Many have asked "what else can you do with Dean's Box?"

I have done Stewart James' Astro Ball, with no modification to the box. Also a version of the Invisible Deck (placing deck into box and having the usual routine and when taken out of box the thought of card is reversed).

Another idea, use the loop method to cut one of the ropes in two. Tie together using the knot that pops off. Don't pop off visibly. Put thru the curtains, lift door and they see the knot. Close door. Grip ends of the rope and pull it out of box on one side ... and there is no knot on it. Open door and you see the knot laying in the box.

See what genius a little thought and experimenting can produce?

Marc DeSouza has a DVD set forthcoming that includes his Dean's Box routine. It's like 7 or 8 phases.

Thanks for the heads-up Pepka. Finally! Someone putting out some additional routines for this modern classic effect. I love my Dean's Box, but alas, I am not creative enough to go beyond the published routines. It will be nice to have some additional inspiration.

Any date for Mr. DeSouza's DVD release?

Scott Alexander's Midnight Show DVD includes a routine for Dean's Box.

Hi Guys,

The final editing on my DVD set is being completed now and it is projected for release just after Labor Day. My Dean's Box routine is s fully scripted presentation that runs about 11 and a half minutes. Beyond the original phases are three additional effects with other objects.

Marc

Thanks Marc,

I will definatley want to get this one.

Eric

Other phases I've toyed with and sometimes used.

A knot unties itself in the confines of the box -- a varient on the old sliding knot effect.

Two ropes link themselves -- using the technique of the ungimicked linking ropes http://www.stevensmagic.com/shopping/shopexd.asp?id=4394

A miniature set of spirit slates that reveal a predicition.

All of the dice in a small box change to a freely rolled number on a seventh die (the old Problema Trick http://www.ronjo.com/magic/VM-661PR.html)

A 50 cent piece ends up inside a bottle

I'm working on getting either a small violin to play, a spirit bell to ring or a tamborine to rattle

You'll find plans for the spirit bell ( a tiny hand bell), as well as a candle that lights itself in my "Sefalaljia Revisited" routine (Bell Book and Candle) in The Wizards' Journal #10 on my site. The book referred to is a pair of miniature slates bound together like a book. All the effects will work in a Dean's Box as well as in a Dollar Store plastic crate.

I like the slate idea. I have a beauty of a Ken Brooke set with the flap a poker size card.

The classic Sefalaljia (with the ring, rope, safety pin etc) won't work in a Dean's Box. Not wide enough.

Yes it will. When I rebuilt my Dean's box to make it look more Victorian for the faux seance routine I wished to perform with it I built this feature into it.

If the classic effect with the ring and rope and safety pin works in a tiny plastic Dollar Store crate (and it does...with modifications), it should work in a Dean's Box.

Well I haven't got a Dean's Box, I've got a Sefalaljia box which I made to Stewart James' measurements. I tried to make a smaller one but discovered that you need to make it as long as James says, in order for the rope to clear the ring before the ring leaves the box. A Deans Box just doesn't have enough space, which is presumably why Dean Dill uses the method he does. What are the dimensions of your tiny crate? I seem to remember it being quite big from your manuscript.

Plastic Crate: 7" x 8.5" x 6"

Dean's Box: 7" x 7" x 7"

Thanks - I guess you must be using a pretty short rope, which would mean not doing some of the other Dean's Box things, eg the linking ropes.

I actually use the two ring Sefalajia version rather than the one with the safety pin (I think it's quicker to do the dirty work) but I don't think that would make a difference

Here's an outline of a basic routine you can do in a stage or parlor presentation of our version of Sefalaljia.

1. Ball in Glass
2. Knotting the silk
3. Knotting a rope
4. Ring on Rope # 1 (The original Stewart James' routine)
5. Ghost Milk Vanish
6. Ring on Rope # 2
7. Red and White Linking Ropes #1
8. Red and White Linking Ropes #2
9. Shrinking Rope
10. Bell, Book, and Candle Routine

For a close-up or table-hopping version of the routine, you might consider using these:

1. Ball in Glass
2. Knotting the silk
3. Ring on Rope # 2
4. Red and White Linking Ropes #1
5. Shrinking Rope

I have in the past done a Slydini-esque knotting and un-knotting of Handkerchiefs in the Dean's Box. It worked nicely, as I could pull the knot out of the upper flap and then gently tuck it in and even more gently remove the two unlinked scarves.

It's not the length of the rope but what part of the rope you use. If you do it toward one end it will work irregardless of how long the rope is

I'm sure you guys all know this already; just received Marc DeSouza's new dvd set, and his presentation for the Box is fantastic!