Sponges and Love/Hate by Liam Montier

A lot of magicians have a love/hate relationship with sponge balls, and whilst many performers use them almost religiously, there are probably a similar number of magicians who are sworn to not use them.

From what I can tell, here’s the main reasons for both camps.

Pro-sponge

The Pro-sponge argument is really a self evident one to anybody who has performed the trick before. The truth is, it is a DYNAMITE trick. Never mind all the growing / colour changing kickers, or wether you use sponge balls, stars or rabbits, the truth is that the core of the effect is essentially magic perfection. You hold onto one item, your spectator holds onto another. Your one vanishes, totally cleanly, and when the spectator slowly opens their hand, they have both. All without any gimmicks, gaffs, and only basic technique.

However you then move on and embellish the routine, it remains a totally effective trick, and one of the few that spectators will remember for ages, and mention next time they see you. ‘Can you do the one with the red balls again?’ is not an unusual request to any ‘pro-sponge’ magician.

Anti-Sponge

Generally, it seems to be more creative magicians that avoid using the sponge balls. Like anything in magic, when a great routine comes along, and really ticks all the boxes as Sponge Ball routines do, the truth is that literally EVERY working magician stars using it, and they use the same presentations, handlings and routines, quite simply because these routines ‘get the money’. (The Vanishing Bandanna is perhaps the best example of this in action - at my time with a magic club, about 70% of the stage magic guys had it in their set, and because the presentation is on CD, there really is no difference in performances on a noticeable level - but it remains a hugely effective trick).

This leaves any magician looking to put their own artistic twist on their material to leave the more overused material alone, and work on their own material. But this has an obvious disadvantage, in that you are of course leaving out what repeated performances have shown to be hugely effective material.

Conclusion

So ultimately, here is the challenge. Regardless of which camp you currently occupy, exercise your creativity, and make the sponges work for you, while at the same time differentiating between your own routine, and everybody else’s. This gives you the best of both worlds, good solid magic with your own twist.

Firstly, consider using something other than just red sponge balls. Whilst it isn’t common for spectators you perform for to have seen a close up magician before, if they have, do you really want to be seen using the exact same props (little red balls) than the last guy they saw? Even just using a different colour is a start (especially given the amount of performers I've seen do red sponge balls on a red close up mat…)

So, first step is to change the prop. A lot of guys are way ahead of us here already, but they all seem to have moved from balls to rabbits. http://www.dudethatscoolmagic.co.uk/acatalog/SB_3D_Rabbit_Set_by_Goshman.html

The rabbits are great props, very cute, and if they take your fancy, I’d strongly recommend checking out Danny Archers routine on Essential Magic Classics.

For me though, there seems to be just as much chance that someone who has seen sponges before has seen the rabbits or balls.

A quick google search will turn up all kinds of alternatives. Sponge stars, eyeballs, toad stools, bananas, teeth, eggs and who knows what else? Find something that appeals to you, fits your character, and use it.

The Dude That's Cool Magic Shop stocks a huge range of bits and pieces - check them out and see what appeals.

http://www.dudethatscoolmagic.co.uk/acatalog/Sponge_ball_Magic_tricks.html

But what if none of that really takes your fancy? Then get a little more creative.

My personal solution a while back was to simply get some sponge balls, a pair of scissors and a pile of ‘stick-on eyes’ like these ones...

Sticking the eyes onto the sponge balls, and then cutting a slice off of the bottom of them (so they don’t roll around) adds a bit of character, and all kinds of presentational lines as the sponges can be given names and characteristics, and all kinds of goofiness can go on (which is my style).

Once you have taken this approach, all kinds of character options come along. For example, there was a set of ‘Angry Bird’ themed sponges that went out, and to me, this was a great idea.

Taking that and making it his own, my friend Darren McQuade is a seriously talented pac-man player (and magician, I should stress, before he kills me). His set of sponge balls consist of one yellow one, with a slice cut out from the middle, trimmed base to stop rolling, and a stick on eye on both sides. It really is the iconic pacman shape, and is recognised immediately by everyone. The other balls he uses are simply prepared how I did originally, cutting the base and sticking on eyes, but they are all different colours, and represent the ghosts.

This one little change makes the effect pretty much something totally new, while keeping the impact, and even adding some justification to the routine as the ghosts vanish and ‘chase’ the pac-man, and offers a variety of justified ‘kickers’. I currently use the Pac-Man sponges, and have a finish along the lines of Eugene Burgers, apparently producing all of the ‘Power Pills’ at the end.

So, have a think, a play, and let us know how you get on with taking this genuine classic of magic, and turning yourself from ‘Anti’ to ‘Pro’. Drop us a line and let us know how you get on!

Until next time,

Liam Montier for dudethatscoolmagic.co.uk