Okay, so I had a new experience today at the library show I was doing today.  During my show I have a volunteer come up and help me give a drink of water to an invisible Reading Bug (won't quite make sense to you I know) and since the bug is invisible we have to make the water invisible before pouring it into the bug's mouth.
Obviously I use slush powder we say the magic words and I pour the invisible water into the hands of the child who is holding the invisible bug.  Well, my slush powder had a malfunction today!  Thankfully the child was a good sport and it was a hard floor so easily cleaned up.  I had one of my puppets give me a hard time for messing up the trick etc.  But I wanted to know if any of you out there have had similar mishaps at a show.  Please tell me I am not the only one to have something major go wrong like this!   

Hey Lisa--

I messed up my slush powder trick once... not in a big performance setting, just with a group of girls in my college dorm. A smidge embarrasing, especially since the glop slopped out all over my roommate's bed, her brand new sweater, and her chemistry book. Oops. 

From that time on, I always double up on the recommended amount of slush powder!

--My

Oh... one more "slush powder @ college" story. Just after I reported that a bunch of magic things had been stolen from my dorm room, a couple of students showed up in the infirmary. Seems they were the thieves and had decided to try out my mystery powder... by snorting it.

I will always double up on the amount from now on too!!!  The snorting story is TOO FUNNY!!!  Serves them right!!  See you in a week an a half!

Oh... one more "slush powder @ college" story. Just after I reported that a bunch of magic things had been stolen from my dorm room, a couple of students showed up in the infirmary. Seems they were the thieves and had decided to try out my mystery powder... by snorting it.

Classic self-pwnage! 

For the uninitiated, (like me)...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superabsorbent_polymer

 

Ron G.

Thanks Ron.................... I was wondering what Slush powder was............. I have never heard of it but yet I don't do much magic tricks the days. Getting my socks and shoes on the right feet is a trick for me.

Billy D.

Slush powder is a highly absorbent plastic powder originally used in disposable diapers.  Magicians began using it over 20 years ago to make liquids vanish.  To the best of my knowledge it was introduced by Paul Diamond from FL about 1985 or 1986.  It's been sold as a practical joke for putting into beverages and used to be packaged in little envelopes like sugar and sweeteners, but I haven't seen this in a long time to to the fact that it can make you sick if you consume it like the college theives found out.

If you didn't know, it can be dried out and reused if you put it into water.

Marty

Slush powder is a highly absorbent plastic powder originally used in disposable diapers...If you didn't know, it can be dried out and reused if you put it into water.

Eewww... I just got this mental image of drying and reusing disposable diapers - though I'm sure that's not what you meant. 

Thanks for the insider info, Marty!



Ron G.

Eewww is right he says sheepishly.  You can actually harvest slush powder from disposable diapers, but they only have a small amount each.  And then what do you do with the rest of the remaining wrapper?

Marty

I think I will just keep buying it from my magic shops!  I did not know that you could reuse it though.  I have reused the Insta-Snow stuff but never thought of drying down the slush powder!

As long as you just use it to gel water all you have to do is set the cup somewhere and let it dry out and then crumble the mass up.  If you put it in another beverage, coffee, soda, whatever, it will have the dried beverage residue in it still, of course.

Marty