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Bunny production bag

Posted: June 28th, 2003, 12:00 pm
by Guest
I currently use a bunny production bag of my own design. The bag hangs on the back of my table for a couple tricks, and at an appropriate moment, I steal it and, eventually, produce it.

However, I'm looking to improve the design.

In particular, I'm looking for a design in which the bag consists of a square cloth with rings at the four corners. I want to gather up the four corners, hang the rings on the nail, and have that form the bag that I hang from that headless nail.

I am open to other designs, but after experiencing continuing difficulty getting the Velcroed bag open as immediately as I'd like, this seems best.

Does anybody know where I can get a pattern, an explanation, an idea? The literature seems rather scant on such items.

Re: Bunny production bag

Posted: June 28th, 2003, 1:01 pm
by Guest
Hi David,

Try contacting Jim Thomson of Magic Maniacs. He is a prop builder for magicians and is local to you.

His web address is www.magicmaniacs.com

He is great with stands and items like that. It can be custom built to fit your requirements as well.

Good luck with your search either way.

www.JeffEzellMAGIC.com

Re: Bunny production bag

Posted: June 28th, 2003, 9:40 pm
by Guest
Hi,

Here are several pertinent references. Anything in parentheses is my addition to attempt to clarify any vague writing in the originals. I will try to email you this info as well, just in case moderators think this post is too open. Hope this is some help.

Magic Digest, by George B. Anderson, 1972, page 187
"...sew four rings to the four corners of a square of dark, durable cloth. Put the live rabbit on the cloth and draw up the four corners at the top. Put the four rings over..." your headless nail at the back of your table. Anderson's version is using a pair of tubes, and so he hangs his rings on an S-hook that will hang on the top of his tubes.

Modern Magic Manual, by Jean Hugard, ???, page 305
"An easy method is to have the animal in a black bag, the mouth of which has four or five metal rings sewn to it (the implication here is perhaps a circle of cloth rather than a square of cloth, hence the fifth ring to help hold the bag closed). Put the rabbit in, and hang the bag by the rings on a headless nail on the back of a small three-fold screen. In the course of the preceding productions, throw a number of silks over the screen in such a way that in picking them (back) up (a bit later in the production) you can (that is, will be able to) grasp the bag by the rings. When you have the hat empty... pick up the silks and the bag (under cover of the pile of silks) and dump them into the hat, bag first. Discover then that there is something else in it, remove the silks, and bring out the rabbit. The bag must be lined with silks of different colours, part of which are left unsewn (that is, half of each silk is not tack sewn onto the bag's interior) so that when the bag is turned inside out it will pass for a bunch of silks."

101 Easy-to-Learn Classic Magic Tricks, aka 101 Easy-to-Do Magic Tricks, by Bill Tarr, 1977, page 53
"In this case, your load - a rabbit in a bag or whatever - is hanging from a headless nail on the back of a chair onstage. As you bend over to pick up (an object)... or deposit some object on the seat - preferably some thing you have jsut produced from the hat - you steal the load and swing it right into your hat in one smooth, deft, and well-practiced motion." (Page 52 also has two versions from a simple body steal; page 54 has an assistant load, another body load, and a table load.)

Finally,
Tricks With Hares, by U.F. Grant and Don Tanner, ???, 8 page illustrated pamphlet, page 1
"First of all you require a square handkerchief or cloth about 18 inches square. Sewed in each corner of the cloth is a buttonhole... Lay the cloth out flat on a table and place the rabbit in the center of it. Gather up the four corners and run a cord through them. A ring, about the size of a (personal) keyring, is slid down over the (cord and the) ends of the cloth until it is against the rabbit. This holds the lower section into a bag affair... The cord which was run through the holes in the corners of the bag is tied into a loose loop by a regular bow knot. This loop is hung on a nail at the back of...any draped...table... (After the load, to produce,) slip the loop off the nail... pull the bow knot loose (to) clear the buttonholes and pull the ring up off of the bag." (sic) (There are 8 complete rabbit production versions in this booklet).

I am sure that I can find more in my library if I keep looking, but I think you get the idea.

Jon A. Hand

Re: Bunny production bag

Posted: June 28th, 2003, 9:46 pm
by Guest
Oh man, this is just what I was looking for! Thanks for the references!

Re: Bunny production bag

Posted: July 2nd, 2003, 1:11 am
by Guest
This gimmick is easily made, but you can buy it from Abbott's Magic under the name "Orange Classic."

However, they also sell "Livestock Production" bags that are quite different and do not use velcro. They hold and release the animal nicely with the simple pull of a "pin." These bags are also simply made once you see them. I have bought and used a few from Abbott's and the quality has varied. The first one was quite well made...others have used poorer material or poor stitching...But the design is sound.

Re: Bunny production bag

Posted: July 2nd, 2003, 12:33 pm
by Guest
Originally posted by Bill Jackson:
This gimmick is easily made, but you can buy it from Abbott's Magic under the name "Orange Classic."

However, they also sell "Livestock Production" bags that are quite different and do not use velcro. They hold and release the animal nicely with the simple pull of a "pin."
This sounds workable, too, although a friend of mine, Bob Weiss, has sworn off this model. He says that they're not appropriate for kids' shows in which you perform multiple shows per day, that you have to spend more time than he likes re-threading after every show. What say you re this objection?

Re: Bunny production bag

Posted: July 4th, 2003, 12:03 am
by Guest
Rethreading? Sounds like something else. The Livestock Production bag is as simple as latching a cage shut. There is a cork you feel for and pull to release...to reset, just slide the bunny into the clothe tube and drop the latching pin in. This is not the style where you have to make a loose stitch to close and then pull the thread...