BCS asked me to show my humble grouping of cups.
So here they are:
Front row: Not actually cups, but some of the wands I use. In the front is the sectional wand (as a half-size) that I bought from the House of Magic (San Francisco, CA). Behind it is a catalin (sp?) break-a-way wand from a maker somewhere in Europe (you can't see the sections at all, when it's held rigid by the removable piece. It's amazingly well made), and the last 2 wands are freom Moonlight Magic. One is all wood (cocobolo and dark ebony), the other cocobolo and magnetic brass tips (great for a ball steal from my servante, pocket or just about anywhere else). I know that the break-a-way wand is an old tired gag, but to kids it's mostly fresh and new and they love it. I have a wonderful time pulling this joke on a new patient.
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(PS: The key-piece in my B-A-W is from a cheap Indian version of the break-a-way wand. I don't know why the European versions come without this piece, but I felt it needed it so I got an Indian B-A-W just to have the little piece. it hides in the hand easily and works on a performance pad too, if you just drape a small silk over the obvious different sized portion of the wand. Nobody has ever noticed.
Second row back: My set of RNT II Paul Fox mini cups in polished, but currently patinating copper. On the far left of this set, in line with it, is a solid (sort of, I think it's filled with used glass bead-blasting material) kicker/sucker cup recommended to me by Mad Jake, the former owner of RNT II. It's killer. If you don't have one, you deserve to. The laughs you can bring to the table with it are incredible!!! It fits my palm perfectly so switching it in is a delight. All the PF mini cups, with the exception of the kicker/sucker cup, are chopped.
Next (just behind the PF minis, to the sides): A Micro-Petit Don Alan cup (from Epiphany and Mad Jake). On the other side is a darling little cup that Donnie Buckley sent to me. I asked him for some scrap copper to try a patinating gel on and he sent this cup, in typical generous Buckley fashion. He said. "This is the best I can do for scrap right now. This cup has been thrown all over the workshop for a long time. Use it as your test copper."
It doesn't work as a chop cup, because it's lost or never had magnetism (might be a dead magnet in it, but I'm not sure, just guessing). It is too pretty not to have out, so there it is. (The patinating gel thing didn't work out for me for the same reasons as Bri the Brit reported)
Next row: El Fako cheap Chinese cups by Penguin Magic (each with a tie-dyed golf ball on top. I use them for finish loads in the mini cups that are in front of the Chinese cheapos).
Next row back, to either side of the El Cheapo faux PF cups: On the left side is my ancient Morrisey chop-cup in all the glory of it's patina and stains that it has accumulated since it was first purchased, 30+ years ago (I got it used 12-15 years ago). It has been used multiple times almost daily since I purchased it. I always hated the chopped ball in the ball set that came with it. Horrible hard smacking release. I finally got a good chop set for it from RNT II and a few days later learned how to fix the bad chopped ball that came with it, so now I have 2 sets of balls for it. On the far right is the Viking Excelsior chop-cup (a recent purchase) that I french-polished. I'll pix it separately later. It looks like it's wet because it took the french-polish treatment so well.
Last row in a 3-stack: The cups that got me started (a unashamed plug here) given to me by Ralf Weber, the owner of "Wizard's Headquarters" in Southern California, a friend and mentor to me. I asked him about learning to use cups and balls in my Magic performances (about 2 years ago) and Ralf sent these to me and said, "Start here!" He's a real sweet-heart and a wonderful Magic seller. All the sellers in California are tops in my list. Wonderful guys from Sacramento to San Diego.
The cups he sent are the typical paper thin style of learner cups, but they did the job for me. After I kept knocking them over a bit too much I bought the Faux Paul Fox cups because they are heavy and I could afford them. I still use them in other venues than the hospital, because they are so much bigger than my minis. they will be replaced as soon as I have saved up enough $$$ for a RNT II Foxy III set.
That's my very small collection. I use most of them for performance, so they are double duty, not just display cups. I can't afford to have expensive cups that I don't use.
One further note on the all 3 chopped PF mini set: I was going to patinate them with that gel stuff. Donnie warned me that to just let them turn naturally might be better. Boy, was he right! They are coming along grandly. One is a bit darker than the others and one of the 4 is way behind. The least patinated cup is the kicker/sucker cup. I got it almost 3 weeks after the 3 cup set. When the others reach a nice dark patina, I will wax them and let the kicker/sucker cup catch up. The copper is so pure that in the first couple of days they went from bright polished copper to a dark rosey shade that can't be photographed and show it (at least by me). Suffice it to say that following Donnie's advice was a good thing to do. He sure knows his cups, their care and uses the best materials available to him.
I hated the cups and balls when I was a kid learning and first Magic (1958!) The set of Cs&Bs in the Adam's Magic set that was passed down to my by my uninterested in Magic brother, was icky looking plastic (like all the props in the set) and the balls were about as big as white fuzzy rug boogers! Impossible for my small girl kid's hands to palm and/or manipulate. I never saw the Cs&Bs performed properly. It just wasn't in fashion in the 1950's and 60's. No traveling or school Magicians performed it that I ever saw.
I got my interest in C&B Magic after seeing some great youtube performances of the masters and a single trip to Bill Palmer's C&B Museum. That trip made a light go off in my head......probably similar to your stories too, in many ways. Now I have to concentrate real hard to think of or use any other form of our shared Art. Most of my coin gaffs are getting a good patina as I practice Cs&Bs and Chop cups routines almost exclusively.
I've learned a lot from so many sources, including you wonderful guys here. Thank you all for letting me be a member and sharing your great knowledge with me. I enjoy learning here and sharing. You guys are the best.
dsalley13/Doris J.
PS: I don't get to edit a post here after hitting the "post" button., so I hope my language is understandable and not filled with too many typos.
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Cupscon
