Tricks – Page 35 – MagicShow.Tips

My Favorite Cards!

With all of the specialty decks and different cuts or finishes on cards that are available to magicians now, what’s your favorite deck of cards?

For me, the best will always be a deck of Bicycle playing cards from the Cincinnati factory! You can’t beat them, they’re the best! Unfortunately they moved to Kentucky in 2009, so it’s been 15 years since these were made. You can still find them, and I actively seek them out when I travel.

What I love about the Cincinnati made cards is that they last a lot longer than the current cards. A deck of the current Bicycle cards will last me about an hour, where the older stock will last me days!

I’ve quietly amassed a large box of them. If they’re still sealed, then 98% of the time they’re perfect! Occasionally a sealed box will have some sort of moisture issue, but that’s rare.

I never pay more than $3 a box when I find them in out there in the wild (aka a junk shop). You can find these decks on ebay for about $5 a deck plus shipping, which I think is way to much.

If you find a deck, buy them and you’ll remember why these cards were soo great!

-Louie

Nick Trost’s Gemini Cards

Over on TikTok I post vintage magic tricks and a recent one that I did was Nick Trost’s Gemini Cards. Also, if you’re not following me over there please do, I’m at: https://www.tiktok.com/@louiefoxx

Gemini Cards is an Out of This World style of card trick. Here’s what it looks like:

@louiefoxx Will the cards match? #cardtrick #magictrick #cardmagic #shuffle #match #vintagemagic #nicktrost ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

The trick is great, and a fooler. I was trying to think of what it could be done with that aren’t playing cards. Here are some ideas:

Cards with pictures of:
-Red/Black socks
-Cats and dogs

However I don’t want to use things that are pictures drawn on playing cards. So other objects that are “card like” in their natural state.

Here are some ideas:
-paint swatches
-number flash cards: evens and odds match each other
-photographs (maybe of my dog and cat)
-postcards: I have custom made “postcards from home” that I use for a torn and restored postcard routine. I could use those and postcards from exotic places.

I think that the Gemini Cards definitely has potential, just not sure how to use it!

-Louie

Flippy Triumph

For years I’ve been playing with flippy thing that I read in the book Underground Man by Lou Gallo. Here’s what it looks like:

Recently I’ve put in some dedicated time to get it pretty consistent. Then the next thing is to figure out what to do with the move. Lou Gallo uses it as part of a two card production. A while ago I came up with a four ace production that uses it, and I’ll write that up sometime.

The other trick I came up with using it is this:

@louiefoxx Always shuffle the cards! #cardtrick #magic #magictrick #shuffle #triumph #cards ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

I like this routine, it’s not harder than a traditional Triumph…once you learn to do the flip over move. I’ve been out doing this a lot recently and just wrote it up and it’ll be in the December Vanish Magazine!

-Louie

Splitting Creamer

While I was a hotel, I accidentally discovered you can split a coffee creamer lid!

How would I use this?

Essentially you could reseal something inside the creamer pod and keep the integrity of the original seal.

Do what you want with this new found knowledge!
-Louie

Floating a Person

One of the classic magic tricks is making a person float. Aside from doing it as a stage illusion, there’s no practical way to do it for smaller shows that’s as good. Like anything you have to make tradeoffs when you change the method. In this case the method includes the stage.

One of the popular ones looks like this:

I’ve written about this before, but the picture above recently passed through my Instagram feed. I think one of the things that I don’t like about it wrapping up the person in the cloth. It just doesn’t look right. Look at the area circled in red below:

Is there a solution to keeping the cloth uniform below the floating person?

Maybe if the cloth with just draped over the person, and left dangling?

Nathan Burton has a decent solution and leaves the board in view:

I like this a little bit better, it’s like he’s making the board float with someone on it. That could lead to a presentation idea with the line, “your seat bottom wil act as a floatation device“. That could be a fun comedy angle for a levitation.

I don’t know the solution to a practical levitation that’s done with the audience closer. And like I mentioned earlier, there are always trade offs when you make a stage illusion smaller and add an untrained assistant from the audience.

-Louie

Making it “Easy To Do”

Sometimes there are magic tricks where the instructions are the least effective way to do the trick. Then you realize they are dumbed down to make them easy to do. One trick is The MisMade Card by Daryl.

Here’s how the trick looks when done how the instructions say:

@louiefoxx How to turn a playing card into amazing art! #art #diyart #craft #creatingart #howto #asmr #louiefoxx #impossibleobject #1990s #magictrick #cardtrick #daryl ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

I did make one change, there’s a discrepancy in the instructions. You can’t do the trick as written. When you tear a card into 4 pieces, you cannot make it form the same pattern as the final mismade cards. The two backs visible will have the borders on the inside. I added a switch of the quarters that show backs.

However the whole, put the card in a sleeve, then wrap it in paper is soo much process and weakens the trick. A better method would be to tear the card in quarters, do the JC Wagner torn and restored card switch and unfold it show the card is restored. It’s a much more direct trick AND you can actually do it.

I do understand why making the trick easy makes it a lot more marketable as a lot of people don’t want to learn a sleight of hand move to do a trick. One of the things I do whenever I get a new trick and start to learn it, is try to figure out a more direct way to do it!

-Louie

Another Vanishing Birdcage!

I recently acquired a new vanishing birdcage!

There are a couple of interesting things about this vanishing bird cage. The big thing is that the corners are upside down, the wires are on the inside of the cage and not on the outside.

The corners also feel longer than they need to be, and it turns out that’s a characteristics of YIMKA vanishing birdcages. All of the pictures of them that I’ve now seen have longer corners than most cages.

After a chat with Doug Edwards who is the Vanishing Birdcage guy, it appears that YIMKA made cages with the corners upside down and the standard way. YIMKA also stamped his cages, but not all of them. The cage I have is unstamped, but based on what I’ve learned, I’d say my new cage is probably a YIMKA!

One of the fun things for me is the detective work and figuring out what I’ve just bought!

-Louie
Click here to learn more about the Vanishing Birdcage!

How to Make a Locking Reel

Since I make a Take Up Reel, I’ve become a pseudo expert about reels in general. One of the challenges with reel is that because they can be expensive, it’s hard to know if one is right for you. Today I’m going to show you how to make a simple locking reel. This reel isn’t something that I would use for a show, it has a big flaw, but it’s something you could use as a “proof of concept” to know if you should invest in a better quality locking reel.

Step one: Buy a reel that you can unscrew. This will typically be a “key reel” and not a “badge reel”.

Step two: unscrew it and take it apart.

Step three: Drill a hole in the cover of it and holes on the spindle that match up with the reel.

Step Four: Reassemble the reel.

Step Five: Bend a paperclip to make the “lock”

Step Six: Tape the paper clip in place

Step Seven: Put sponge under the paper clip

Step Eight: Test it!

The design flaw with this reel is the paper clip. Ideally you want a spring steel, however since this is a proof of concept reel, and not something you should use in a show the sponge under the paper clip will work.

There you go, it’s a locking reel that you can make for under about $15!

-Louie

Visiting the Oddities and Curiosities Expo!

When the travelling Oddities and Curiosities Expo was in town I popped by to check it out. I’ve performed at the expo in the past, and swung by to say hi to some friends.

It was great to see the Three Legged Dog Sideshow do their thing!

Magicians can learn a lot by watching sideshow acts. It’s a very similar build through routines. A magician has to show the box is empty before you can make something appear, and a sword swallower has to show the sword is real before they swallow it.

You really should check out the Oddities and Curiosities Expo when it’s passing through your town, you can learn a lot!

-Louie

My Favorite Trade Show Trick!

Right now is booking season for the summer of 2025 and I’m going a lot of booking conferences and trade shows. My absolute favorite trick to do at these is my Out For Beers trick.

This trick leaves buyers with an item that has been magically altered, that they can show people. More importantly, they trick still works when they bring people over to me who know what will happen in the trick!

This routine starts with a gag and ends with a trick where picture of a full pitcher of beer empties itself!

Out for Beers is $19 and includes free shipping in the USA!

If you order Out for Beers anytime in November 2024, I’ll throw in and extra 25 of the empty beer cards! You don’t need to do anything to get these added to your order, they’ll automatically be included!

Click here to order Out for Beers!