Tricks – Page 14 – MagicShow.Tips

Dye Tube – Now Available!

I’ve been hunting for a source of Dye Tubes for a while now. In the past I’ve included Vernet Dye Tubes with my Applause Please 2: The Encore trick. I needed a dozen of them and after months of searching, I’ve realized that this year they’re hard to find in the USA. Sure, I could find one or two at a magic shop, but paying retail plus shipping for each unit made it cost prohibitive for me.

I finally sat down and designed my own Dye Tube.

This one is slightly larger than the Vernet one and has larger holes on the ends. My dye tube comfortably holds an 18 x 18-inch silk.
Here’s a side by side comparison:

I posted a picture of it on my social media and many magicians commented that they wanted to, so I’m making a batch of them for other magicians.

If you want one you can get them at:
https://www.magicshow.tips/dye-tube/

Louie

Dan Harlan’s The Scoop

Awhile ago I picked up The Scoop by Dan Harlan for a show that I’m going to be doing in the spring/summer of 2026. It’s been sitting in my office and on Halloween I had an idea, here’s what it was:

@louiefoxx Magic trick for the trick or treaters! #magictrick #halloween #icecream @Tillamook @TWIX ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

I really like the idea as a quick thing to do for trick or treaters, as it’s not really a long trick, it’s more situational magic.

Well, just now when I went to get a link for the trick, I noticed that Dan had the same idea for Halloween!

It’s a great prop, and I’m glad I had it laying around as was able to do this for Halloween!

-Louie

Magic Show Station

At a recent Halloween event, I was hired to perform at a close up magic station. This was simply a table that kids came by and I did close up magic for them.

This was a fun format to perform in, and with the table, I had more props with me than I would usually for a roving gig. When the crowd grew bigger, I did a couple of bigger tricks.

Another thing you can’t see in the picture is that I brought a speaker with me and used it to amplify my voice. The event was in a noisy gym, so a bit of audio support was nice!

-Louie

Aces to Ace, Two, Three and Four

A while ago I described a four ace trick where and Ace, Two, Three and Four turn into four aces. You can read about how it works here:
https://www.magicshow.tips/magic-show-tips/the-1-2-3-4-ace-trick/

I also just made a video demo and tutorial of the trick that you can watch here:

What I like about this is that there’s really nothing to it, just an Ascenio Spread and an open displacement of two cards.

-Louie

The Fortune Teller on TV (again)

On a TV appearance last week I did The Fortune Teller trick from my 2025 lecture notes. You can watch the appearance here:

What I like about this trick is that the moment you bring out the prop, the audience gets a hit of nostalgia. That makes it a trick that instantly connects with the audience.

Then my card routine with it has a three-reveal punch. The card routine I did in this TV spot is different from my stage routine, which wouldn’t work with this setup, with the host standing next to me.

-Louie
PS, if you like the routine, you can learn more about it at:
https://www.magicshow.tips/lecture-notes-2025/

Five Minute Magic Show

Last week, I was at a booking conference and they had a “pitch and perform” event. In this event, each person had 5 minutes to introduce themself, tell what they did, and give a short sample of what they do.

Here’s what I took with me:

There are two routines, one I intended to do is my Stand Up Chop Cup (it’s in my 2025 lecture notes) and the back up routine is a rope routine. Both magic routines would run about three minutes and the other two minutes would be the pitch part. What’s important about these two routines is that there is no set up and no clean up and they have a lot of magic!

I always try to have a back up routine for things like this. It’s only five minutes, but sometimes I’ll see the room and decide my main trick isn’t right, or there will be another magician who may do something similar to what I had planned. That’s why the two tricks I brought were very different visually and in effect.

A little bit of planning can help a lot!

-Louie

Magician Dick Barry!

Recently I was doing a gig at a retirement community and one of the people that lived there was magician Dick Barry!

Dick is retired now; however, he has created many magic tricks that were sold. He was also a performer at the Magic Castle. I had a great time chatting with Dick before the show. This is one of the great things about performing at a retirement community, you never know who you’ll run into!

If you want to learn more about performing at retirement communities, check out my book How to Perform for Seniors.

-Louie

Portland Society of Magicians Amateur Contest

Recently the Portland Society of Magicians has their amateur magic contest. This was for people who don’t really perform for pay.

What I love about things like this is getting to see all the different styles of magic that are performed. Also, it lets me see the various trends that are going around magic.

One thing I noticed in the contest was that there were two acts where the trick didn’t work, and they ended at that point. That’s something that separates pros from amateurs: how they deal with mistakes. A pro will plow on and figure out a way out of it, whereas the amateur doesn’t necessarily have that “toolbox” to get them out of the situation. How do you get the “toolbox” of outs, simple, you fail a lot! Failure is part of the learning process and a very important part of it!

The more you fail, the better you get!

-Louie

Great Advice for a Magic Show!

In a box of used magic I found an almost 30 year old letter from an established professional magician to a newer magician. It’s notes on the newer magician’s show, you can read them below:

The notes are pretty spot on, and great advice. I love that the older magician took the time to write up the advice so that it’s easier for the newer magician to implement the suggestions!

Personally I love helping magicians be better, and I think it’s something we all should do!

-Louie

The 1-2-3-4 Ace Trick

I was playing around with some cards the other night and came up with a very 1980’s feeling packet trick. The effect is you show four aces. The ace of diamonds changes to a two of diamonds. Then the ace of clubs changes to the three of clubs. For the finale, the ace of hearts turns into the four of hearts, giving you a one (ace), two, three and four.

This trick uses a series of Ascanio Spreads. I’m not going to go teach that move here, but you can look it up and find a tutorial for it online.

Here’s the starting order of the cards:

Hold them face up in your left hand in dealing grip. Do an Ascanio Spread to show four aces, putting the four card block on top of the packet .

Do a second Ascanio Spread to show that the ace of diamonds is now a two. Put the four card block top of the spread.

Next do a third Ascanio Spread to show that the ace of clubs is now a three. This time, you will switch places of the middle two cards. I openly displace them, and then put the four card block on top.

Finally, do a fourth Ascenio Spread to show that the ace of hearts is now the four!

That’s it, there’s really not much to this trick, and it feels like it needs an ending. I have played with having the backs change colors and have a method for that, but I’m not really happy with it.

Additionally, I’d be surprised if this sequence had not been created before. It seems fairly obvious that this result can be achieved with just Ascenio Spreads.

-Louie