I hate the saying that “everything has been done before” when talking about creating magic tricks. A few years ago when Watch This, which is a card to watch came out that was sort of a “new” thing!
I just stumbled across this trick from 1910 that’s basically the same trick! It’s Card to Baby!
It’s basically the same thing, but instead of a watch, it’s a freaking baby!!!!
I guess there really isn’t anything new under the sun!
-Louie
A couple of weeks ago I popped by the Portland SAM magic club. It was their close up contest night! There were three contestants that all did card tricks, and all with very different styles!
Then after the contest we saw some magic by Gaeton from France and a demonstration of the Vampire Block Escape!
The Vampire Block Escape is a trick I’ve seen on shelves of magic shops, but had never seen any actually do the trick. This particular one was homemade and probably 60 years old!!! The trick looked great and while the style of prop isn’t modern, the trick is still great!
I’m a huge fan of magic clubs and if you aren’t popping into your local magic club, you should. Contribute to your local magic community.
-Louie
A while ago I bought a couple of vanishing birdcages and one of them turned out to be a vintage Owen vanishing birdcage. Unfortunately this cage had a bad corner joint.
I sent it up to my birdcage guy in Canada and he fixed the corner and gave it a quick polish and it looks fantastic and works great!
I’m glad I took a gamble on this cage, it’s a great addition to my collection and a good example of an older Owen vanishing birdcage!
-Louie
I was playing with Joe Berg’s Nickel to Half Dollar and it’s an interesting gimmicked coin. Essentially it’s a coin that turns from a nickel into a half dollar. What I like about it is that the coin expands to the larger size. What I don’t like about it is the strange two handed grip you have to have on the nickel and that there are better ways to turn a nickel into a half dollar.
I came up with little transposition routine that uses the coin.
@louiefoxx Easy magic trick! #magictrick #cointrick #magic #nickel #halfdollar #coins #louiefoxx #switch #how #magiciansoftiktok ♬ Money – Pink Floyd
It’s not much, however I think the clean up at the end where I steal the the half shell off of the card is interesting and then allows me to show “both sides” of the Nickel to Half Dollar gimmick.
This is a video only trick, it really wouldn’t play in the real world as the Nickel To Half Dollar isn’t really practical to set and then properly hold with people watching you.
It’s a fun gimmick to play with!
-Louie
Last week I did a TV spot to promote National Magic Week and here’s the video of the spot:
Here’s where I could have improved:
It was a decent media spot, not great but not bad either.
-Louie
About a month ago I started selling The Bodega Coin tray. This is the classic multiplying coin tray magic prop, but with new clothes. It’s designed to look like the “need a penny” tray on the counter of a corner store.
The problem with the classic version is there’s really no reason to hold a handful of coins on an ornate wooden tray or a shiny chrome one.
Since I released it I’ve gotten a ton of cool feed back. Doc Dixon gave it a shout out in his newsletter
Doc’s newsletter is great with a lot of solid advice, you can subscribe here.
These are getting out there in the world, and it makes me happy!
I’m glad I put this magic prop out there into the world as soo many people who were aware of the Multiplying Coin Tray, but never did it are playing with it now!
-Louie
PS: You can get The Bodega Coin Tray here!
Happy Halloween, and be safe out there to everyone performing tonight! I won’t be doing any shows tonight and that’s by choice. Years ago I decided I didn’t enjoy Halloween shows, so I don’t really do them. Sure, there are reasons that I would still do them, like an insane paycheck, but for the most part I say no.
I decided I don’t like them because people act strange when they’re in costume. Whether it’s kids or adults. And people aren’t necessarily comfortable when they’re in costume watching a show. The amount of people that will watch a show wearing a giant mask with limited vision is very high. However they won’t take the mask off.
Speaking of masks, that’s a challenge, as an audience you want to see people’s faces. As a performer you want the audience to see the face of anyone onstage and how they react. The amount of times in the past, where I would ask a kid to come onstage specifically because they weren’t wearing a mask, only to have them stand up, put a mask on and walk onstage it staggering! Or people who act the character of how they’re dressed. I don’t want to do a trick for Darth Vader, I want to do it for a human.
I think that having an audience in costume makes my show not be as could as it could be because of elements out of my control. My solution is to turn them down.
I wasn’t having fun, and there’s plenty of other things to do.
-Louie
Yesterday morning I headed down to the local TV station to promote National Magic Week. I was on their morning “lifestyle” show and it was a lot of fun. One of the challenges of doing TV is that you don’t know how much time you have, they tell you about how much time, but you never really know for sure.
Here’s what I had in my pockets right before the start of the segment:
These props would keep me covered for most situations that I could encounter. You may also notice the deck of cards isn’t a bicycle deck, it’s the Penguin Marked Deck. When I do TV spots, I try to always use a marked deck. That can potentially bail me out of some situations, like when the weatherman grabs a card and tell me to name it.
The other thing that I threw in my backpack was my vanishing birdcage.
Sometimes they ask you to do a quick trick as part of a teaser segment. These are usually a 5 – 10 second bit where you don’t talk, the host is introducing your segment. You need a very visual bit to be able to do in the background.
What I ended up doing for the show was my close up card set. I didn’t do the whole thing, but the reason I chose that was that it’s a modular trick. I can take things away from in to shorten it and it has multiple points that feel like the end. That makes that routine very useful for TV spots!
-Louie
About a year ago my buddy Rolando Medina started selling jigsaw puzzle coins. It’s a coin that’s been cut into a little 16 piece jigsaw puzzle. He sells the coin as a novelty, but I thought there’d be a cool trick in there.
When I first got mine, I posted a few ideas of things that could be done with it. You can read them here. The coin has been sitting on my desk for a year and I finally took it out and made a video with it!
@louiefoxx Most puzzling magic trick ever! #puzzle #magictrick #wtf #puzzling #coin #magic #cointrick #louiefoxx #crazy #wow @RM🐇💀🐇 #redmond #magiciansoftiktok #nocameratricks ♬ Believer – Imagine Dragons
I think this coin makes a great little social media video. Doing it in a normal roving close up setting wouldn’t be practical. It’s just the reset of putting it back together takes too much time when going from group to group. It would work in a formal close up magic show.
You can get these and a ton of other cool stuff from Rolando at: https://rolandomedinamagic.com/
-Louie
One of the things that I do for fun is learn old packet tricks. One of the tricks that I as messing with was Karl Fulves Mexican IV. This is a three card monte style trick, then has a “surprise” ending. When I go through the packet tricks that use playing cards, I try to think of how I could theme them as if they were an Emerson and West packet trick. Then when I go through Emerson and West packet tricks, I try to figure out if I could turn them into tricks with normal looking playing cards.
With Mexican IV, I think I got a fun them out of the trick:
@louiefoxx All about the famiily! #family #dog #wife #magic #baby #cardtrick #magician #louiefoxx #car #surprisebaby #story ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx
The trick came out well, and it’s a fun creative exercise!
-Louie
