A couple weeks ago when I was in Las Vegas, I visited Trick Supply. One of the tricks that I picked up was Flying Spots by Lubor Fielder. There’s nothing crazy about this trick, it’s a paddle trick that I’m guessing he put out in the 1980’s.
I had an idea with it. Here’s my idea:
I’m not sure where I’m going to go with this, however I do like the look of the googly eyes a lot more than the black spots. Now I just need to write a routine!
-Louie
Magicians love to complain about how no one takes magic seriously as an art. Usually, those are the people who aren’t out there creating art, they’re doing cover band magic. Those are the people who buy a routine and do it word for word.
There’s nothing wrong with buying a routine and performing it. Just like there’s nothing wrong with doing a paint by number painting. If that’s what brings you joy, by all means, do it. It’s just not (in my opinion) creating art.
How do you become an artist? That’s a hard thing to say, and honestly I barely consider myself one and really hate it when I refer to myself as an artist. One place to start is figuring out who you are and how to convey that to your audience.
Do you like movies? Talk about that in your show.
Do you have kids? Talk about them in your show.
Another way is to have a point of view.
Are you Anti Tax? Talk about that in your show.
The more of you and your worldview you put into the show, the closer it starts moving into art.
Also, I should mention, art isn’t just presentation, it can be the sleight of hand.
-Louie
I came across a vintage magic trick that Royal Magic put out called the Devil’s Wand. This was sold as a beginner’s magic trick and looks a lot like the Pom Pom Pole; however, it’s a close-up version. This differs slightly from the modern stage version at the end.
Here’s a demo video of it:
@louiefoxx Magic trick is still great after 75 years! #magictrick #magic #magician #vintage #vintagemagic ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx
In case you didn’t notice, this is totally examinable at the end! When I first found this trick, I watched a couple of online video demos, and all of them skipped that part. That’s the most interesting thing about the trick! That’s a great feature that no one does anymore. I’m not sure how the gimmick would scale to a larger stage-size pom pom pole, but it’s sure cool for this smaller-sized one.
That’s one of the fun things about vintage magic tricks: you find little things that got left off of the more modern versions.
-Louie
For years, a gimmick I used in my show was the first version that I ever made out of some old plastic packaging and duct tape that I had laying around.
If you want more info on this, it’s for a trick in my 2025 Lecture Notes.
It wasn’t pretty, but it worked and held up for years. There’s still nothing wrong with it, however I decided I was going to up grade it by 3d printing it.
It came out looking great and more importantly working great!
I’m glad I designed it, now if I need another one it’s a simple and quick print!
-Louie
When I was in Billings, MT I visited the magic club and someone had an Appearing Aquarium. Here’s what I looks like:
@louiefoxx There are only two magic tricks in history that are worse than this one! #magictrick #magic #magician #fishtank #aquarium ♬ som original – 𝑷𝒆𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒂𝒔🎵
It seems that the one I saw was a knockoff of a trick called Pisces.
It’s a fun trick to do, but it’s not a great trick. When I posted the video, I thought the title “The 3rd Worst Magic Trick Ever” was a funny title. Now thinking about that, it could be a fun hook for a routine in the show. I liked the idea for that as a hook, and I ended up buying the one that I saw at the magic club.
I think it needs an ending of some sort. Maybe producing a fish bowl, or even something like a gold fish production into a wine glass.
-Louie
One of the best things that I ever learned to do was frontload my day with things that I don’t want to do. These are things that if I did later in the day, they’d never get done. The first thing I do every morning in my daily writing, followed by business emails. Then anything else that I don’t want to do.
Here’s me doing my morning writing on a cruise ship:
From a productivity standpoint, I get a lot more done this way. It also frees up most of my day past noon, so it’s great for me from a lifestyle perspective!
Get your hard tasks done first thing in the morning!
-Louie
When I open a new deck of cards and have them shuffled by someone in the audience, 90% of the time they will comment that they’re slippery. That’s where this gag comes in.
When they comment on the cards being slick, I take out a little caution sign and set it on the table. That gets a laugh, and it’s a gag that will introduce the prop. I like using a gag to introduce a prop, another example of this is my Bodega Coin Tray. Also, when you use the prop for a gag, it serves a purpose and is less suspect later, since the audience thinks it’s already fulfilled its role.
What happens is that during your card tricks, at one point, the signed card appears under the little sign (like card under glass). Then later, you say the card is under the sign, but it’s not; however, the sign has changed to say the name of their card! Then, a moment later, the signed card has reappeared under the sign again!
I’m having a lot of fun with this little prop!
-Louie
One thing I don’t like about the chop cup is the metal cup that most people use. It looks classy, but that doesn’t fit the aesthetic of my show. When I did the PCAM convention, I was chatting with James Cielen, and he mentioned the metal cup doesn’t fit. He was 100% right, and I didn’t like using a metal chop cup.
I finally found some time to make my own chop cup out of a coffee cup. I started with two matching coffee cups. The reason I started with two was in case I messed one up, I wouldn’t have to start over. If both turned out, I would have a backup.
I glued the magnets into the bottom of the cups and for what I wanted, I glued them off center. Then I poured some resin inside the cups to make a new bottom and to hide the magnet.
In the picture below on the right, you can see the resin about halfway cured.
One of the chop cups I poured too much resin into and the magnet wasn’t quite strong enough to hold the ball like I wanted it to. The other cup turned out perfect!
Now I need to figure out what I’m going to do with the ball. Is it going to stay a ball or something else? At the very least I think I’m going to switch to a rubber ball. For my Stand Up Chop Cup routine from my 2025 lecture notes I need a ball that doesn’t bounce as the ball gets dropped. I just bought a set of yellow Bounce No Bounce Balls and I’m going to try to put a magnet inside of it.
-Louie
I’ve got the boxes for the Applause Please 2: The Encore from Ackerly Builds and they look great!
I need to add the electronics before I can ship them.
I’ve only got a dozen of them, and if you want one, you can preorder one here:
https://www.magicshow.tips/applause-please-2-the-encore/
The estimated ship date will be November 28th, 2025.
I’d have them ready sooner, however, I’m heading out on the road to perform, so Iwon’t be able to work on them for a little bit.
-Louie
The last few days, I’ve posted about working on a trick with a wavy arm guy. The effect is that I’m handcuffed, and the wavy arm guy is inside the circle created by my arms. A cloth is raised, and when it’s lowered, the wavy arm guy is no longer inside my arms.
One of the things that I want with the trick is a defined effect.
The effect is a penetration, and that needs to be clear. The thing I need to be careful of is not blurring that with an escape. If someone thinks I can get out of the handcuffs, the effect changes, as it is no longer a penetration.
What that means is that at the end of the trick, the person from the audience needs to let me out of the handcuffs. While that’s a slower moment, I think it’s an important moment to make the penetration effect clear.
-Louie
