darci's Sponge Ball Toolkit....I see the DVD available on Amazon but no mention of the 'purse frame' any idea of where else I may find this?

The Toolkit DVD with props is here:

http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/S9213

or here: http://www.mjmmagic.com/store/spongeball-toolbox-w-dvd-by-gosh-p-4481.html#.Vs0RF8dBaT8

The props include a 1 1/2 inch set of red sponge balls, a 1 1/2 inch yellow sponge ball, a purse frame, two flat sponge balls (think as if it was run over by a steamroller), a red 3D sponge rabbit and a silk poke.

The purse frame is here:

http://www.mjmmagic.com/store/purse-frame-single-unit-by-goshman-trick-p-19185.html#.Vs0Qs8dBaT8
 
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