Club Obi Wan

I don't know if anyone has gotten this trick to work. It's the classic juggling/physics trick where you have a cup of water and put a tray on the cup and a tube on the tray, then finally an egg on the tube. Traditionally you knock the tray out of the way with stick and that knocks the tube out of the way, letting the egg fall straight down into the cup of water.

Has anyone else tried to do this with a whip?

Here's my try:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp35k9-D7jI

Louie
http://bullwhips.org

Bravo!

Hey Louie.
I've done this but a bit differently. I'll try to post some video of it sometime soon.
It's really a variation of an old parlor trick. Chi Chi White Cloud told me about it a few years ago in Vegas.
The trick was originally done (the way I understand it) with a glass, a playing card and an ice cube.
The trick was to put the playing card on the glass, the ice cube on the playing card hitting the card so it shot out and let the cube drop in the water.

This is the way I do it but I use a colored dice instead. That way It can be seen from a distance.
I like your version a lot and the music you used is right on.
You always make it fun.

Thanks for posting.

Chris

Man, the more I watch that, the more I like your version.
The hardest part for me was finding a glass (a polycarbonate one) that was narrower than the playing card.
I use polycarbonate when possible. I broke more than one regular glass learning how to do this.
I also thought about using oversized playing cards, like Old Maid or something, but in the end I wanted to keep it a close to how it was described to me. An old parlor trick.

Well done again.

Well done Louie!

For training wouldn't it better to use plastic glass to avoid breaking?

JP

Canasta,

I'd been working on this trick off and on for a little while, but with a slightly different set up and never could get it. I ended up with this version after talking to a juggler about a version of this that he learned from a magician (the juggler does it by spitting ping pong ball). He learned to do it with a rolled up playing card instead of the toilet paper tube. I switched to the TP tube because it gave me a bigger target, and I don't think anything is lost by using a taller tube (if they haven't seen it with a smaller one!) and it makes it a hair more visible from a distance.



Jeanfifi,

Using a plastic cup for practice is a good idea, I practiced with a plastic mug that's the same height at the glass I used in the video. However for the video or a show you really need a clear glass so that the audience can see the egg the whole time during it's short trip.

Once I switched from the plastic mug to the glass, I had laid out my daughter gymnastic's mats on the floor so I wouldn't break the glass when...I mean IF I knocked it off.

Louie
http://bullwhips.org

In an attempt to work this into something I can use in the show, I decided I needed to make something for the cup to sit on that I can travel with.

My first attempt used a camera tripod:

But I didn't like the look of the tripod, it doesn't look right. So for my second attempt I used an old mic strand that I had:

I like the mic strand better, the cup has a nut hot glued to the bottom of it that screws onto the mic strand.

Because I already had the tripod and the mic strand it cost me $1 for five cups and 75 cents for the nut, so hopefully for my $1.75 investment, hopefully I'll be able to get 2 minutes out of it in my show. Now I need to figure out how I'm going to presetn it and write some jokes for it.

Louie
http://bullwhips.org

Ok,
Now that you have the mic stand, here is one for ya.
I used to do this in my show and it was kind of a tribute to the old story of the cattleman whipping the fly off the cow's ear.
1. Unscrew the little thing from the top of the stand leaving only the hollow tube.
2. Balance the egg upright on the tube.
3. Get a piece of flat styrofoam (about .5"x.5")
4. Lick it and stick it to the egg.
5. Then whip off the styrofoam without knocking the egg off the stand.

When I would do this, I would have the egg facing me, so not only did the height, but you also had to be the right distance.
When I was done, I would break the egg so people knew that I wasn't trying to trick them.
I haven't done it in a real long time, but at the Illinois State fair this year, I guy asked me if I still did the trick with the egg. Said it was one of his favorites. I didn't think it was that entertaining, so I had dropped it. Just goes to show ya.

C

Canasta,

Just so I'm visualizing this right, the styrofoam when it is stuck to the egg is perpendicular to the floor and on the side of the egg away from you...right?

Now all I've got to do is find a 5 x 5 piece of styrofoam...

Louie
http://bullwhips.org

Yeah,
The egg is fat end down and the foam is stuck (with your spit) to the side of the egg. The foam is actually on the side facing you rather than the audience (depending on which way you are facing on the stage). I would do it with an forward throw (overhand flick) rather than a circus crack.

You can even use a little piece of cardboard too. About 1/2 x1/2 inch. You cold even paint it for better visibility. The foam I used was green, so it had enough contrast from the egg. My flower stems are made of foam strips, so I would just break a little piece off and use it.

Hope that helps.
C
www.thewhipguy.com