Pictures – Page 19 – MagicShow.Tips

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

Ring Pins Magic Trick!

One of the things I really enjoy is going to magic shop and digging through their bins of junk magic. I really like buying a random shoe box sized amount of magic for cheap and then working through the magic to try to find some cool forgotten piece of magic.

In a recent purchase I found Ring Pins, and when I saw the package, I didn’t think it’d be any good, but I was wrong!

Here’s what it looks like:

@louiefoxx Puzzle with safety pins! Move the ring from one pin to the other without opening them! #puzzle #puzzlechallenge #ringpuzzle #safetypin #weddingring #ring #louiefoxx #trythisathome ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

What’s cool about this is that there are no gimmicks or altered props (like soft pins). I did have to change the hand positions from what are in the instructions and break the “secret” into to motions instead of one to make it work for me.

I think I’m going to make some that have the safety pins soldered shut and are presented as puzzles.

-Louie

Another MC tip

When I was stage hosting, I noticed a lot of things that I do that I don’t know many people do. For example when I write the introductions for acts, I spell out hard to pronounce things phonetically.

I didn’t realize I did this until I had someone tell me I was spelling something wrong. I asked them what’s more important, me spelling it correctly, or me saying it correctly?

That’s a little handy trick for writing out introductions.

-Louie

Over Writing Material…

One thing I’ve noticed that I do is over write my patter for my tricks. The early versions of the tricks are full of stuff that ultimately will be cut. I do think that’s a good way to do it, over write and figure out what’s good and what isn’t. I try to initially fill a lot of verbal space, then cut out what doesn’t work, leaving only the best parts.

The trick I’m working on that’s essentially a clock prediction:

The presentation hook is about my cat, and that seems to be something that people really connect with!

I think that another huge part of putting together routines is finding some sort of presentation hook that people can relate to. There are definitely people who are a lot better at this than me, but I’m trying…

-Louie

Writing a Joke in a Different Language

When I was stage hosting a couple of weeks ago, one of the things that I was asked to do was a contest for the sponsor on the mainstage at the event. One day’s entertainment was geared towards a Spanish speaking audience, and I don’t really speak Spanish, but wanted to try.

I had one of the people on the catering staff who was from Mexico help me translate the beginning of my script.

That’s the opening of the script, but then I needed to figure out how to transition into English. So we wrote a little joke:

That was a great little transition joke, and the first joke I’ve written in another language.

The lady helping write it also helped me with my pronunciation. I think people really appreciate when you make at attempt to communicate with them in their native language.

It was fun to do, and I’m glad I tried!

-Louie

Help the MC Help You!

A couple of weeks ago I was doing some stage hosting. My job was to announce bands and do some time between the bands. One of the bands had a very difficult name Etaoin Shrdlu.

This is intentionally a difficult name, as it’s not someone’s name or something in another language, but and old version of placeholder text, like Lorem Ipsum. I wasn’t given a phonetic pronunciation by the band before time. I had to guess, and found several different ways to pronounce it online.

Here’s tip, if you want your name to be pronounced correctly, go over it with the MC before the show…especially if it’s an intentionally difficult name!

-Louie

Vanishing Line

I really liked Ben Harris‘s book Bend it Like Geller! One little note is that my copy is missing a whole line!

There’s a spot for the line, however it looks like somehow it got deleted/removed during the printing process.

Vanishing Inc’s books recently have had some quality control issues like that. I think I’d care less if it was a self published book, and not something put out by one of the bigger magic companies. The JP Vallerino book also had some issues (http://www.magicshow.tips/magic-show-tips/hard-to-read/)

Aside from the missing line, Bend it Like Geller is still a fantastic book!

-Louie

Another Visit to the Magic Garage!

When I was in the Bay Area recently I swung by Magic Garage! It’s soo much fun and Will Chandler is a fantastic host! There are really two parts to the magic garage, there’s the theater and the bar area which is where everyone hangs out and there are two close up tables.

They do shows in the theater, but when I was there one of the magicians was working on their act for a TV appearance. We all watched and gave feedback.

Will has made the Magic Garage more than a hangout, but a valuable resource for magicians!

-Louie

The (W)hole Thing

An idea for a presentation of The (W)hole Thing by Daryl came up in my daily writing a bit ago. I managed to fill out the idea a bit and do some writing. While I was in the Bay Area, I had Joe and Misdirections Magic Shop order me a set of the cards in.

One thing I found interesting was that there’s no mention of Emerson and West in the ad copy for the trick. This is essentially Daryl’s routine for the original trick. I’m guessing this is a Murphy’s Magic copywriting thing, as Daryl was pretty good about crediting things.

Here’s Daryl doing the routine:

For the routine that I want to do, I will need to make some custom cards. For now I’m working out the muscle memory for the routine!

-Louie