Pictures – Page 17 – MagicShow.Tips

Help Others Be Amazing!

Earlier this year Dan Block as thinking about setting a Guinness World Record, but he had some worries about doing it correctly. I suggested that he set the world record at an industry event. I did this for several reasons, first Guinness likes records to be press worthy, so the event was something that the news could promote. Second at the event there were experts in the field who could be witnesses and finally the room would have many people who had broken Guinness World Records and could help out with making sure the rules were followed.

Dan just sent me this:

I’m super excited for him!

Many magicians think that helping other magicians achieve things is making their competition stronger and they’ll lose gigs to the person they helped. I don’t think this way. When everyone is amazing, it’s better for all of us.

I constantly go out of my way to help people level up, and you know what…those people go out of their way to help me be better. If we look at other performers as a team and not a competition, you’ll go a lot further and you’ll be much happier.

-Louie

Vintage Three Shell Game?

The other day I was looking at some three shell game sets on ebay and came across this set:

And here’s the description:

Vintage Original Three Shell Game
This Is the Oldest Con Game Ever Played A high-performance set of shells that handles well on the STREETS. This is YOUR CHANCE to learn this crowd-pleaser and get a top-quality set of shells. Highly recommended! THIS VINTAGE SET IS FROM A MAGIC ESTATE SALE. I HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT THESE WERE PURCHASED IN THE LATE 1940s to EARLY 1950s. I CAN’T TELL IF THEY ARE REAL OR MANUFACTURED! THEY LOOK AMAZING! NO INSTRUCTIONS! YOU GET THE -3-SHELLS AND -1- PEA

NO REFUNDS! NO RETURNS!

What’s wrong with that description is that those shells are 100% 3d printed or made from a mold of a 3d printed shell. How 3d printing works is that it makes things in layers, and that leaves ridges and those are clearly visible in the picture.

The seller say’s they’re from the 1940’s or 1950’s, when really the oldest they’d be is probably 2010, which is a solid 60 years newer than the seller claims. I’m not saying the seller is knowingly lying about the age, however whoever gave them the mid 20th century claim is incorrect.

This is a situation where having a little bit of knowledge of materials will save you $80!!!

-Louie

Genii Magazine!

In David Kaye’s column in Genii Magazine this month he did an article about performing at fairs. He interviewed Jef Eaton, Alex Zander, Terry Godfrey and myself for the article.

It’s a great article with some solid nuts and bots information about performing at fairs and how to get into performing in that industry. If performing on the “fair circuit” is something you’ve though about doing, you should pick up the July 2023 issue of Genii!

-Louie

The (W)hole Thing For Me!

I had a day off last week and finally made a prototype of my custom props for The (W)hole Thing which is Daryl’s version of an Emerson and West packet trick.

The main differences is that the circle around they hole is a donut, the spots are arranged like an X and the cards are black. The main reason that the cards are black is that I might have a line about a black hole. With the cards in black I’m sacrificing some visual clarity of what’s a hole and what isn’t. I think if I end up not using the black hole line, I’ll switch the colors back to red as it visually pops!

-Louie

Kannibal Kards by Nick Trost

In my close up work I don’t really do any packet tricks, however I love working through them. One thing I like to do is buy packet tricks out of junk bins at magic shops and then try to improve them. In a recent junk packet trick purchase I got Nick Trost’s Kannibal Kards.

First of all, the art is offensive by today’s standards, however this was made in 1981, so over forty years ago when this style of art would have been acceptable. That doesn’t make it right, but socially acceptable at the time.

The effect is that two cards disappear one at a time within a packet of three cards. Then for then ending there is a surprise reveal card.

The problem with the original routine (besides the art) is that the first card physically disappears and the second one doesn’t. Here’s what the original routine and my improvement looks like:

What I did was change the handling so that the second card also physically disappears and then for the reveal, all three remaining cards change to the surprise card, not just one card. I also noticed there’s a little subtlety where you can show show half of the reveal card and it appears to be one of the original cards. This works with the original card set, however it’s not mentioned in the instructions.

I also made a version using the original handling with a slightly different reveal card at the end

@louiefoxx What Happens To Hikers That Get Lost? #hiking #wilderness #forest #bigfoot #party #sasquatch #camping #louiefoxx #supriseending #waitforit #crpytid #intothewild #magictrick #cardtrick #nicktrost #sleightofhand ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

Reworking these old packet tricks is a fun exercise!

-Louie

Round Top Vanishing Birdcage

A while ago I was chatting with Marc DeSouza about vanishing cages and he mentioned the round top cages were really cool. I had wanted one before Marc had mentioned it, that he made me want one more. Whenever a John Martin Round Top Vanishing Birdcage pops up for sale at an auction, they usually sell for just over the maximum that I can spend on it.

A couple weeks ago a round top vanishing cage was on the Potter and Potter summer magic auction and it went for a price that I could actually afford!

It’s super cool how stays rigid and then collapses! Also it fits perfectly on my vintage vanishing alarm clock stand that was missing the alarm clock!

I’m excited to have added this to my vanishing birdcage collection!!

-Louie

Ray-Mond Walnut Shell Game!

One of the things that I collect are three shell game sets. I have a pretty big collection of shell game sets, and it’s getting harder and harder to finds ones that I don’t have. I recently came across this set:

And here’s the under side of the shells:

Initially I thought these were resin, but thank to Andrew Pinard’s suggestion, I did some more inspection and they are natural walnut shells that have been filled and coated.

I’m glad to have added these to my collection!

-Louie

Simple Audio Set Up

In my attempt to have all of my different shows as self contained units, I’m working on having separate sets of audio equipment for some of the shows. My kid show that I’m doing for summer camps has just gotten it’s own sound set up.

The only thing not dedicated to this show is the speaker. Here’s the gear list:

Saramonic Wireless System: transmitter and receiver (transmitter not pictures as it was in my pocket)
iPhone 6 – I bought this used from a pawn shop. It’s never set up as a phone, I only use it as a music player.
Flic Button – this is to control the music
Powerbank with Built in Cords
Author LouiePosted on July 3, 2023July 17, 2023Categories magic show tips, PicturesTags flic button, kids magic show, live show audio, magic show, remote control music, wireless micLeave a comment on Simple Audio Set Up

Giant Linking Safety Pins

Years ago I built a set of soft pins for the linking pins trick out of giant 5 inch safety pins. These aren’t as easy to make as you’d think. There are a couple of challenges, like the safety pin take a lot of force to open and close. The tension on the spring make getting the pin over the lip a challenge to open and close the soft pin.

My solution was to cut off the lip of the safety pin, so that the the pin had less distance to travel, making it easier to open and close the soft pin.

That partially solved the problem the of opening and closing the soft pin. The final part was to shorten the needle of the pin, so that it was easier to load things on and off of the safety pin.

After that, the final alteration was to bend the pin so that it functioned like a traditional soft pin. I’ve been using these pins for years and they work great. I’ve seen in magic groups on the internet people ask about gimmicking these giant safety pins and other magicians say that you can’t. Those magicians are wrong and I’ve intentionally not really mentioned you could. I liked keeping this thing for me…or so I thought.

Recently while digging through a junk magic bin I found this:

Magic with Giant Pins by jose de la torre

In this book from 1994, Jose De La Torre came to almost the exact same solution as me…but 30 years before me! While I’m disappointed I’m not the first person to solve this problem, I’m also not surprised. Scaling it up in size logical extension of the close up linking safety pins.

-Louie

Show Costumes

One thing that I’m not know for is having fancy costumes. My character and performance style is very casual and it fits the style I have. Also I’m very joke based and trying to project the a more “stand up comedy” image when I’m first seen. What I do wear while I perform has been thought out and I do have a “look” that I’m going for.

Over the last year, I’ve dropped some weight and my summer clothes don’t fit right anymore. I spent the day taking in my clothes to look a little bit less sloppy.

I’m soo glad I learned to sew in middle school in home economics class! It’s a skill that I don’t use often, but enough for it to be super useful!

-Louie