Pictures – Page 62 – MagicShow.Tips

Let Them Touch the Magic

One thing that I like is having magic that people can touch after the trick has happened! I’m not talking about giving out a signed card after the trick, but when something is altered, them getting to touch and potentially keep the trick in its altered state.

Giving out a signed card isn’t magically altered. This is where something like metal bending is great, they can touch it, keep it and show it to other people and the item is interesting.

For example the end of my card routine I peel the front off the card and hand it to the person. This is way more interesting than simply handing them a signed card. Also 90% of the people then stick that card on their shirt! That gets people at the event talking about me, or at least aware that there’s a roving magician there.

Another example is my Out For Beers trick. This trick starts as a gag with card with a picture of a full pitcher of beer. Then the pitcher magically empties itself. This is something that they keep in its altered state and gets them talking about me to other people at the event I’m at.

Unfortunately in magic there’s not a lot of options for tricks where the item is altered and they can handle it in the altered condition…and even less where they can keep the item!

-Louie

New Banner Art!

I’ve wanted to get a circusy style banner made for my show. I finally had time to chat with the artist and I have a new banner in the works.

This is the initial sketch, so not the final product:

This is going to be printed on a roll up banner, so a little less traditional in that aspect. As a pop up banner it will be a lot more portable and have more uses than one that I have to figure out how to hang on a stage.

I’m looking forward to getting the final art done!

-Louie

Trimming Cards

I really want to be out working on my routine for The (W)hole Thing and with the miscut cards I got from the printer, the set I ordered won’t work. To make them workable, I trimmed 1/4 inch off of the three cards that weren’t miscut and now I have a workable set.

This set works, but I’m not a fan of the card with the red rectangle being off center. However this is giving me a set to work with until the printer sends me cards that aren’t miscut.

-Louie

Making Cards Opaque

The custom set of cards I had made for The (W)hole thing were a bit too thin as well. If I’m backlit, you can see through them. I anticipated this problem and had thought of a plan.

How most playing cards are made is that they have two layers and in between those two layers there’s a layer of black glue. This glue makes it so that you can’t see through the card when it’s backlit.

I’m taking two of my custom printed cards and gluing a layer of black construction paper between them. This makes it impossible for the back image to be visible when I’m back lit AND the three layers makes the cards nice and rigid.

-Louie

Almost The (W)hole Thing…

The custom cards I had printed for my The (W)hole Thing showed up and they miscut one on the cards!

It’s not off center, the card is the wrong size. It should be 8.5 x 5.5 inches, but it’s 8.25 x 5.25. The rest of the cards are the correct size, so this one card is physically smaller than the rest and doesn’t look right.

I just contacted the printed and hopefully they can send me a replacement fast as I’m hitting the road for over a month and I would like to be using them while I’m out!

-Louie

Hiding the Flic Button

A bit ago I started using a Flic Button to control the audio for one of the shows that I do. It’s working great!

The Flic Button gives me simple play/pause, play next and play previous options. For this show that I’m using it in, that’s really all that I need it for.

I’m playing with doing a lot of other things using the Flic Button and was trying to figure out a way to hide it. I ended up building one into a Sanada Gimmick!

I took the electronics out of the plastic shell it comes in and this greatly reduced the profile of the button allowing it to comfortably fit on the back of the Sanada Gimmick.

This will help me for applications where I need the button in my hand, but don’t want it “visible”.

-Louie

The (W)hole Thing for Kids

The routine I’m working on for The (W)hole Thing by Emerson and West is intended for for family/adult audiences. The other day I threw it in my case when I went out to do some summer camp shows:

I thought the concept of the whole/hole wouldn’t hit with kids. Much to my surprise the kids liked the trick and got the idea of the verbal concept behind the routine. For the trick to work, the kids need to be able to read, so I probably wouldn’t do it for kids much younger than second grade.

Now I’m just waiting for my custom cards to arrive from the printer, so that I have a fancier set that what I made for myself.

-Louie

Queen Ace Transpo!

It feels like it’s taking me for ever to get through the Vallarino book!

One of the tricks in the transposition section is an Queen / Ace Transposition. I think JP Vallarino made it a little too complex. Here’s my streamlined version of it:

@louiefoxx Fast Card Trick! #fourqueens #fouraces #cardtrick #magictrick @bicyclecardsofficial #louiefoxx #jpvallarino #vallarino #vanishinginc #magicbook #cardmagic #sleightofhand ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

It’s a super quick swap of the two packets. It’d be a good transition bit, it’s not a full routine on it’s own.

-Louie

Have Some Insurance!!

In my library show this summer (which is actually my school assembly show) I do a bit with handcuffs. The handcuffs are jump cuffs with and additional gimmick that I added.

If you don’t know, jump cuffs you can show that they work, but you can instantly get out of them. They’re 99.9% effective, but there’s still a .01% that something funky could happen. Because of this very small percentage of risk, I keep a set of handcuff keys in my case.

In my routine, the cuffs aren’t part of the escape, they’re a surprise, but I need to get in and out of them quickly. No one knows they’re there until you see them, so the keys never need to be part of the routine like they would if I was escaping from the handcuff and they were the focal point of the routine.

The chances of me not being able to unlock them is insanely low, but keeping the set of keys is insurance. also the keys take up virtually no space in my case, so it’s not a big deal to haul them around.

This is a good example of what can go wrong in a trick and what would you do.

-Louie

Leaving Your Magic Gear

When travelling on the road with my show, one of the biggest pains in the butt is when I’m at a hotel for one night just to sleep and having to completely unload my car. The full unpack was to make sure I don’t lose my show if my car get broken into.

This year I started locking my gear to my car and leaving it in the car.

The theory is the person going through the parking lot of the hotel is looking for a quick smash and grab, not something involved. The longer they’re there, the more likely they’ll get caught breaking into cars.

All of my shows cases are locked shut and then the cases are all locked to my car. I then cover all of this with a black cloth, so it’s hard to see at night if you’re looking in the window of my car. Sure someone with bolt cutters could get this stuff, but I’m going to make them work for it, it’s not going to be easy!

I’ve been doing this since January and while I’m unaware of anyone trying to break into my car, I personally feel confident in this system!

-Louie