ReUpholstering a Dice Cup

As I get ready to head out on the road to do a week of street style shows, I spent the day cleaning up my props. The dice up that I use for my Cee-Lo dice routine was pretty beat up on the inside.

Cee Lo dice trick by Louie Foxx

I’ve been using this particular cup for probably 6 years (or more!) and it’s showing a lot of wear on the inside. I had changed the outer black cover in the 2020’s to a tan leather so that it would show up better for virtual shows.

Cee Lo dice trick by Louie Foxx

I carefully removed the old lining on the sides and used that as a template for the new felt that I was going to stick into it. I decided to keep the bottom part as is and just recover it with new felt. I’m not sure this was the best decision…I’ll see how well it holds up over time.

Here’s the finished cup:

Cee Lo dice trick by Louie Foxx

It came out alright, I probably should have just made a new cup from scratch. This cup still works great and transferring the leather outer layer or making a new leather covering would have been a pain.

We’ll see how this works this week.

-Louie

Walnuts to Glass Magic Routine: UPDATE

I’ve been working on a walnut to glass routine for a little while and there’s one challenge I keep hitting: Why walnuts?

Using balls with cups and balls makes sense as it looks like the shell game which people are aware of. Even though it’s cups and balls and the shell game visually are very different to people who do them, to the general public who have never seen them in real life, it’s appears to be the same.

The challenge with using nuts is basically I’m fighting the whole routine being a testicle joke. I can’t call them “nuts” in the routine, they have to be walnuts. However every time I handle them, I think I’m going to be fighting people in the audience making their own jokes. I really just don’t want that.

I’m switching over to using my Cee Lo dice and cup routine and doing the hat load of the giant metal nut. I’m also using a devils hank for a vanish of all three dice instead of doing a two in the one in the pocket sequence. The bits I have planned for the devil’s hank before the vanish will hopefully help the routine play larger!

I’m hitting the road in a few days and I’ll know if it plays or not soon!

-Louie