While I was performing last week in King City, CA, I drove a couple of hours to the Magic Garage and had a blast!
One of the highlights for me was chatting reels with Will Chandler! I showed him my silk thru coat hanger routine and he showed me the silk thru ring routine he does! There are very few magicians around that I can jam the silk thru ____ effect.
I love being near the Magic Garage, their weekly hang out is amazing!!!
-Louie
For several years I’ve been working on a Silk Thru Coat Hanger trick.
You can read posts about it here
It’s three phases, the silk goes thru the hanger, then two hangers are put on the silk and one that’s selected goes thru the silk, and finally the silk goes from the triangle of the hanger to the hook.
I’m not the biggest fan of the second phase, but the trick really didn’t work as a two phase routine. It hit me while sitting in my hotel room, the Do Not Disturb sign would make a great prop for this routine and fits in with my presentation. The reason I never realized this before was most of the signs have a slit in them to fit over the door handle. The slit makes it useless for the trick, but I’m staying at a hotel that has Do Not Disturb signs that don’t have slits! I took one of the signs to the fair and gave it a try and it works!
I’ll need to play a bit with trying to figure out how to get it smooth. I think the problem is the sign at my hotel is that it’s got a really small hole. A quick search on Amazon and I found some with larger holes. I ordered them and they’ll be waiting for me when I get home.
I’m hoping this is the solution to the second phase of the routine!
-Louie
Yesterday I did my second day of senior shows and it was a lot of fun. I think I may finally be figuring out how to make my coat hanger thru silk routine work. I just need to let the effect marinade and sit with the audience even longer. The trick is a very strong and visual trick, and I think brains just take a long time to process it.
Another thing I’m learning is how much people use their eyes to listen. When we listen we also do a lot of lip reading. When someone is masked, it’s harder to understand them because we can’t lip read. This makes a ton of sense looking into the past. For example my wife uses the captions when she watches movies on a smaller screen like her phone. It makes it easier for her to “hear”. Because of this I’m talking a lot more slowly and deliberately in my shows.
-Louie
One of the worst reasons to keep trying to do a trick is because you are in love with the method. I’ve got a trick in my show that I love the method more than the audience loves the trick. I think the trick has something going for it, it’s just a matter of figuring out what that is.
The reason that I’m still trying to make Silk Thru Coathanger work:
I’ve written about this trick a lot on this blog, and it’s still a work in progress. If I was rating my routine for it, I’d give it the grade of C. However a while ago I added a move, took out a move and rearranged the sequence. Those changes moved it up from a D to a C. I’d be really happy if I could get it up to a B.
Recently I did some workshopped it with some other performers and we came up with some ideas for how to frame it. We’ll see how those play…
Every now and then taking the time to revisit tricks that you like, but couldn’t get them to work in your show can be productive. One trick that I’ve been working on is my Silk Thru Coat Hanger routine. The trick is good, but I’m having trouble making it work in my show. Last night … Continue reading “Visiting Old Friends…”
Every now and then taking the time to revisit tricks that you like, but couldn’t get them to work in your show can be productive. One trick that I’ve been working on is my Silk Thru Coat Hanger routine. The trick is good, but I’m having trouble making it work in my show.
Last night I was experimenting with different flows of the routine. I think that by rearranging the order of the tricks that happen, I can have a sense of build to the routine.
Right now the routine gets “stunned silence” which is good, but not what I’m after. The challenge I’m having it letting the audience get caught up with the magic. The trick is very visual and very impossible, so there’s a long moment of people processing what just happened. That makes me think that this routine needs to be music driven.
The next challenge is to find some music that fits the routine!
The other day I visited a magician friend who isn’t doing too well from health standpoint. I drove several hours each way to visit him. It really lifted his spirits, we had a good time jamming and laughing. If you know another magician that’s not doing well, pop by and visit them. One of the … Continue reading “Great Visit!”
The other day I visited a magician friend who isn’t doing too well from health standpoint. I drove several hours each way to visit him. It really lifted his spirits, we had a good time jamming and laughing. If you know another magician that’s not doing well, pop by and visit them.
One of the things we chatted about was my silk and coathanger routine. This is something that I’ve been working on all summer and have hit a wall. The problem I’m having is that the trick gets stunned silence. Each phase adds to the stunned silence. The problem is getting a reaction out of it that’s not silence.
My friend who is known as a close up guy, but has amazing knowledge of stage magic gave me a great suggestion. He said the trick is lacking the release of tension. Instead of looking for a finale to the trick, blow it off with a laugh. Now I just need to figure out what that blow off it and to try it.
