Magicians are the worst at giving advice for beginner magicians. Recently in a Facebook group a magician was asking for recommendations for beginner magic books. The majority of people that suggested The Amateur Magician’s Handbook.
This book is garbage for a beginners magic book by modern standards. Sure it started a lot of magicians, but I think it also turned off more people who were interested in magic. Compared to modern magic books (pretty much anything after Mark Wilson’s Complete Course In Magic book) it’s hard to learn from.
The main reason I think it’s still in print is because it’s got a great title.
I still love the book, and it definitely helped form who I am as a magician, but it’s not a great beginners book. It may be by 1950 standards, but not by modern standards.
When the COVID pandemic hit, a buddy and I built a studio in his garage. Unfortunately he just bought a house in another state and is moving, so I’m working on my at home studio. Part of that is customizing props, one of the things that I’m working on is a table. For virtual shows I like a high table, something that’s just below armpit level. That makes it easier to frame my face.
The table I’m currently using has a pretty small table top. The base it’s on is pretty slim, which means I can’t put a very bit table top on it without it getting wobbly. In my shed I have some old speaker stands that are very heavy duty compared to a typical magic table’s base. These will allow me to move the table up high and still be sturdy.
I designed and printed out a flange:
It pressure fits onto the speaker stand.
It’s attached to the table top by eight screws.
It’s very sturdy! I was amazed, there’s no wobbly in the table. I may try to put a larger tabletop onto a speaker stand to give myself some more performing space!
Way back in the early summer when my state had first started to reopen after the initial pandemic shutdown, and friend texted me this picture of a game wheel at a thrift store for $2.99.
I drove up and bought it. It needed some work, the whole from was stained, and have some sort of glue residue in it. What I found interested was that it was heavier duty that most of the game wheels that I’d seen before. The wheel is two feet in diameter, and made of thick wood, so it’s heavy. The pole it’s on looked like the top pole of a speaker stand. I took it home and it fit into the base of a speaker stand, that would allow me to use it without a table. I threw away the plastic base in the picture above.
This then ended up sitting in my shed for months, as I didn’t want to deal with cleaning up the wheel. I didn’t have an idea of exactly what I was going to do with it. Then I remembered reading about trick called Wheel of Mind by Amir Lustig and Hiam Goldenberg. I wasn’t exactly sure of the what it did, aside from that it was a force. Hiam puts out some pretty clever stuff, and for $15, I figured why not check it out.
Wheel of Mind uses twelve spaces and my game wheel has 20 spaces. Luckily the trick still works with more spaces. The other challenge is that Wheel of Mind uses both sides of the wheel. It turns out it’s really easy to remove the game wheel I have from the stand and turn it over. Now that I have what I’m going to use the game wheel for, it’s time to clean it up.
The first step was scraping all of the glue off of it. However the actual wheel was stained by whatever pen had been used on it previously. The next step was to remove the pins, and peel off the graphic from the front.
I recovered it with white contact paper on the front and back. Then using electrical tape, I made some lines and wrote the numbers in.
For less than $30 (that’s including buying Wheel of Mind) I now have a fun looking prop that will force something. I probably wouldn’t travel with this, unless I was doing a run of shows. It’s mostly for virtual shows, it’s also a cool set piece to have behind me.
The holder I was printing out the other day is finished and works great! I designed this to display to hold an envelope, or jumbo card upright so that it’s more visible than laying flat on a table. I also put a magnet inside of it so that I can simply stick it to the front of my small case.
Here’s the finished holder:
Here it is holding a giant card:
It holds it very securely, the card won’t fall out under normal circumstances.
It also hit me that I could put a magnet behind my virtual backdrop and use it there.
If I end up using it for virtual shows, I’ll need to print out another one to keep with that show’s props. I really dislike moving props around from case to case. That’s a easy way to forget or lose things.
A couple of weeks ago my daughter got a Cricut Machine which is used for die cutting. I’ve been meaning to start coming up with ideas for magic tricks with it. The first thing I did was have her try to cut a dollar bill. It worked! That lead to my next idea, which is cutting a playing card into a dollar bill. This is a pretty lame idea as far as ideas go.
Most of my ideas were using it to cut reveals into the dollar bill. However I did have one idea, that was a little more inspired. If there was a thought bubble drawn with a marker on it. The thought bubble would go around part of the serial number. The serial number then rearranges itself for a reveal, and the bill could be given out.
Method wise, it wouldn’t be hard to do and I’ve got a few ideas for how to accomplish it.
Last weekend I attended the PCAM magic convention. It was a lot of fun, and they did a good job of keeping the day moving, it went from 10am to 8pm, then unofficially till about midnight.
When the booker approached me to perform at the convention, I decided to pitch something a little different from an act or lectures. I mentioned the little cooking demos I’ve done, and could do a cocktail for them. They like the idea and I got to do one of little mixology video for them!
It went over well! One of the fun things performing for magicians is when you do unexpected things. In that routine there are a couple of interest to magicians. There’s a production of two rats, which is interesting and the flaming jalapeno pepper. The pepper always surprises me that magicians get excited about that. there have been “flaming” objects around for years, not sure why this one makes an impression…unless it’s that it makes sense as a prop.
I’m glad that my whacky little presentation went well. I’d love to do more and more of these over zoom. It’s a different style of performing magic and I’m really enjoying it.
Designing and assembling a working teleprompter was a lot easier than I thought! Yesterday I rode my bike over to the Dollar Store and picked up a picture frame to use for the glass.
If I ever dis this again, the big change I would make is try to find glass that’s the exact size of the part it’s attached to. I’d also make a slot for the glass to slide into. Right now the camera’s screen is obscured, so I can’t see where I am in real time in the frame. This isn’t a huge deal, as I plan on using this for things where I’m not that active and moving around.
I’ve always said that getting better at magic is a lot of solving problems. This solved a problem. If I use it and like it, I may end up investing in a more professional setup…but maybe not.
Lately I’ve had a bunch of virtual MC work I’ve been doing. I feel like people’s introductions are getting longer and longer. Gone are the days of three bullet points and a name. I’m having a need for a teleprompter, so that I’m not reading off of a sheet of paper. Someone suggested I look into Padcaster:
This goes onto the front of your camera which looks through the hole in the back. Then you use your smartphone to make the text on the glass. The idea is you can read off the teleprompter while you look directly into the camera.
The camera I use is a Sony Handycam and it’s got a big front around the lens. I was worried I’d spend $100 and have a teleprompter that didn’t fit. I decided to give making my own a try. A quick google search led me to some premade 3d templates for teleprompters, but none was quite want I wanted. I custom designed the one below for my specific camera and cellphone:
The top part that goes on the camera has printed and it fits great! The tray to hold the phone is printing right now, and I need to go to the store to get some glass. I’m hoping this will work!!!
In a few days I’ll be performing at the Pacific Coast Association of Magicians annual convention which will take place online. When they contacted me,I wanted to do something a little bit different. I pitched them having me teach how to make a cocktail. Basically it’s a magical mixology class.
When I sat down to write up the ingredient list and recipe for the cocktail, I decided I wanted to create that like an old magic magazine ad for a magic trick.
I think it turned out well. I worked way too hard on making this, however I think it adds some fun to the whole thing. My starting point was visiting Ask Alexander going through old magic magazines and looking at the ads. I kinda had an idea in my head as to what I was looking for, it was just a matter of finding an ad to use as a template.
Here’s the ad that was my starting point:
Sometimes the little bit extra is what makes the trick work. I’m hoping the ad gets people excited about the mixology.
A while ago I almost flew to New York on a day I had off between a couple of contracts to see In & Of Itself. Unfortunately, with the flights and the show that I could get tickets to, if my plane was a little bit late, I would have missed the show. I didn’t go.
The show is streaming right now at the IFC Center’s website. You save $3 with the coupon code: ROADTRIP
After watching it, I’m regretting not taking the chance on seeing it in person. The show was AMAZING! That’s just seeing it streamed, I can’t imagine the energy seeing it live.
There’s a lot that makes the show work. First of all it’s now a “magic show” but a show that has magic elements. I think about five tricks in 90 minutes, so not a lot of magic, but what’s there is great!
One of the things that makes the show work is that Derek Delgaudio is a normal guy. He doesn’t have shellac’d hair, dancers, or exaggerated applause poses. He’s an honest guy sharing his life. Sure there are theatrical things that happen, like lighting, or music, but they aren’t overbearing like the how a 1990’s Las Vegas illusionist finishes a trick.
Watching the show, I cried twice. Derek knows how to connect with people in a way I don’t think I’ve ever seen in another show. This style of show is something that other magicians are going to be chasing for years. Derek is soo far ahead of the pack, and it’s such a unique show and venue. You can’t really break in this sort of material at the gravel company’s holiday party.
Do yourself a favor and watch the show. It will inspire you to be better!
