Eye Ball Magic Tricks

Recently I saw a social media post about someone trying to come up with magic with eyeballs.

In the post, the list a few trick ideas which include:
-zombie eyeball
-sponge eyeballs
The thing is that all of those have been done…I don’t mean that those tricks have been themed with eyeballs before (they have), they’re things that exist as a trick. When creating, why not go beyond your “magic vocabulary” and create something new, or at least try?

Here are a few ideas:

  • Plastic Eyeball and plastic letter “I” switch places.
  • Plastic eyeball turns into a plastic letter “I”
  • You take your eyeball out of your face, it changes into a letter “i” and you put that back into your eye socket and instead of your eye, it’s the letter “i”. Method would use a contact with an i printed on it?
  • You make a circle of objects on the table and one is selected. You have a plastic eyeball and spin it around, when it stops spinning it’s looking at the selected item
  • Your hands are shown empty. You then take a bottle of eye drops a put a drop into your palm. You close your hand and when you open it an eyeball has appeared.
  • You have a plastic eye that you balance on a salt shaker. You take out some eye drops and have the spectator hold the bottle upside down. Whenever they want, they squeeze the bottle. The moment they do and the eye drop hits the table, the plastic eyeball also falls off the salt shaker.

Ok, those are just a few ideas that I came up with sitting in front of my computer writing this. I did have an idea Googly Eye Trick that I wrote about in the past as well. The point is that we need to push past standard things. YES, there are reasons to do standards, but the more we try to get away from them, the more we break the stereotype of “all magicians are the same”.

-Louie

Tape Measure Magic Trick

A couple nights ago I was hanging out at the First Tuesday Magic Jam at the All American Magic Shop in Portland, OR. One of the magicians had a a tape measure on their keychain and it got me thinking of things that could be done with a tape measure.

magic jam in portland OR

I do a tape measure magic trick in my stage show, and didn’t want to reinvent that. I did have an idea for a stage trick: Walking Thru a Tape Measure

The effect would be: there are two posts onstage about 3 feet apart, one has a notch to hold the tape measure, and the other has a hole in it. The tape measure is secured in the notch on one side and it’s extended to the other pole and thru the hole. You stand behind it and a cloth that’s maybe 2 feet tall covers your middle where the tape measure is. You make a sawing motion with the tape of the tape measure and then the cloth is dropped and you’re on the other side of the tape measure.

The method isn’t anything crazy. The tape is cut about 4 or 5 feet into the tape, and then tabs are cut out.

tape measure magic trick

The tabs go through the tab of the other end, so they are joined together. This joint is then rolled back into the tape measure.

During the effect, then you are doing the sawing action, you’re extending the tape measure, undoing the joint, moving the tape behind you and then rejoining it. All that’s left is to let that part retract into the tape measure to hide it.

I have no idea if that will actually work, if you try it, let me know if it does!

-Louie

Snake Wand Surprise!

It really makes me happy when I see pictures or videos of performers using magic props that I’ve created! I just came across this picture of Magic Monty Reed using my Snake Wand Surprise!

snake wand surprise

I’ve had magicians ask me if it’s OK to use a prop that I sell, and I say “yes”. I think that’s an interesting question. If I sell it or have published it, and you bought a legitimate version of it (not a copy/knockoff), then feel free to use it!

There have been plenty of times when I had to share the stage with someone using one of my props or routines, and I’ve got no problem with that. I’m honored that people think my magic tricks are good enough to put into their shows!

If you have any pics or video of you using anything I make, I’d love to see it!

-Louie

Where Evaporation Began!

When I created the Evaporation trick, I was out on the road performing. I tried many different methods of making liquid disappear, however it was a trip to this Menards hardware store in Minot, ND where it all came together!

magic trick inventions

Whenever I’m in the area, I always stop and walk through the store. This hardware store has a special place in my heart! It’s what put me on the map as a magic trick creator.

-Louie
Click here to learn more about building your own magic props!

The Show I’ve Been Dreading!

Yesterday my itinerary had me doing my show that was written for an audience that’s kindergarten to 6th grade for an group of seventh to eight grade kids. No younger kids, just the middle school kids. When I noticed this show on my schedule, I was dreading it.

I’ve done shows for middle and high school kids on this tour, but they were mixed in with elementary school aged kids. You can read about that here.

The show went great!

What I did was start by mentioning that this show was written for younger kids, but if they stuck with me, they’d like the show. The show was rocking! I mostly did the show as written; I did cut a few things that I knew wouldn’t hit for this older group.

This is a good example of why I disagree with people who say, “it’s the journey, not the trick”. The trick needs to be good, and so does the journey. Just because one is great, doesn’t mean the other can’t also be great! Sure, it takes a bit more work, but it’s worth it!

-Louie
Click here for more information about how you can learn this School Assembly Show check out the School Assembly Set!

The Snake Box

One of the tricks that I made for this school assembly tour is a snake box. This is essentially a “snake basket“, however, I’m not using a basket as I think that’s an old trope, and one that kids don’t have a point of reference to. The routine in my show started out as a card trick, but it’s now something more, and something that plays bigger!

I was thinking about Terry Lunceford’s The Viper trick and it’s great. If you haven’t seen it, here’s what it looks like:

It’s a great routine for its time. Personally, I think that trying to use a phobia someone has for a laugh is an older style of performing and not modern. Doing a danger trick is one thing, a French Arm Chopper isn’t a common fear, but snakes are.

My snake basket does have the snake jump out, but with only me onstage, and guess what, it gets a great reaction!

As someone who has an irrational fear of something, I try to show some compassion to people in the audience and not put them in a position where they will laugh at them being scared.

That’s just my opinion. I still think it’s a great effect, just not the part where you jump scare someone in front of an audience.

-Louie

Changing a Routine

The ending of my opening magic routine in the school assembly show wasn’t hitting as hard as I thought it should. Originally it was:
Educational content
Educational content
Show ice cream and put into cup
Spoon manipulation
Ice Cream in a cup turns into streamers

I think it wasn’t hitting as hard because there was too much time between putting the ice cream in the cup and it changing to streamers. I realized I could logically do the spoon manipulation, then put the ice cream into the cup. I gave it a try at a show yesterday, and it made the ice cream changing to streamers play much better. The new order is:

Educational content
Spoon Manipulation
Educational content
Ice cream goes into a cup, then changes to streamers

It’s way better, and I also like having two shorter educational chunks than one longer one. This morning, I rearranged the video that goes with my show to reflect this in hopefully a more seamless way than yesterday.

-Louie
Click here for more information about how you can learn this School Assembly Show check out the School Assembly Set!

Ice Cream Cup Magic Trick

A while ago I created an ice cream cup that holds a throw coil packet. It’s really nothing crazy, just a cup with a little hole and tab to hold a streamer securely. It turns out it was something that a lot of people needed and many magicians are using it!

Here’s a video that was sent to me by Rich Stein:

I’m always honored when any magician uses props I’ve created in their shows!!

-Louie
PS: you can get the ice cream cup here: https://www.magicshow.tips/ice-cream-cup/

A Sample of the School Assembly Show

The other night I cut up some video to make a highlight reel of what the show I’m doing looks like. Here’s a peek at the show:

You’ll notice that on my prop box I have a TV screen. I use this when they don’t have a TV/projector that I can use. Nothing shown on it is 100% necessary for the show, but it does enhance it. It’s really there for me to get more comfortable using the production software and the ankle switch remote control.

I’m having a blast doing this show!!!

-Louie
Click here for more information about how you can learn this School Assembly Show check out the School Assembly Set!

Finally Got a High School Group

It was bound to happen on this tour, yesterday I got my first K-12 school. These are really challenging because you essentially have two audiences, and the way they seat them, you really have two different sections you’re playing to. If they were mixed up, the energy from one group can carry over to the other, but now when the kindergarten to 6th grade is on the left and the 7th to 12th grade is on the right.

This is a situation where my thinking that no matter what, the trick has to be good is important. If you do a trick where the routine is a lot of fun, but the actual trick is just “meh”, the routine will ultimately fall flat. If the magic effect is strong, the routine will ultimately play better.

One thing that I do when I have shows like this where they are giving me groups that are over the age that the show was written for is that I give a little talk to the older kids. What I do is that I say, “This show was written for kindergarten to 6th grade. Stick with me, there will be some stuff you’ll like.” This addresses the elephant in the room. I also include the older kids in the tricks, which gets them invested early.

Hopefully, I won’t have many more groups like this.

-Louie
Click here for more information about how you can learn this School Assembly Show check out the School Assembly Set!