Magic Maker Brass Street Cups

Okay, let's try this again. Wink

The Magic Makers Brass Street Cup

These cups are obviously street size cups, so they're meant to be seen from a distance. The cups are very sturdy, heavy, and they look pretty good. They were of good value in my opinion. I purchased my set from www.penguinmagic.com for $160.00, and that included a few bonus items as well. The set comes with three Street cups in brass and four red crocheted balls which I believe are 1 1/8 inches in diameter. The cups are meant to accompany a Gazzo-esque routine. I believe that the cups are spun. They are made in China, not by good American spinners, and they're made in large quantities as to be widely accessible to the general magic community. The insides of the cups are not finished when you receive them, but it isn't a huge problem, you get what you pay for. I just payed no mind to the inside appearance, until recently when I undertook a project to finish the insides. I'll talk more about the project, which some of you are already familiar with, later. Also, this is a good economy set to use for the Gazzo routine, but a few of the subtleties in Gazzo's routine are not possible verbatim to the way that Gazzo does them because of the more pronounced taper in the cups. I'll explain more later. Overall, I'm very happy with this set for the money that I payed. It works very well for the Gazzo Vernon-Malini routine, as well as in any location where visibility needs to be accommodate large amounts of people.

My Story

Around the time where I was starting to introduce myself to cups, I came across the sale of "Brass Street Cups," that were said to be perfect for the Gazzo cups and balls routine. "Who is Gazzo, and what characteristics make these prime for his routine?" I asked myself. I later came across a video of the mighty Gazzo performing the cups and balls on the street for many people, and the way that he entertained them and controlled the crowd was awe-inspiring to me. Slowly, I pieced together Gazzo's routine (I wasn't new to the concepts behind cups), and was so amazed by the genius of the routine, and the entertainment that it provided, so I bought the set of cups. It was truly an exciting feeling when I put the set of cups into my case for the first time, after practicing the routine a lot. I also kept loads in the case, more just to make myself feel good; I had no way to load them without a servante or a pouch, but I felt empowered when I carried the cups around. I showed my family the routine, in its extended form, but without the loads, and, at the time, it was rough, but I still felt so alive when performing the cups and balls, unlike any other trick that I had ever done. Also, the way the cups were crafted, they really turned me on to the artistic value of cups. I credit Gazzo for making me a cup junkie though. Anyway, although I knew the routine by piecing it together, I recently purchased Gazzo's book and DVD, and I think that it is one of the best DVD purchases I've ever made. There are so many subtleties that Gazzo incorporates into his routine that, even if you have no intention of performing his routine, it's still more than worth the purchase. The book is also a very interesting read. There are so many stories of the street that he shares, and he has so much vital knowledge to be learned from him. He's a wealth of information. Back on the cups, at the time that I bought these, I was unfamiliar with Gary Animal to get authentic Gazzo cups, and my only other option was the RNT2 Gazzo cups, which were $400.00 at the time, which was too steep for me (I didn't know about cup prices at the time.) I settled with these cups, and wouldn't look back. They opened up so much for me as my first set. Without them, I wouldn't be here.

Review

These cups are a great set of cups for the money. They are heavy, very nice looking, and very large, a great value for what I payed. There is very little rocking when the cups are stacked, there is a tiny bit, but nothing pronounced. The cups are designed to take a large orange, or a baseball. I think that a baseball would be a tiny bit loose inside the cup, so an orange would make a better load. The balls that come with the cup are probably bigger than 1 1/8 inches because the knitting is loose, but still good. The balls nest three on a cup without sticking and they create a sense of overhang. Also, the balls fit perfectly in the upper inside of the cup. I'm used to large cups now; the only set I've ever used was a baseball sized load cup; I've never used lacrosse ball loading cups, tennis ball loading cups, etc. I, when I got these, was under the impression that larger cups are more practical because they can be used equally as well for close-up, and for distances. Anyway, the cups are so large that when three of them are placed on a close-up mat with only a little bit of space between them, they completely cover the mat (Pic. 1 and 2). The cups are slightly bigger than Gazzo cups at about 3.5 inches in diameter (Pic. 3). The cups are about 3.75 inches in height (Pic. 4 and 5 but they didn't turn out well.) As most of you know, I took on a project recently of finishing the insides of the cups. Before they were dark and uneven (Pic. 6,7,8, and 9) so first I tried sanding, and that worked. Here's a picture of the cup when I sanded a little bit (Pic.10) After sanding, I realized that it looked a lot better, but there were lines left from the sanding (Pic.11,12, and 13) I found a tile cleaner that evened the color, and made them look even better than sanding (Pic.14,15, and 16). The cups have a great look to them. I love the brass look, but it isn't a great color for the streets because it requires polishing. My cups are starting to get a decent patina, but not too dark, so I'm happy. (Pic.17) As I said, the balls go perfectly with the cups; three nested creates a perfect sense of overhang (Pic.18) They're pretty good cups for the money; a good economy set. Anyone looking into a big set, but are not sure, I'd recommend Gary Animal first, then these. These are very good cups though.

Well, that's pretty much it. I threw in some other candid shots of different poses that I took and some pictures of my pouch and my homemade dowel-style prototype wand of a wand making process.

PIC. 1

PIC. 2

PIC. 3

PIC. 4

PIC. 5

PIC. 6

PIC. 7

PIC. 8

PIC. 9

PIC. 10

PIC. 11

PIC. 12

PIC. 13

PIC. 14

PIC. 15

PIC. 16

PIC. 17

PIC. 18

Other Shots

Candid display 1

Candid Display 2

Candid Display 3

Candid Display 4

Cup Stack

Cups

Pictures of my Jumbo Busker's Pouch from Frank Starsini

Pouch PIC.

Magic Display 1

Magic Display 2

Pictures of my homemade wand prototype

Wand PIC. 1

Wand PIC. 2

Wand PIC. 3

Wand PIC. 4

Tiredly,
Mike

Thanks DaveV! Also, thanks for everyone who took the time to read this.