magic show tips – Page 53

Auto Spring Fan Card Revelation: version 2

Okay, so I tried the Auto Spring Fan Card Revelation with misdirection to flip the fan over. The idea is that they don’t see me turn the fan over, their attention is elsewhere, and when they look back all of the cards have changed.

Here’s sort of what it looks like (it doesn’t work on camera as it’s an open move that’s covered by misdirection):

The reaction it gets has a delay while people notice it at staggered times, so it’s not at punchy as openly flipping the fan over. Reaction wise, it’s say it’s about the same either way, but flipping it covered by misdirection is a stronger magic trick. What’s nice is that it can be done either way and you can choose at the last minute how you are going to do the revelation, you aren’t really locked into one way or the other.

-Louie

Auto Spring Fan Revelation in Action!

The card revelation that I’m playing with got tested out at the fair, and it’s getting good reactions:

It’s not the most magical trick ever, it’s a novelty revelation. Sure there are layers to it, like showing the backs of the cards, but at the end of the day if anyone wanted to explain it, they’d say you turned the cards over.

I did have an idea this morning that might make it a little more magical. What if I did the turn over of the fan while they weren’t looking. So when the look back at the fan it’s changed to all the same card. I’ll have to try to figure out a moment to flip the fan, so it’s not like I’m intentionally making them look away.

-Louie

Auto Spring Fan Card Revelation

When I travel, I usually have a ziploc bag full of things that I can use to make gaffed items or fix broken gaffs.

Yesterday I wrote a blog post about gimmicking an Auto Spring Fan. It’s because of this bag of stuff I was able to start work on making the gimmicked Auto Spring Fan.

Gimmicked auto spring fan with flap card

I spent some time splitting cards, so that they fan wouldn’t be super thick and glued them over the existing backs of the cards on the fan, and added a flap card

I’m happy to report from a technical standpoint, the trick functions properly. The next step will be to actually try it for an audience!

-Louie

Auto Spring Fan…

The other day I was at a magic shop in Mesa, AZ and I bought an auto spring fan of cards on a whim. If you don’t know what an Auto Spring Fan is, it’s a packet of cards that pops open into a fan automatically. I thought I was probably just going to have a kid hold them in pictures after the show.

During the drive to the gig, I thought about what else could be done with them. There’s not a lot you can do besides open them. Then I got an idea, they could be used as a card revelation. The idea is the whole fanned deck would turn into the selected card.

I realized that if I held the closed deck face down and fanned them so that I was tightening the spring, I could show the backs of the cards on the edge that’s normally hidden.

This allows me to have all the cards on the back (except for the top card) to have the corner shown when fanned to be the same card. Having the top card change would simply be making a flap card.

…at least that’s how it is in my head. Now to actually make the gimmick, which is the real work!

-Louie

William’s Magic in Tuscon

Last week I was performing about 45 minutes from Tuscon, AZ in a small town. I saw there was a magic shop in Tuscon, so I made the drive up to William’s Magic. I had heard of Williams Magic in the past, they had a mobile magic shop that travelled the country and went to magic conventions and clubs.

I had a blast chatting with Emory and while it’s mostly a pitch shop, he had a few things that I needed (like a double face deck).

The district that the shop was in allowed walking beers, so it was a rare occasion that I got to have a local beer in a local magic shop!

I always try to be good about supporting magic shops when I travel. If you don’t support them, you can’t complain when they close!
-Louie

Photo Ops!

When you are out performing, I always try to keep an eye out for photo ops. Moments where I can take a picture and it will make good social media content. Once you do this a while you start to have some ones you do often. Things like a dog watching my flea circus or law enforcement playing the three shell game!

Once you have a few “hits” you know what to look for, but don’t get soo blinded by the hits that you aren’t on the look out for new things!

For example the new thing I’m doing where I peel the picture off of the card and stick it onto a kid. This is a great photo op!

-Louie

ReLearning Dice Stacking…

When I was younger I used to dice stack and was pretty good at it…but that was 20 years ago. I’ve played with it off and on over the last few decades, but never really worked too hard at in. I’m trying to keep up the skill, and not sure what I want to do with it, but I’d like to get past a bit of the basic skill I’ve retained.

This week at the AirBnB, I put my dice and cup in the kitchen and whenever I walk by it I have to practice!

I have a little three phase routine that I have to do. It’s four dice one at a time, then two pairs of two and finally all four dice at once. If I fail on any of the stacks I need to start over. This should help me get my skills back a little bit. Once I get those stacks consistent, I’m going to start working on some more exotic stacks.

-Louie

Plan Ahead…

One thing that’s important is to be prepared when you go to a gig. Recently I was performing at a fair and hanging out with a sound guy who is my friend at his stage. He was at the community stage and had an act that didn’t bring a converter to get the audio output from his phone to a 1/8 inch jack.

This act was a singer, and sang to a music on his phone, so his only “instrument” was his iPhone. He didn’t bring the adapter dongle to convert the lightning plug to something that the stage’s sound system can plug into. Converters to specific phones aren’t something standard that a sound company normally has. They have audio cables that end in a 1/8 inch audio jack.

This singer spent all of his tech time running around to try to find an adapter, and finally had a friend bring him one from home. He was so frazzled when he started, he had rough show. When your show hinges on a $20 adapter, you should have three of them. One in your glove box, one in trunk of your car and one in your pocket. Honestly, that person should be travelling with a DI box as well, that was there have zero issues when they arrive at the venue.

Looking at little things like carrying an adapter, or audio cord can make your life a lot easier, and shows go a lot more stress free!

Yes, I do understand that there are times and places where you shouldn’t expect to have to bring your own DI box, like in an equity theater, however you should also have noted that you need one on your tech sheet. I should say that I would never expect the venue to provide a phone adapter.

If you need it and it’s possible, bring it!
-Louie

FISM Flash and the Vanishing Birdcage

Sometimes I have ideas that I know I’ll never do and just aren’t practical, but I want to try them to see how they actually play out. What I wanted to do was add a FISM Flash to the vanishing birdcage. I recently acquired a FISM Flash in a box of used magic, so I was able to give it a try!

I think it does add something to the effect, however I don’t think what it adds makes it worth all of the extra wiring that’s around your body. It would be good for a short act, or a TV spot, but not as something I’d do in a full show.

I’m probably not the first person to try combining the FISM Flash and the Vanishing Birdcage, and I’m sure most people who have tried it came to the same conclusion, which is it’s just not that practical.
-Louie