Top Hat - gimmicks?

[Misjief]

Hi All-

I am just finishing up the frame for a top hat I am working on. I put a magnet in the top so I can use it like a BIG chop cup or drop in a hidden false bottom.

I also put a magnet in the brim so I can hide stuff there as well. This one is fairly rugged (read HEAVY) because it is going to be the mold for the rest. So I can't cut out the sides or bottom on this particular one either. But I am planning on making more so if you have a good idea I love to hear it.

One of them I plan to make as a base for a puppet or ventriloquist dummy (a rabbit) LOL

Not sure what else to throw at it... Any suggestions?

-misj-

[Misjief]

Ok -

I finished the frame for the hat. It turned out awesome!

Now I have to put the final touches on it. Here is where I get stuck. I have never really used a top hat as a prop! I didn't get any suggestions - which tells me that maybe I wasn't specific enough. I will try again. LOL. (Yes I am very tenacious be it good or bad.) I could roll the dice but I have far more faith in you guys.

I put one magnet in the top - off centered figuring it's basicly a big chop cup. Great! But I can't decide where the placement of the second one would best serve me.

If I put it in the brim I can use the brim to hide a billiard ball and the like on the outside...

But if put it in the sidewall I can do the same thing slightly less effectively - but I gain the ability to hide a small object on the inside of a empty hat by angling the hat so that the object is on the high inside.

{short story = Brim - more effective or Sidewall - more flexible?}

Having decided that...

Which placement is more useful? should I put it to along the wide (front/back) axis or the narrow (right/left) one?

{Short story = Narrow access more effective on the inside hide - the wide axis favors the outside hide. }

I am tending towards the high sidewall perhaps a inch below the brim along narrow axis just because I built it to go with my billiard balls which is now versus future use. Hope that made sense, LOL!

Thanks-
-misj-

[Ciarmageddon]

i never used an hat as a prop, but i think that is better to put the magnet on the sidewall so it is more flexible and u can use it for more tricks.

[Misjief]

C-

I ended up putting it in the brim rather then the sidewall because I had the hat largely finished and where as I could mount it to the brim without it showing, I would have had to re-do the sidewall. Again, to be clear it shows on the underside of the brim (if you look and I don't conceal it with my hand) but I view it as a feature because I can get the orientation of the hat based on feel.

That hat turned out to be pretty neat. I lined it with black form rubber and then made a bunch of gimmicks for it so that it serves as a mini- black art theater. In doing so I learned a lot about black art principles, which I plan on putting to use in a much larger stage in the near future.

Thanks for the feedback!
-misj-