Hello Friends,
Today I want to talk to you about a brilliant effect. One that I would categorize as a classic in magic but one that you don’t often see anyone do it this effect.
The effect is Silk To Egg and there are several version of it on the market. Ranging in prices from about $2.00-$50.00.
The Tenyo one is the first marketed version I can recall. The effect is simply this, push a silk into your fist and the silk turns into an egg. This certainly doesn’t sound like the climax to your show. And it isn’t! You see this effect I guess was marketed to children or to a pro who knew where to find the material to turn this into a real show stopper. The problem with the Tenyo Egg is while the quality of the plastic egg is a 10 on a scale from 1-10, I find this egg to be just a bit on the small side. So I just don’t see it being usable in a real world situation. The plus for the Tenyo Egg is that it is a seamless egg and it is supplied with one silk scarf.
After the Tenyo brand, a slew of other magic manufacturers released cheap plastic eggs. Some with a silk, some without. The eggs are bigger but they look like cheap plastic eggs up close. Most have unsightly seams in them and many of them are very glossy and translucent. Not even good for a child to do. The same problem with all of these is that the effect once again stops as soon as the silk is pushed into the fist.
Silk To Egg as I know it, is a sucker trick. Push in the silk, turn it into an egg. Then show them how. A plastic egg with a hole in it. Then remove the hole from the egg and crack the egg to show it is real.
The first time I saw this done was on Mark Wilson’s Magic Circus. I was very young and I still remember it. He may be the originator, though I am not sure. He calls his routine the Sucker Egg Trick. All three Magic Circus TV shows on DVDs are available by special order for $25.00 each volume. For the Egg trick you want Volume # 1-2 (one dvd). This DVD is performance only, no teaching. But great historical magic
Michael Ammar teaches his complete handling for the Silk To Egg in his book The Magic Of Michael Ammar. This routine is very similar to the Mark Wilson handling and it absolutely kills! To do this effect, you will need Ammar’s book, two 18″ silks of the same color, the Tirofog brand Eggs-Actly Egg With Hole, and a few other minor things. Now you have a real powerful routine that packs small and plays big.
Viking also makes a ceramic egg with a hole. Sold as either a complete routine of egg only. While I like the idea of a prepackaged full routine, this item is always out of stock at Viking and we can never seem to get our hands on it. I know the ceramic egg is nice, but I still prefer the Tirofog egg. This is made from a real egg and is perfect in every way. Strengthened by a resin on the inside of the shell. I do wish the Tirofog Egg could come with a routine, but it has no instructions at all. I am only to assume that this is intellectual property (Wilson or Ammar or someone else) and can not be printed. I am not sure who is credited on the Viking Release.
In between all of these eggs, Vernet Magic put out their stellar version of the Silk to Egg. This version uses only one silk (not supplied) and only one egg. There are no switches yet it is still a sucker effect and no mess. Even though you do crack the egg! I love this version but you cant do it up close. There is a seam and up close the egg white & yoke may look a little fake. But from 8-10 feet away, you don’t have to worry about anything. No prematurely broken eggs. In fact, no eggs to transport.
Either the Vernet, the Tirofog or the Viking ones would be suited for a pro. But I still do not think a pro would settle on the plastic Vernet Egg. I could be wrong on that though. There are also some other companies versions of the Verent style. Be careful the quality issue is a big deal, seams that look very bad and or leak!
Until next time.
Thanks for reading!
Pete
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