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00:00 Welcome to the ThreadBullet tutorial.
00:12 I'm Steve Pearson.
00:14 This is the ThreadBullet and this is how it works.
00:17 The ThreadBullet is basically a spool of thread, a biodegradable spool, which I wanted to sell
00:22 anyway, so it could be tossed in the trash when you're done with it.
00:27 But I had this technique for attaching an elastic and turning it into a spooler for
00:33 several years and I've never shared it.
00:35 With a lot of the recent developments in thread work and gadgets and things that have come
00:40 out, in my opinion, it's tempting to sell a gadget, but they take away from the actual
00:49 naturalness of the performance.
00:52 They take away from your control of the object in exchange for convenience.
00:57 I think this gives you the convenience that you need to still do the job right.
01:02 You need to work with a static line.
01:04 You don't want something attached to a mechanical, electronic thing that's telegraphing into
01:10 your line and making things look bouncy or unnatural.
01:13 You really need control when you do thread magic.
01:16 It takes a lot of practice to look like it's floating and it does take a static line, in
01:21 my opinion.
01:22 I'm also not a huge fan of the elastics.
01:23 We do sell them, but for levitations, static line is where it's at.
01:31 The Thread Bullet allows you to work with the static line.
01:35 We have a piece of wax attached to the end of the bullet.
01:38 I'm going to remove the wax and pull it away from the Thread Bullet and what you'll see
01:42 is that it unspools the thread underneath this little elastic that's on it and cleanly
01:48 off the end.
01:49 I'm going to let the bullet wiggle between my fingers.
01:51 I hold it a little bit loose so it just moves a little bit.
01:55 It allows for a better unspooling.
01:58 You can try this yourself.
01:59 Don't waste a lot of your thread right now, though.
02:01 It'll unspool smoothly.
02:03 You can pull off many feet.
02:04 The faster you pull, the more this little rubber band is going to tend to walk down
02:08 the bullet and if it walks all the way to the end, it can come off and give you some
02:12 trouble.
02:13 Pull it at a nice, slow, steady pace.
02:17 Once you've done several feet, you're going to want to check your bullet and if it's walking
02:20 too much, you want to roll it back closer to the spool.
02:23 It's not a big deal.
02:27 If you break the thread and get it screwed up, of course, you're going to try to find
02:31 the end.
02:32 If you start feeling like you're having a bit of a mess, the nice thing about this is
02:35 since it's all open and outside, you don't have to put it through any holes or anything,
02:41 you can just take the rubber band off.
02:43 If worse comes to worse, make sure your rubber band is clean of any pieces of thread.
02:46 Get the end of your thread there.
02:48 I'm just going to break it here so we can show you how to put this back on.
02:54 Let's say we lost everything and the rubber band got tangled and there it is.
02:59 Let's get our rubber band clean.
03:01 Make sure there's no thread on it.
03:04 Make sure our spool is okay.
03:05 If there's any excess thread, we just want to get rid of those few inches of excess.
03:10 We have just a few inches here that we can run towards the end of the spool and hold
03:14 it there in our hand.
03:16 Now I'm going to put the rubber band on.
03:18 I'm going to put it on the back end of the spool.
03:20 A real easy way to do this is to, depending on how big your fingers are, you don't want
03:25 to break your rubber band, but if you can get it on your fingertip and then touch your
03:29 fingertip to the end of the spool and squeeze the two ends, that rubber band is going to
03:32 pop right off onto the spool.
03:34 I'm going to roll it over the back, backwards over the line.
03:40 I'm going to be careful that I'm holding the little piece of the weak strand.
03:44 Then I'm going to stop and make sure that this is unspooling properly, which it is.
03:49 I'll attach my wax right away.
03:57 When you attach the wax, it's important, especially with the Vectraline, when you start floating
04:01 heavier objects, to roll the wax into kind of a weenie shape and wrap the thread the
04:08 long way down it and then turn it sideways and wrap the thread across itself.
04:13 You want the thread zigzagging back and forth.
04:15 Then I'll fold that little tube shape thing and roll it again and back and forth.
04:22 So you have thread going back and forth, back and forth through the wax.
04:26 I can't stress this enough.
04:27 If you have trouble with the thread pulling out, this is what you need to pay attention
04:31 to.
04:32 So now we've got it working again.
04:34 I won't pull off too much thread, just enough to know that it's working.
04:37 I'll wind and wind this down until we're back to the tip.
04:40 Then I'm just going to attach this like so, back on the tip.
04:44 So I've got my bullet and I'm ready to perform, ready to take off, toss this in my pocket,
04:51 case, whatever.
04:55 Let's show you a little bit more of the functionality of the bullet before we show you a hookup
04:59 or a trick that you can do with it.
05:03 When you're performing, let's say you have a standard two-point hookup, like you're going
05:06 to do a floating bill, a lot of guys will be hooked to their shirt, say, an aesthetic
05:11 or an object on the table.
05:16 Let's pull off enough thread to do this.
05:19 And let's say it's two and a half feet, exactly, or two feet, seven inches that you always
05:24 use.
05:25 And once you've got it out to this point, I've got a little trouble, there we go.
05:30 Once you've got it out to this two feet, seven inches, it's the perfect length.
05:34 You know that you need that perfect length every time.
05:36 The nice thing about this is it's going to remember your length.
05:39 All you have to do is take it now and wind your single strand back around it.
05:46 I'm holding the tip of the bullet and I'm just winding around the thread.
05:51 Don't pay any attention to the rubber band.
05:53 Yes, I came back over the rubber band.
05:55 I'm on the outside of the thread now.
05:57 And this is wound up snug.
05:58 And you'll find you don't have trouble with this if it's in your pocket and stuff, as
06:02 long as you keep it wound snug.
06:06 It really manages it well.
06:07 It's on the outside, so you can see how much you have left.
06:10 You'll never run out of thread in front of your audience like you might with an enclosed
06:14 system.
06:15 And now I attach my wax to the back end of the bullet.
06:19 Now this is when we're going to pull off a preset length.
06:22 So the thread bullet has remembered our two feet, seven inches, whatever we're using.
06:26 Now we can grab the thread from the back end when we're ready to perform, pull it off backwards,
06:31 and it's going to stop right there.
06:34 So it's remembered.
06:35 It's allowed you to unspool exactly what you need and lock it automatically at the spot
06:42 that you put into the memory, basically.
06:45 So that's the functionality of the thread bullet.
06:48 Now let's discuss a couple routines.
06:55 The two-point hookup is a standard hookup used for effects like the floating bill or
07:00 the floating rose.
07:01 The thread bullet allows you to get into the two-point hookup easily.
07:04 You can preset before you go in and perform.
07:09 If you're feeling courageous, you don't have to do this, but this is all food for thought.
07:13 I really encourage you to discover as many new things with this gimmick as you can.
07:18 I have the thread bullet pumped.
07:21 Now I can reach out for something from the table to make some maneuver to get my hand
07:25 in close to where I want to hook up.
07:27 And I'm just going to press the tip of the bullet against the surface.
07:32 And as I come away, I'm unspooling thread secretly.
07:37 The wax attached by itself, the bullet pulls away.
07:41 Once I've got the length that I want, I'm going to just ditch this bullet underneath
07:47 this armpit, just like that.
07:51 It's on the outside of my shirt.
07:52 It's right underneath there.
07:54 So now I've got a traditional two-point hookup.
07:56 Normally it would go maybe from a button to there, or it could go from the mouth to there,
08:01 from the ear to there.
08:02 I'm going here.
08:04 The thread bullet is attached, or used as my anchor point.
08:07 So I'm not messing around with any wax attached to my body or my clothing.
08:15 Now I can feel the thread here.
08:17 It's in a very easy to find spot under the arm.
08:20 It's not out somewhere where I have to locate it.
08:22 It's always right there.
08:23 I can feel it against my arm.
08:27 Lay the bill over the thread.
08:30 Hold it.
08:31 I come in a little bit, and this is why static thread is so important.
08:34 You can come in and you can adjust the tension on your thread.
08:38 Twist it up.
08:39 You've got a little ball now that you can levitate.
08:47 And with levitations, as always, less is more.
08:55 And just like that, blah, blah, blah.
09:00 Now when you're done, you can retrieve your ball of wax, and you're off to your next performance.
09:07 I can go around with this palmed in a crack between my fingers here.
09:12 I can have it on my thumbnail where it's concealed and just ready to perform now again.
09:17 Or if I want to, I can attach it to my belt, to a button, or to the inside of a pants pocket.
09:23 So now it's not going to get hooked on anything.
09:25 It's a natural position to keep your arms down and keep that up there.
09:29 It's got the rubber band on it, so it doesn't want to slip out.
09:32 And when you do want to get it out, you can just let it drop out and pull it up.
09:37 And now I've got it concealed in my hand.
09:39 And when I want to wrap it, I'll re-wrap it over the spool again, or over the wrap thread,
09:46 and attach the wax to the back end of the spool.
09:51 So now I can take my lunch break or do whatever I have to do.
09:59 And when I come back to performing, all I have to do is grab my wax, pull off the back
10:04 end of the spool this time, and I'm back set to the exact length I need.
10:10 I'm ready to perform.
10:15 This is a nice self-contained hookup.
10:18 The bullet goes underneath the arm, so it's concealed.
10:22 The thread right now is attached to a piece of wax.
10:26 I'm using Red Wax, colored Master Wax, to match the playing card.
10:32 But the thread, which is between my fingers, actually is going to run over the ear.
10:38 And you can use your right ear, left ear, whatever you're comfortable with.
10:42 This is going to replace a lot of hookups that use the ear, like the spinning card,
10:49 hammer card.
10:50 But for instance, this could go around your body if you do this routine already.
10:59 This way you don't have to have anything stuck to your ear.
11:02 It's another birthday suit hookup.
11:04 You don't have to have any special clothing or anything like that.
11:08 Just pop this under the arm, and you're ready to go.
11:12 The over-the-ear hookup gives you a lot of control over your floating object.
11:17 By moving the head, you can cause the object to move horizontally.
11:23 It gives a nice look to the levitation.
11:29 Now, don't let the audience ever see the object wobble, bobble, bounce, dance.
11:35 It has to be perfectly still, really, to create the illusion that it's actually floating,
11:45 rather than hanging from a string.
11:53 Here's one of the coolest things you can do with the Thread Bullet, in my opinion.
11:58 I'm going to pull off a length of thread, so you get a couple feet of thread, whatever
12:01 you're going to use.
12:03 Let's say I just want to do a hookup from the shirt to the table, a traditional hookup.
12:08 I'm going to use the cap from a Sharpie, the Sharpie marker we all know and love.
12:14 Just the cap.
12:15 The Thread Bullet goes into the cap, bullet side first, pointed side first.
12:21 You have to give a little pressure and wiggle just a little bit.
12:24 You don't want to overdo it and ruin your bullet, if you plan on using it as a spooler
12:28 again.
12:30 That locks it in there.
12:31 So now you've got a clip that you can clip on your pants, you can clip inside your jacket,
12:35 you can clip it on the edge of a notebook, you can clip it wherever you need to, or you
12:39 can clip it right in your front pocket and use the thread right in the front, pretty
12:44 much like you're used to with the more familiar hookups.
12:51 If you don't think that's neat, well, then you must not be as big a magic geek as me,
12:55 because I think that is neat-o.
12:57 Now with a little imagination, you should be able to come up with a lot of different
13:05 applications for these.
13:06 It's just a nice way to dispense thread for any application.
13:10 Here's something neat just to get you started.
13:12 I have little glue dots that you can get in the office supply store.
13:18 I'm going to stick one to the end of the Thread Bullet, and then I'm going to stick the Thread
13:26 Bullet inside a thumbtip.
13:30 Just jam it all the way down in there.
13:36 Here's what I end up with.
13:37 I'm going to grab the wax off the end.
13:44 Hear that?
13:45 It's the sound of silence.
13:49 I'm unspooling thread out of the thumbtip.
13:53 I can put the thumbtip on.
13:55 This is actually a kind of rubbery glue.
14:00 It moves around in there.
14:01 It's very strong, though.
14:02 I can put the thumbtip on, have my thread trapped inside.
14:07 I can do any of the familiar hookups.
14:12 If I break it, it's going to break by the thumb or outside, and as this comes off, I
14:17 can pull out more right away to reset.
14:21 That's just one thing.
14:24 If I could come up with that, I imagine what you could come up with.
14:28 These are a few of the other products that we offer to enhance your thread magic, make
14:32 your thread work easier.
14:34 The first is the Master Wax.
14:36 The Master Wax is the only wax that I recommend or is really approved for use with the Vectraline
14:42 thread because the Vectraline will hold heavier objects.
14:45 The thread will tend to cut through softer wax.
14:47 It's a nice, hard wax.
14:50 It also doesn't leave residue on things.
14:52 We have a flesh-colored wax that matches the fingernails.
14:57 Multi-colors of red, blue, white, and black.
15:00 You can mix the colors, the red and the blue for playing cards, black and white also for
15:04 playing cards, credit cards, black and white surfaces, anything you want to attach to it,
15:08 and the black, which is just very popular for various black surfaces.
15:15 We also offer the Vectraline and the Jon Haar thread in its raw state.
15:21 It has to be stripped or peeled.
15:24 The Vectraline has over 100 fibers in one piece.
15:28 So by purchasing the thread raw and stripping it out yourself, you save a lot of money if
15:33 you've got the time to invest or if you go through a lot of thread, you want to pick
15:37 the stuff up raw.
15:39 The Easy Strip thread, as opposed to the Vectraline, the Vectraline is the strongest thread you're
15:44 going to find.
15:45 The Easy Strip thread is the most invisible thread you're going to find.
15:48 The difference in visibility is hard to say, I'd say get both and check it out.
15:56 The Master Levitation System.
15:57 Now this, if you're new to thread magic, you have to check this out.
16:02 Actually if you haven't seen it, you should check it out.
16:06 I swear by the hookup.
16:09 It's the hookup that's going to give you the best, the most realistic levitation effect
16:14 and the most control over the object that you're floating.
16:19 This is an hour and 45 minutes worth of material.
16:22 It covers everything from the very beginnings of thread work all the way up to the most
16:27 complex stuff you'd want to do.
16:30 Floating rings, retraction systems, a lot of stuff on this DVD.
16:37 And then it's got props inside too.
16:39 It's got some fake, very realistic looking ice, a very realistic looking, realistic lightweight
16:46 fork, a lot of neat stuff in here.
16:48 A couple different types of thread, wax.
16:51 Lastly I want to show you this.
16:52 This is the Web Spinner by Amazing Jojo.
16:55 This is a worker's prop.
16:57 This is going to save you time.
16:59 This is something where you can strip out thread in just a split second.
17:03 You know, not in front of your audience, but you can reset in the trenches, just on the
17:07 go.
17:09 People love this thing.
17:10 You're going to love this too.
17:12 If you do any thread magic at all, you can do the master levitation system, the hook
17:17 up and stuff, the Pearson hook up, you can do that with a Web Spinner.
17:20 You can do a floating bit of hook up with a Web Spinner.
17:23 It's just a real go to.
17:25 It manages your wax too.
17:27 It's just like I say, it's a worker's utility device.
17:31 Those are the thread products that you want to pick up if you really want to get the most
17:35 out of your performances, have the best looking levitations possible.
17:39 For more information on any of the products I've just showed you, contact your local dealer.
17:44 Tell them Steve sent you.
17:45 Thank you.
17:46 [end]
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