I do a two ball sponge routine. It ends in a clean vanish with nothing left but the purse frame.

Bryan

PS. With the reactions I have always gotten, I wonder why anyone would carry around that many sponges to get in the way, fall on the floor etc.

By taking the pieces from Mark Wilson's routine I mixed and matched to what suited me best, I think the best part is coming up with your own original ideas.

Scott Guinn's Peanut Butter & Jelly is pretty darn good.

Sponge For All Seasons is a good routine but for the basics I think Earplugs has a lot going for it.

I do the routine straight from the Hampton Ridge "25 Tricks with Sponge Balls" video. It is direct, magical, and most importantly, easy for kids to follow along with! I just love it when it is time for them to guess how many sponges are in my hand, and they're yelling over each other and laughing and guessing "Three!" "Four!" "One!" but they never guess "None!"

Jay

I've been performing a routine based on Mark Leveridge's Master Routines 1 video in every show for the past couple of years. It doesn't look that strong to fellow magi but it plays tremendously. When I first saw it I was really nonplussed but gave it a try and have gotten great responses. As recommended, I always use an adult (usually female), even for kid shows.

If you're a beginner to sponge balls, the 25 Tricks for Sponge Balls video would be the best.

Payne, You mentioned Garcia's Encyclopedia. Unfortunately this book is out of print and is very difficult to come by. If you have a copy, hold on to it!!

Get Jay Sankey Earplugs. You will learn every classical moves with sponges and new ones, you will receive sponges that are not common and ideas that are fun to perform.

I never was that good in doing sponge balls till I got Steve Dacris ..It is the best teaching on sponge balls I have ever seen..After watching it I now do it and it kills people..They never see the disappearance..
He has a site..Let me see if I can find it..

Here is the web site..
Go to steve's "master routines video"
http://www.magicwebchannel.com/mall_SD.html

He really goes into the vanish like I have never seen..It took my sponge Ball to a new level..

You guys could also take a look at Michael Sibbernsen's Technicolor Sponge Ball routine which utilises different colored balls.

John Carney has a great sponge routine in "Carneycopia."

It's funny that you should mention Steve Dacri. I learned to handle spongeballs with the Mark Wilson Course and a tape of one of Dacri's television appearances.

"Routined Manipulation Finale", by Lewis Ganson, is great because it tells how to orient the sponges when they are placed in a spectators hand. It's an important detail that is often left out, when giving advise on spongeball handling.

Alan,
I have Steve Dacri's video also. I got into sponge balls pretty heavily after seeing his "Martians" sponge routine.

Go with the 25 tricks with Sponge Balls video.

Is there a demo of technicolor sopongeball?

I can recommend Sankey'd Earplugs package. You get a very good video with all the classic moves explained and demonstrated several times in real detail. I'd not done sponge much before and I've picked up this moves from this very easily. You also get a set of the ovesized sponge earplugs including a jumbo one.

Not only is it a great teaching video with 3 very commercial routines but the earplug concept itself has some appeal - it's so easy to start a routine with "sorry...what did you say" and pull the 1st one out of your ear.

Lewis Ganson's routine also has color changes as well as a surprise ending with a potato production (I think it's a potato).
Jim

Jim,
I didn't know about the Ganson routine. Some years ago Goshman put out a set of balls consisting of 2 black 2" balls, 2 yellow 2-1/2" balls and 1 red 4". As I best remember the routine he provided, not all the balls were used and it depended on hiding one ball behind another. I never felt comfortable with it and set it aside.

I started fooling with it about 2 months ago and using all the balls developed a pretty good color change routine with the 4" ball appearing along with one black and one red as the final appearance before they all disappeared. The routine has gone over well. The handling would be even better if Gosh put this set out again using Supersoft.

I use a couple of Ammar's Fabulous Fruit potatoes as a final load in my cups and balls routine, and can't wait to work one of those into a sponge ball routine. Thanks for the idea!

Dwight Powell

Sankey's ear plugs make sense of this rather odd prop. Jon Jenson has a couple of books out on the subject as well.And don't neglect sponge items of Dan Garrett.