Stuff in bottles?

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Guest

Stuff in bottles?

Postby Guest » April 11th, 2007, 9:38 pm

Greetings to all!

I'm new to the forum and looking for some insight to placing things in bottles as Harry Eng used to do.

Specifically, can anyone provide some direction or perhaps a copy of an article that would help me get a tennis or ping pong ball into a bottle?

All assistance greatly appreciated -

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: Stuff in bottles?

Postby Richard Kaufman » April 11th, 2007, 9:47 pm

If you read The Mind & Magic of David Berglas, you'll find the method for getting a pear inside a bottle.
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Guest

Re: Stuff in bottles?

Postby Guest » April 12th, 2007, 8:51 am

I think one of the Paul Harris Art of Astonishment volumes has instructions for a deck of cards in bottle. I think it is Harry Eng's method but I'm not sure. I don't recall which volume of AOA it was in either or if it appeared in one of Paul's earlier books or not. Anybody?

I'm not sure, but maybe heat of some sort is key, at least for one of those items.

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Re: Stuff in bottles?

Postby Mark Collier » April 12th, 2007, 8:58 am

Paul Harris's "Art of Astonishment Book 2"

Pages 303 - 304 explain the deck of cards in a bottle and 305 explains the ping pong ball in the bottle.

I think the scented bath crystals are optional.

Guest

Re: Stuff in bottles?

Postby Guest » April 12th, 2007, 9:04 am

Ah, double bonus. I thought I read about a ping pong ball too at one time and wasn't sure where. I do methods like a golf ball in pickle jar, much easier, but can still raise a lot of conversation. :D

Guest

Re: Stuff in bottles?

Postby Guest » April 12th, 2007, 10:09 am

One of the three Tribute volumes to Martin Gardner published by A. K. Peters has Harry Eng's special vise for getting coins into bottles (actually for straightening them out once they are in the bottle). It is quite a puzzle itself, as you have to assemble the pieces of the vice inside the bottle, straighten the coin, then take apart the vice to leave only the coin in the bottle.

Guest

Re: Stuff in bottles?

Postby Guest » April 12th, 2007, 10:25 am

Hello all -

Thanks for the prompt and great replies I truly appreciate your taking an interest in bottle magic.

While, I will never be a Harry Eng I still want to try out some of the things he has done. Most all of his work is more than amazing.

I've been working at getting a deck of cards into a bottle for a few months now and have gotten close. But the result usually looks like somebody just "Cramed" the deck in and the box is pretty torn up. :D I know I can do it, just got to still with it.

Brian, a golf ball is easier that a ping pong ball???? I would think it to be much harder - can you give any clues?

Again, my thanks.

Ron Berlier

Guest

Re: Stuff in bottles?

Postby Guest » April 12th, 2007, 10:55 am

How fragile are these bottles?

Is it practical to actually switch one in under a hank to finish a paid gig by giving away the deck that way?

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: Stuff in bottles?

Postby Richard Kaufman » April 12th, 2007, 2:57 pm

The bottles are only as fragile as the actual glass--so not very fragile (no more fragile than normal).

But they're way too expensive and labor intensive to give away as the denoument of a trick unless it's to a CEO who's going to hire you for a $100,000 gig for his company.
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Guest

Re: Stuff in bottles?

Postby Guest » April 12th, 2007, 3:07 pm

I can put a deck into a bottle in about 2-3 hours (not counting the time it takes me to drink the Wild Turkey out of the bottle), and the resulting product looks pretty good. (Not perfect, like Harry's, but pretty good.) Whether this is too much time and/or effort for a giveaway is up to you.

Guest

Re: Stuff in bottles?

Postby Guest » April 12th, 2007, 7:53 pm

Pete,

No I don't think it's too much time as I'm more focused on the end result than the time involved. I suspect that each individual will reach a point, in terms of speed, that they can't do it faster and still have a respectible result.

The icing on the cake is having the cellophane on the deck when done. Still working on that aspect as well.

So far, when I talk to people about this they say something like, "No big deal, you just take all the cards out, put the box in the bottle and put the cards back in." However, they stammer when asked about the details - then when you show an example of the deck sealed in cellophane still in place ----- they no longer have much, if anything, to say. I think that is a great reward for being able to get the deck into the bottle.

TNX

Ron

Guest

Re: Stuff in bottles?

Postby Guest » April 13th, 2007, 8:11 pm

Sorry, I made an attempt at humor. I can easily put a golf ball inside a pickle jar because the jar has a wide mouth on it. I do think the Harry Eng creations were amazing and I can respect the time and effort it takes to make such creations. Good luck!

Guest

Re: Stuff in bottles?

Postby Guest » April 14th, 2007, 11:02 am

Brian, no problem. I didn't see the humor initially because I certainly haven't seen all the pickle jars there are. So, I "Assumed" the neck was to narrow for the ball to simply drop in (you know what happens when you assume :p ).

I can't recall where I saw the post, but someone said to check Trader Joe's store for the old fashion one gallon jugs with finger hold. We just happen to be fortunate enough to have one in town. So, I picked up a gallon of apple juice and am almost ready to try putting things inside. I searched all over the internet for this type of jug but could only find the narrow necked ones. So, if you have a Trader store near buy - check it out. As a matter of fact most of the liquid products come in glass not plastic like the local grocery store. HTH

Ron Berlier

Guest

Re: Stuff in bottles?

Postby Guest » May 14th, 2007, 8:02 am

Hi All,

If you would like to see some more pictures of decks in bottles, please take a look at:

www.whatizit.net

These are the same ones that Richard talked about in his wonderful blog.

Cheerio,

jamie

Guest

Re: Stuff in bottles?

Postby Guest » May 14th, 2007, 9:45 am

I had a chance to see Jamie's bottles at Kraimien's a couple of weeks back. Even knowing how Harry Eng did it, Jamie's bottles are impressive.

The decks are in pristine condition,"still" in their cellophane.

Guest

Re: Stuff in bottles?

Postby Guest » May 14th, 2007, 6:26 pm

Northwest29 wrote
Brian, no problem. I didn't see the humor initially because I certainly haven't seen all the pickle jars there are. So, I "Assumed" the neck was to narrow for the ball to simply drop in (you know what happens when you assume ).
Wouldn't you assume that a pickle jar's opening is larger than a golf ball? How else would you get the pickles out?

Guest

Re: Stuff in bottles?

Postby Guest » May 14th, 2007, 7:55 pm

Not long ago I saw a show about a museum of ships (and other things) in bottles; all sizes and shapes, some quite old.
As you can imagine, some of the models were absolutely incredible.

One of the variations that struck me was a bottle, inside of which, was standing a little man (constructed in the bottle--he was too big to fit through the mouth) and he was pulling on the prow of a ship, which was still outside the bottle, trying to pull it in after him, but it was too big to fit through the mouth of the bottle.

I hope this description conveys the idea--it was a different take, and was very well done.

Guest

Re: Stuff in bottles?

Postby Guest » May 15th, 2007, 1:34 am

"Wouldn't you assume that a pickle jar's opening is larger than a golf ball? How else would you get the pickles out?"

Dunno about the US, but in the UK a pickle jar could mean at least two different things.

It could be a jar of whole (unchopped) pickled vegetables, such a gherkins. That obviously requires an opening larger than a pickled gherkin (or whatever).

And it could mean a jar of mixed chopped pickled vegetables in a savoury sauce, such as Branston Pickle. That doesn't require a large opening in order to extract the contents. (Though admittedly many such jars do tend to have large openings. But they don't require them in order to function.)

Dave

Guest

Re: Stuff in bottles?

Postby Guest » June 24th, 2007, 12:45 pm

Hi All,

I posted this already in the Collector's Marketplace but perhaps it's okay if I mention it here as well. On July.18 I'll be releasing a Limited run of the 1800 decks in bottles. Please feel free to take a look at them at www.whatizit.net if you have a moment.

Thanks for your time,

Jamie D. Grant

p.s. Mods- if this is too much advertising, please delete.

Guest

Re: Stuff in bottles?

Postby Guest » July 20th, 2007, 7:49 am

Hi Guys,

I would also check out Jeff Scanlon at www.bottlemagic.com. He has a tribute to Harry Eng and also a gallery of various bottles. His work is quite good. Tell him Paul Green sent you!

Regards,

Paul Green

Guest

Re: Stuff in bottles?

Postby Guest » July 20th, 2007, 8:39 am

I have a book from a Japanese puzzle company at home where they show the solutions to many of the puzzles they sell. One of the puzzles consisted of a golf ball and shortened golf tee inside a baby food jar. This was a puzzle on 2 levels. The actual puzzle was to get the golf ball standing on the tee. The secondary puzzle was how the golf ball got into the jar as it was too big to fit into the opening.

I'm not sure if the method for putting the golf ball into the jar was in the book, but I did find the method somewhere and made one up. It was pretty easy. It may have been in a Martin Gardner book.

I'll check out the books when I get home and give any details. I will also try to find the puzzle and put a photo up somewhere.

Guest

Re: Stuff in bottles?

Postby Guest » July 20th, 2007, 12:32 pm

Bottleheads;
If I know you and you are not using a fake name, email me and I'll send you a few jpgs of an item that is extremely helpful in making such bottled items. If you hide behind a fake name or anon email address, forget it. I'll not respond.
Jim

Guest

Re: Stuff in bottles?

Postby Guest » July 20th, 2007, 2:27 pm

Note to RK:
People actually read this forum!

To those requesting the images:
I've mass mailed the first group of requests and will send more this evening when I have some time. Thanks for the interest.
Jim

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Re: Stuff in bottles?

Postby Ian Kendall » July 20th, 2007, 3:19 pm

Aaaand, for those of us who use Outlook; check your junk folder...

Many thanks Jim.

Take care, Ian

Guest

Re: Stuff in bottles?

Postby Guest » July 20th, 2007, 6:18 pm

I found the book. The title is "The Glass Puzzle Answer Book" published by Toyo Glass - Puzzle City Dept. On page 11 is the solution for their puzzle "Hole in One". In very small print at the bottom of the page are instruction for putting a golf ball into the jar. I remember doubting it would work when I read it, so I tried it and it did work.

Toyo Glass had several impossible looking glass objects that were actually puzzles that you could assemble and disassemble without using any outside tools. I bought one from them called "Bottleneck". They also had an interesting glass version of Mel Stover's "Vanishing Leprecon". I have not been able to find the puzzles I have yet. When I do I will put up some photos and post a link.

I did some searching for a Puzzle City website and found that Toyo Glass stopped making puzzles in 1995.

Guest

Re: Stuff in bottles?

Postby Guest » August 9th, 2007, 6:12 pm

My favorite coin in bottle routine is David Roth's.
I think it can be found in "Expert Coin Magic"

Just thought I toss that in.

Guest

Re: Stuff in bottles?

Postby Guest » October 28th, 2007, 12:16 pm

Greeting again all -

I have finally been successful at get the golf ball into a jar and appreciate all the help that was offered here on the forum.

Still dealing with two other bottle issues.

:help: :help: :help:

First, I can get a full deck of cards back into the box in something like a SoBe bottle, but with all the cards having a curve (makes the box curved), trying to the closing the top so that it looks good is next to impossible. )-:

Second, still working on a way to get tennis balls into a gallon jug. I've tried putting them in real hot water to soften the rubber - but that dosen't seem to help.

Any and all suggestions will be accepted with greatful appreciation.

Ron

Guest

Re: Stuff in bottles?

Postby Guest » October 28th, 2007, 1:19 pm

Reverse the direction you curl every other other card, so the curves cancel each other out.

Guest

Re: Stuff in bottles?

Postby Guest » October 29th, 2007, 11:00 am

Thanks John, seems like that might just work. May I assume that you have had success with that approach? I'll give it a try!

Guest

Re: Stuff in bottles?

Postby Guest » October 30th, 2007, 12:56 am

Hiya,

To get the cards perfect relies upon a very time intensive technique. I'm afraid that's all I can say on the matter. I can tell you that the tennis ball does not need to come into any contact with a foreign substance (i.e. water, oil, etc...)

All the best,

Jamie D. Grant
www.whatizit.net

p.s. Don't forget to order your official "Anything Is Possible" (as featured in Ripley's Believe It Or Not) bottles in time for the holidays...

Guest

Re: Stuff in bottles?

Postby Guest » October 30th, 2007, 10:52 am

Hi Jamie -

Thanks for the information. :) At least I can eliminate something from my process. Oh well, back to the R&D shop for more attempts at a seemingly impossible task. :confused:

Guest

Re: Stuff in bottles?

Postby Guest » October 30th, 2007, 5:35 pm

Northwest29,

I've sent you an e-mail...

Anything Is Possible,

jamie

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Jamie D. Grant
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Re: Stuff in bottles?

Postby Jamie D. Grant » April 1st, 2008, 11:19 pm

Northwest29/Anonymous,

Did you ever have any luck?

jamie

p.s. And Jim (Riser), are you still around?

Northwest29
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Re: Stuff in bottles?

Postby Northwest29 » April 12th, 2008, 12:06 am

Jamie, TNX for follow up. Check your email.

Ron
Ron
Eugene, OR

"Curiosity is a terrible thing to waste.'

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Jamie D. Grant
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Re: Stuff in bottles?

Postby Jamie D. Grant » September 3rd, 2008, 2:41 am

Ron!

How'd the tennis balls look in the end?

best!

jamie
www.whatizit.net

Magic Niels
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Re: Stuff in bottles?

Postby Magic Niels » January 27th, 2016, 2:19 pm

Hi fellow craftsmen,

I'm making impossible bottles with bike decks for à couple of months now. For a friend of mine I want to make a golfball in babyfood jar. Can anyone give me some tips for this. I already cracked 2 golfballs after I heated them in boiling water and tried To push them thru the opening of the jar.

Regards, Neal


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