Category: Tricks

Your Tricks Gotta Be Seen!

I’m frequently asked about why the Evaporation’s standard version is orange liquid. The reason for this is simple, it’s easy to be seen. Rarely will you have an orange background that you are performing in front of, so the color won’t disappear into whatever is behind you.   Using things like cola, which is a … Continue reading “Your Tricks Gotta Be Seen!”

I’m frequently asked about why the Evaporation’s standard version is orange liquid. The reason for this is simple, it’s easy to be seen. Rarely will you have an orange background that you are performing in front of, so the color won’t disappear into whatever is behind you.

 

Using things like cola, which is a dark brown be hard to see with a dark background, or using milk in an elementary school gym against a white wall make seeing the trick difficult. That’s why I settled on Orange.

 

You need to think about this stuff with all of your magic.  For example I love the idea of cups and balls, more specifically cup and ball(s).  So a chop cup would fall in this category.  My marketed trick Cee-Lo (Available from www.hocus-pocus.com) which uses 3 dice and a cup has some clever work on the final loads.

 

Here’s a video of Cee-Lo:
The problem is that the action happens on the table top, and if you are are a raised stage the audience is looking up at the bottom of the table and can’t see what’s happening.

 

There are a couple of solutions to this:

  1. Build your table at an angle, so the front edge is lower than the back.
  2. Use video projection onto a screen.
  3. Create a routine where none of the action happens on a table top.

The first two are pretty simple solutions, however how practical they are will depend on the venues you perform in.  The third one is the one that interests me.  You are now walking into fairly uncharted waters.  Aside from Ball and Cone, the only other cup and ball type trick that happens in the hands is Axel Hecklau’s Just a Cup.

 

Axel’s routine is great, but I want to come up with my own take on an in the hands cup and ball routine.  So my starting point was a baseball cap, which hand a brim that I can hold on to and a large ball, that’s an inch and a half in diameter.  All of the action now happens at chest level and it plays much larger due to the bigger props.

 

This routine is still in its early phases, hopefully it’ll work out.  Once it’s closer to being finished, I’ll start sharing some video of it.

 

The point of this post is simple:  Look at the tricks you do and think you about what the audience can actually see!

 

Louie

Vanishing Bird Cage

I’ve always loved the vanishing birdcage, ever since I was a teenager and was told about Bert Allerton doing in close up while table hopping.  Then I saw Blackstone Jr. do the vanishing birdcage where all the kids put their hands around the cage, I’d seen Lance Burton do it with his round cage.  However … Continue reading “Vanishing Bird Cage”

I’ve always loved the vanishing birdcage, ever since I was a teenager and was told about Bert Allerton doing in close up while table hopping.  Then I saw Blackstone Jr. do the vanishing birdcage where all the kids put their hands around the cage, I’d seen Lance Burton do it with his round cage.  However the one that really did amazed me was seeing Billy McComb do the vanishing birdcage.  Here’s a video of it:

What made Billy’s version different was that he did his whole act and ended with the cage. He didn’t have that cramped posture, he had a full range of motion. I don’t think Billy was the first person to use a take up reel for the birdcage, however he’s the one that made an impact on me.

Over the years I’ve owned several take up reels, including the one that was sold with the Billy McComb vanishing birdcage set.  Right now I own a funky one that was made in Germany.

If you don’t know what a take up reel is and how you would use it for a vanishing birdcage, it’s pretty simple.  All it does is shorten the length of the string on the pull.  That’s it.  But that simple little thing makes all the difference in the world!

Having used a take up reel, the thing I didn’t like about them was the weight of them.  They are metal and heavy.  For someone like Billy who it appears did the cage at the end of an act, the weight is probably less of a problem then when used by someone doing a 45-60 min show.

Recently I got a 3D printer and started playing with it and ended up designing a take up reel. This is a lot lighter because it’s plastic.  I’ve been using this for months and I will say, I think I’ve finally come up with a solution for me to do the birdcage in my show!

Using a take up reel isn’t just for the birdcage, there’s a lot of cool stuff you can do with them.  I’m not going to go into detail about other tricks you can do with them because there’s soo many.  I’m just glad I came up with a solution that works for me.

Louie

Trick I think would be cool…

A magic trick that’s been in my head and I think would be cool is to have an empty coffee cup on the table. You pour coffee, milk and sugar into it and Then mix it up with a spoon. when you turn it over black coffee comes out which you pour into a small … Continue reading “Trick I think would be cool…”

A magic trick that’s been in my head and I think would be cool is to have an empty coffee cup on the table. You pour coffee, milk and sugar into it and Then mix it up with a spoon. when you turn it over black coffee comes out which you pour into a small glass. Then you tip it over second time and milk comes and finally the third time pouring out dry sugar, leaving you with an empty cup.

I don’t have a method for this yet.

I think the evaporation gimmick would help out in achieving this effect. I also think the spoon would be a good way to steal or add something into the cup.

If you have any ideas feel free to let me know!

Evaporation Ina Dove Act

I’ve always thought the Evaporation trick would make a great addition to a dove act. Here’s a little sequence that would run about a minute: You show three handkerchiefs empty by shaking them out one at a time. Then bunch them up and then a bottle of milk appears. You do a few flair / … Continue reading “Evaporation Ina Dove Act”

I’ve always thought the Evaporation trick would make a great addition to a dove act. Here’s a little sequence that would run about a minute:

You show three handkerchiefs empty by shaking them out one at a time. Then bunch them up and then a bottle of milk appears. You do a few flair / juggling moves with the bottle. Finally you pour a bit of the milk into your fist and toss it out into the audience and mid air it turns into a dove!

The above sequence is pretty simple all it would require is the THIS Bottle Production and a Evaporation Bottle (milk version). Then you’d need to learn to do a few flair moves with the bottle and how to do a sleeve toss with a dove.

Louie
www.EvaporationTrick.com

Evaporation with Solids

Did you know you can modify you Evaporation gimmick and put into a jar that would hold solids like jellybeans? So the effect would be you show a tub of jelly beans and pour some into a paper bag. You blow up the bag and pop it and the jelly beans turn into confetti! Or … Continue reading “Evaporation with Solids”

Did you know you can modify you Evaporation gimmick and put into a jar that would hold solids like jellybeans?

So the effect would be you show a tub of jelly beans and pour some into a paper bag. You blow up the bag and pop it and the jelly beans turn into confetti!

Or how about a tub of popped popcorn and turns into popcorn kernels?

Confetti Mod…

You can make little changes to the bottle to enable you to steal various things.  For example if you want to turn the juice to confetti here’s a quick little mod for the bottle: That’s an easy mod that will take you 5 mins to do and is non-permanent, so if it doesn’t work for … Continue reading “Confetti Mod…”

You can make little changes to the bottle to enable you to steal various things.  For example if you want to turn the juice to confetti here’s a quick little mod for the bottle:

That’s an easy mod that will take you 5 mins to do and is non-permanent, so if it doesn’t work for you it’s no big deal to scrape off the glue.

Louie
http://www.EvaporationTrick.com

Using Evaporation to Steal a Production Load…

Here’s a simple little gimmick mod that you can quickly do to your Evaporation bottle to allow you to steal something like a production coil: I’m frequently asked about what I use for my production coils.  They are simply cloth ribbon that I get from a craft store.  I reuse them and simply wind them up … Continue reading “Using Evaporation to Steal a Production Load…”

Here’s a simple little gimmick mod that you can quickly do to your Evaporation bottle to allow you to steal something like a production coil:

I’m frequently asked about what I use for my production coils.  They are simply cloth ribbon that I get from a craft store.  I reuse them and simply wind them up using  a straw with a notch cut into it.

Louie
http://www.EvaporationTrick.com

Glass Evaporation Bottles…

Quite often people are surprised when they hear that I can put the Evaporation gimmick into glass bottles.  Some of my early experiments with Evaporation were using glass bottles, however if you are traveling with your show (like me) having it in plastic is much easier.  You don’t have to pack it in its own case … Continue reading “Glass Evaporation Bottles…”

Quite often people are surprised when they hear that I can put the Evaporation gimmick into glass bottles.  Some of my early experiments with Evaporation were using glass bottles, however if you are traveling with your show (like me) having it in plastic is much easier.  You don’t have to pack it in its own case to ensure the glass doesn’t crack.

In a version of my flea circus I use a glass Yoo Hoo bottle:

The basic routine for me Flea Circus can be found in Vanish Magazine Edition 11 under the title Twenty Five Dollar Flea Circus. 

Louie
http://www.EvaporationTrick.com

Evaporation as a Kid’s Show Opener

Evaporation has a lot of uses besides my original routine for Juice in Light Bulb.  For example if you perform for kids here’s a way to work it into the show: The coils I use I make myself from cloth ribbon and they are reusable.  I simply rewind them around a straw that has a notch … Continue reading “Evaporation as a Kid’s Show Opener”

Evaporation has a lot of uses besides my original routine for Juice in Light Bulb.  For example if you perform for kids here’s a way to work it into the show:

The coils I use I make myself from cloth ribbon and they are reusable.  I simply rewind them around a straw that has a notch cut out of it.

Louie
http://www.EvaporationTrick.com