Pictures – Page 5 – MagicShow.Tips

Out of Town Shipping Note

**The daily blog will continue to be updated below this notice**

I will be out of town performing across the USA from July 7th to July 13th 2026. That means no orders of physical items will ship until I return on July 13th, 2026.

Digital items will still be emailed during this time!

You can also get many of my magic products from TrickSupply.com in Las Vegas. You can order my magic from them at:
https://tricksupply.com/product-category/louie-foxx/

**The daily blog will continue to be updated below this notice**

Magic Trick That No One Asked For

Oh man, this ad for a magic prop came through my social media feed. It’s a power bank that’s decorated like a deck of cards.

That’s it.

In theory you can use it to secretly charge someone’s phone by touching it to a deck of cards. This doesn’t really pass the “walk to the car test”.

The walk to the car test, is if people on their walk to the car try to figure out how the trick works, can they?

I’m thinking that most people would draw a straight line from the deck of card that the phone was set on top of to the charging of the phone.

OK, here’s the demo video:

If you pay attention to the video, you’ll notice that it only charges 1% more than the phone already had! If I had magic and could charge your phone, it wouldn’t be just 1%!

I think it’s a fun idea for a power bank that’s “on brand” for magicians, just like a tie with playing cards on it. However, as an actual trick, it feels like a money grab versus a good idea for a trick.

-Louie

The Magic Garage!

Whenever I’m in the San Francisco area, I pop by the Magic Garage! It’s a great hangout with a bunch of magicians.

While I was there I did my Nest of Envelopes trick that I’m working on and got some great feedback!

Having a room full of magicians to give you ideas, or tell you that something doesn’t look right, is worth its weight in gold!

Things like this or magic clubs are great ways to get feedback on things you’re working on. I’m a huge fan of magic clubs, and I think everyone should go to them. They helped me out a lot when I was younger!

-Louie

Vanishing Birdcage!

Here’s the newest addition to my vanishing birdcage collection.

This is the first vanishing birdcage in my collection that has the perch go the long way across the cage. This vanishing birdcage has the spoon (sleeve guard) still attached, that’s something that’s frequently broken off of these older cages.

This one had been damages and had a repair:

Unfortunately this cage’s repair is bent, so it’s currently an non-functional cage. I’m scared to try to bend it back. I don’t want to undo the repair and end up with a broken cage.

This is a great addition to the collection!

-Louie

Film Can Refurbishing

The film cans that I use for my Film Can Dice Force aren’t made anymore. They still make film cans, but the ones currently made don’t work for the gimmick. I have to source mine on the “used film can market”.

The last batch that I got were super beat up and I had to refurbish(?) them. The can on the left is what they look like when I got them:

The middle can is after I gave them a wipe down, and the can on the right is after I buffed them with my Dremel! The amount of labor that goes into making the Film Can Dice Forces is way too much for what I charge for them!

-Louie

Close Up Pads as a Disposable Item

Close up pads used to last me for years, now not so much. The difference is that I use them frequently for roving magic, not just practicing at home. That means they have to look clean or at least not gross.

Between replacing these for my close up/roving magic and my stage magic show’s consumables, my show generates a lot of trash. I wish it was less, but that’s how it is.

I’m really liking the economy close up pads. They’re not the best, but for an item that I replace sometimes after a single gig, I’m willing to compromise for the price. Also they’re slightly lighter than the nice close up magic pads, so that’s handy if I’m flying to a gig.

If you use a close up pad in your work, really look at it closely and see how clean it is. Sometimes comparing it next to a new one will show you how beat up your old one really is!

-Louie

Vanishing Birdcages – Don’t Buy The Hype!

Vanishing Birdcages from India have been popping up on eBay with way too high prices and descriptions. Here’s the image on one that recently popped up:

Let’s take a closer look at what those instructions say:

There’s so much wrong with that ad copy!
1: That cage isn’t a “Lindhorst Style”
2: That cage hasn’t been used thousands of times
3: Gene Anderson has never really been associated with the vanishing birdcage trick
4: Highly unlikely that this cage belonged to Gene Anderson
5: How has it been used by Gene thousands of times, if it’s “never used”

Then the red flag is the $110 price point, those cages are less than $50 new and still being made and easily available!

If you’re looking to buy a vanishing birdcage and aren’t sure if it’s a good one, feel free to contact me and I can give you my opinion on the one you’re thinking of.

-Louie

Giant Haunted Key!

This was in the hall of a performing arts center that I was doing a show at:

My first thought is the world’s largest Haunted Key!

Turns out it works!!!!!!

-Louie

Have Fun Onstage!

One of the things that I see a lot in magic shows is a performer who doesn’t look like they’re having a good time. I get that there are some characters where this makes sense; however, I frequently see it in comedy magic. You absolutely should look like you’re having fun if you’re a standard comedy magician.

The other night I saw The Return of Jackie and Judy, which is a Ramones cover band that’s made up of Fred Armisen and most of the band Sleater-Kinney. One of the things about this show was everyone onstage looked like they were having a blast!

the Return of jackie and judy - fred armisen and sleater kinney

When you’re onstage, in most cases, you should look like you’re having fun! It shouldn’t look like a chore; even doing openly difficult things can look fun, or at least like you enjoy what you’re doing.

A few years ago I wrote a blog post about The Secret to Likability, which is worth a read.

-Louie

Weed Chop Cup

Since I released my Film Can Dice Force, I have a ton of film cans kicking around and have been playing on a chop cup with a film can and “weed nugs”.

I’m trying to work out the most efficient way to arrange everything for what I want to do:
1: The magnet is in the film can, and the weed nug has a shim
2: The film can has a shim, and a magnet is in the weed nug
3: The film can and nug both have a magnet

These props are kinda unique, as the fake weed nugs have really no weight to them. So it’s hard to build inertia to dislodge them. The little bit of weight that a traditional ball has really makes a huge difference in how hard you have to set down the film can.

These little challenges make prop building much harder than people think.

-Louie