Category: Video

Magician’s Love a Deal…

A week or two ago magicians started noticing that the Walgreens Drug Stores in the USA stared selling Jumbo Bicycle Decks of cards.  They also started buying a ton of them when they were on sale as a “buy one get one free” deal.   Then came the realization that the cards were the new … Continue reading “Magician’s Love a Deal…”

A week or two ago magicians started noticing that the Walgreens Drug Stores in the USA stared selling Jumbo Bicycle Decks of cards.  They also started buying a ton of them when they were on sale as a “buy one get one free” deal.

 

Then came the realization that the cards were the new thinner stock jumbo cards.  By “new” I mean the stock they changed to a decade ago.  This thinner stock is harder to use than the old stock which was at least twice as thick as the new stock.  The same magicians that were hoarding the cards were complaining about how they were useless.

 

These cards have tons of ways to use them.

 

  • Practice with them and you’ll be able to handle them like the old stock. I’ve been using the new stock for years.
  • Make a “double deck” where you essentially have two decks in one.
  • Make a pop eyed popper deck
  • Think outside the box.  The advantage of the thinner stock is you can make some interesting gimmicks without having to “split” the cards.  Here’s one of the things that I made:

 

This is a flap card and my design was based on FLAP by Hondo.  In the future I want to make a card that has two changes, so shows a total of three cards if you include the card it starts one.  My plan would be to use this for a reveal of the cards for the classic “Tossed Out Deck” trick.

Oh, I’m starting a newsletter with some tricks, tips, etc. You can sign up for it below:

 

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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

Masters of Illusion

Trigg Watson did a great job with the Evaporation gimmick on Masters of Illusion! You can watch the whole eposide at: http://www.cwtv.com/shows/masters-of-illusion/a-magical-smorgasbord Louie www.evaporationtrick.com

Trigg Watson did a great job with the Evaporation gimmick on Masters of Illusion!

evaporation

You can watch the whole eposide at: http://www.cwtv.com/shows/masters-of-illusion/a-magical-smorgasbord

Louie

www.evaporationtrick.com

Coke Bottle Evaporation

Here’s a gimmicked Evaporation Coke bottle I made…   One of my bunnies drinking @cocacola after a #magicshow #magictrick #bunny #rabbit #magic #magician #coke #cocacola #animal #trained

Here’s a gimmicked Evaporation Coke bottle I made…

 

Justin Flom using Evaporaion!

Someone just sent me a video of Justin Flom using the Evaporation trick (you can see it at the 1:06 mark): That’s a very creative use for the Evaporation trick! Louie

Someone just sent me a video of Justin Flom using the Evaporation trick (you can see it at the 1:06 mark):

That’s a very creative use for the Evaporation trick!

Louie

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

Evaporation on the Wizard Product Review!

The guys over at the Wizard Product Review just did a review of the Evaporation Trick: They liked it and I’m sure you will to!  You can get the Evaporation trick at: http://www.EvaporationTrick.com Louie

The guys over at the Wizard Product Review just did a review of the Evaporation Trick:

They liked it and I’m sure you will to!  You can get the Evaporation trick at: http://www.EvaporationTrick.com

Louie

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