I learned about thimble magic quite by accident. By this time I had heard the name Joe Mogar mentioned any time thimbles were discussed. As Jeff McBride and Cardini are synonomous with ball and card manipulations, Mogar is synonomous with thimbles and color changing knives. His DVD entitled Thimble Dexterity was generating some good words from thimble workers.

One note before we go any further. If you buy the Thimble Dextrity DVD you will need to purchase thimbles directly from Joe Mogar at his Magic Stars web site. Any set of thimbles that nest or have a big lip (such as the Vernet thimbles) will not work with Joe's moves unless you have gigantic hands. They are very inexpensive and Joe is a great guy to talk to on the phone!

Degree of Difficulty

Advanced. Certainly a beginner can tackle this material. Joe starts with the basics so there is no prerequisite experience with thimbles required. Some of the moves are relatively easy if you've been doing other forms of manipulative magic while other moves are going to take weeks of repetitions for your fingers to acquire the dexterity to execute flawlessly.

Mr. Mogar is a very good teacher. Like most of my instructional DVDs, he moves a little fast but the are several sequences that are replayed in slow motion for several repetitions.

One nice touch that I really appreciate is that Joe provides guidance on how to practice. He gives you warm-up exercises for to develop dexterity and how to avoid injury. He talks about not performing until you're are rock solid to protect the magic from exposure and a lot more than I can cover. Joe also has some pretty strong opinions on thimble magic - what you should and should not do and criticizms of certain thimble moves and performance styles - it's really great stuff.

The bonus teaching section is probably the best of any DVD I've ever watched. He covers a lot of stuff in detail. Like what thimbles work best and what to do with cracked thimbles and maintaining nice looking fingers!

One very minor compliant; I would have liked to see more performance video footage. Most of the material is presented in what I would call a lecture format. Even the presentations feel like a lecture and not a real performance. This is a credit to Joe's phenomenal abilities; he leaves you wanting to see his whole routines just as the audience would see them.

Encyclopedic. You get an arsenal of moves and sequences from which to construct your own routine. This DVD fits that mold.

Thimble effects are very magical. This is not a single trick DVD so you have a wealth of material to construct a killer routine. I would guess that a good thimble routine derived from this DVD would make great addition to a kids act or stage routine. Joe told me on during our phone conversation that he has performed thimbles for a couple hundred people and that the colorful thimbles are very visible to a sizable audience. I could see thimbles as a part of a larger manipulation routine, set to music, that might transition to cards or billiards.

The production quality is good. Nothing flashy but the video and audio quality are good. The menuing was a little confusing at first because you have to drill down into sections but that is a credit to the amount of material covered on the DVD. A little background music would have made the production a lot more enjoyable. The slow-mo sections are completely silent and that is unnerving to somelike me who needs some ambient noise or music to feel at ease.

If you're a serious student of manipulation this is a must have for your collection. Joe Mogar is a true thimble master and his contributions have had an enormous impact on the art.

Don't forget to order the thimbles from Joe or you'll have a tough time doing any of the stuff on this DVD.

One final note - I'm going to compare in a follow up blog the Mogar and McBride DVDs because their approach to thimbles is quite different. Also the Shoot Ogawa thimble routines I've witnessed on youtube.com are worth talking about - Shoot is scary good with his thimbles. Both approaches have merits and it will be fun to contrast the two styles.

There are very few resources out there for thimble magic. Doesn't change the fact that this is an excellent dvd. If you have never been privileged to view the visual quality of thimble manipulation then you are missing out. They just seem to come out of nowhere.If you want to learn, Joe Mogar is the guy to learn from. Thimble manipulation is very accesible to the average magician. These routines aren't that difficult and you will be manipulating them like a pro in no time. You learn a variety of sleight including productions, vanishes and color changes; the staples of thimble magic.

This is an excellent DVD and if you are thinking about getting into thimble magic this is the starting point. Joe is a good teacher and his products are top of the line. Add to basket and know that there is something here for your close up thimble routine. Lots to learn from this DVD.

Many hold Joe Mogar as the thimble Guru and say this DVD is the one to get if you want to learn thimble magic.
You should note this is NOT an encyclopedia of thimble work. This is moves Joe likes. So you will not learn all the moves or devices, So do not expect any discussion on holders and traditional steals since he does not like them. He feels they are not needed as his method with his thimbles does not require holders.

You REALLY DO NEED TO BUY HIS THIMBLES. He tells you the size of his thimbles and really you can not translate all his moves with other magic thimbles and 99.5% of stores and internet will not have the thimbles of the size he uses.
The DVD is lacking some production value. It is hard to navigate and jumps around. That is, they take some routines and reuse them to teach other moves.
MANY of the slow motion segments are missing. Only a few have the slow motions.
Joe does not really teach you. THIS IS SHOW AND No TELL. This is similar to a lecture where he shows you want he is doing but not teaching the find points. So he might say "You do it like this." And he does the move at speed a few times. He does not describe WHAT he is doing. That is, he leaves out the find points and it is up to you to work it out.
There are some routines not fully demonstrated. He goes right into explanations. It would have been nice to see some of the routines done live or at least in full as he would present in public.
Some of the moves flash on camera and they took a weak approach flashing text on the screen that the effect is "angle sensitive". Sorry this is an excuse. He did not perform it well and they were too cheap to reshoot the segment.
Maybe having his book will go into more detail. While you can learn from this DVD, having his written notes, might give you more insight to some of his moves as he would have to describe the methods differently than doing it on video. I can recommend it as part of your library but with the cautions above.

His explosion and implosion moves are great, some of the color changes are very good, and the 12 thimble production is very good. When I got the DVD I expected their to be at least one really eye popping how did he do that moves. There were none of those. In the Vanishes section, he has one good thimble vanish, and the others are pretty much the same thing. IN the productions section their was nothing of particular interest. IN the color change section their were a few nice changes. A lot of the moves revolved around handkerchiefs with thimbles, which I do not use. Also, on a side note, Joe Mogar the teacher is incredibly boring and even though he is talented with thimbles, his presentation is really boring. It is more of a watch me do this, and this and this. Ta Da
To conclude, I believe that if you are going to start out in thimbles, this is a good DVD as the explosion and implosion moves are taught, as well as basic and advanced palming, and some solid vanishes and changes. If you are looking for a more entertaining and powerful thimble routine, get Shoot ogawas thimble DVD.