Yummmm, nothing says magic like some homemade Cups and Balls? Right?

Yes, I was at the craft store and found that small wooden flower pot cups would work for cups and balls perfectly so I bought some.

I sanded, plugged up the holes in the bases, painted the insides flat black and stained them a dark mahogany.

They now look like very beautiful...flower pots.

Anyway, I often make origami roses. I was thinking with these cups and an origami rose production at the end I have motivation for playing with flower pots. I plan to use a chopstick as a wand, and maybe one of the final loads could be a fortune cookie, with a prediction or something of course.


Any creative ideas for final loads or anything else?


If the balls are wadded up foil origami paper then it makes sense that final loads could be origami roses, give aways.

I did buy red pom poms for the balls, but if I use the theme I'm already dreaming, they don't seem to make much sense.

Sorry for the length of the post, but I hope you get the whole picture.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Brad

Good going Brad! There is a routine using flowerpots and 'seeds' where the final loads are blossoms... in one of the Ian Adair books from the 70s. Could use a spade with a TINY head for a wand.

Use a length of bamboo for a wand. Why plug the holes in the bottom?

If you use a black mat you could use black cloth glued inside to make the hole a black art principle.

Final load? Dirt?

Use a rose stem for a wand.

Finish with the Jadoowalla (Hindu) magician's Mango Plant growth in one of the cups.

Thanks for the ideas guys, you've really given me stuff for my imagination to work with.

Interesting. How much space do you have for a ball/wad/ when the cups are stacked? In terms of 'about diameter?"

I found some chrome finished glass votive candle holders with a metallic magenta/hot pink mirror inside at a crafts store on sale.

Ok for practice but the cups don't stack straight and nice with a ball inside.

The cups are rather small...

2.25 inches at mouth
1.5 inches at base
3 inches tall

and a little more than 1 inch in height clearance between cups when stacked

So there is plenty of room for the small pom poms or paper balls

My Dad suggested that I roll a ball of paper and place it under a cup and slide the cups around a la the shell game. But when the correct cup is lifted it would have an origami rose in it. I like the idea but it would spoil the surprise of having roses as the final loads. But it is creative.

Oh yeah, not to confuse anyone, the roses I am speaking are more like rose buds, no stems so they sit flat on a table. I found the instructions in a book at the library a year ago when I made a bouquet of them for a friend of mine...she liked them.

I like the idea of producing dirt. You could even make up a big piece of black foam that fit the cup exactly and load it into the cup as a final load. This would look good.

Next ... nightcrawlers!

I like the idea of roses at the end. As long as you are doing paper folding why not have the last cup filled with spring flowers to make a gigantic surprise paper flower finish.

Oh btw, dirt is good but I think seeds would be better, probably less messy as well.

Just an idea for the final load of dirt or seeds Check out volume one of the Alex Elmsley books It will have his cups and balls routine and the method for the final load in the routine is perfect for the above. In the elmsley routine the final load is salt.

The Silk and thread Tayade(sp) balls would look great with your set. To see them, go to TFRANKMINT and at his cup and ball add, those are the balls I am thinking of.

Kirk

Here is another idea.

How about a green close up mat for the ground, some rolled up seed packets as balls, and a final load being a rose, a pickle, or small ear of corn? (or anything that you would grow in a small garden- a handful of radishes?)

You could live in the city and not have room enough for a garden.

Randy's idea for dirt is also another great idea, and practical.

Good out of the box thinking.

MM

Mr. Muggle. thank you but using dirt was not My idea Pete Biro came up with that a few posts up.

Sorry Randy & Pete, My mistake-

sometimes posts run into eachoter reading so many.

MM

That's ok it's easy to do just wanted to have the right source credited.

Why don't you make worms or something like that as the final load?
Regards.
Tom(m.s.magic)

Yeah, gummy worms you could pick up and eat...or one fake and two real...haha...ok, this is getting ridiculous and venturing into a different realm of magic!

Personally I'd stop with the dirt, but each has their own style. Either way, you would have to clean your cups after the production.

MM

How about taking this into consideration. Use what nature uses to make a plant. Sunlight, soil, and water. As your final loads, you could produce an orange to represent your sunlight, produce some dirt (perhaps contained), then for the final load maybe a bit more difficult. Steal a thumbtip with a tiny bit of water. Pick up the cup with surprise nothing is under it...steal off the tip, and pour out the water...the end.

John E.

I can't wait to get to the craft store. Even clay pots have enough room stacked to keep a little something in there. I think I want to tell a story about how my mom and I used to grow tomatoes in the back yard (doing regular cups and balls routine with cherry tomatoes). The tomatoes would only grow on one vine (balls multiply under one cup) We fertilized the other plants and the tomatoes really started to grow (sprinkle pixie dust and load big tomatoes)
That needs some work, but thanks for starting the wheels turning.

Bill

Why not combine all three ideas. Produce Dirt in 1st cup, seeds in 2nd cup, rose in 3rd cup. This will appeal to all as you will combine comedy with an appealing climax.

Paul Gertner had in lecture a method for producing loose tea from a cup, use this method for the seeds and dirt. I don't remember if it is on his tapes or in his book.

I believe you have a very original routine coming together.

Good thinking
Bill