Fun Surprise!!!

While scrolling through facebook, I saw that Dom Chambers got passed through to the semi-finals of America’s Got Talent. This was of interest to me as I had made a prop for him to use on the show. Here’s video of his act from AGT last night: He uses my Evaporation trick to pour the … Continue reading “Fun Surprise!!!”

While scrolling through facebook, I saw that Dom Chambers got passed through to the semi-finals of America’s Got Talent. This was of interest to me as I had made a prop for him to use on the show.


Here’s video of his act from AGT last night:

He uses my Evaporation trick to pour the beer into the video screen. The bottle was custom made for his act. It was a fun project, and I’m always glad to see people use magic that I’ve created!

Yelling into a Wall…

This week I’m performing at a very small county fair. There’s an act that’s a “found space” act here. Essentially a found space act is one that isn’t on a stage, so very similar to a busker or street performer, however they don’t take tips. He’s a singer that basically does cover songs. All day … Continue reading “Yelling into a Wall…”

This week I’m performing at a very small county fair. There’s an act that’s a “found space” act here. Essentially a found space act is one that isn’t on a stage, so very similar to a busker or street performer, however they don’t take tips. He’s a singer that basically does cover songs.


All day he’s been essentially playing to no one. He’s had no crowd all day. One thing I learned from a guy named Skip Banks, who is an amazing act at fairs and knows how to draw them in. He has a theory that you need to make the audience comfortable. That means giving them a place to sit and watch your show and shade.


Doing found space entertainment as “ambient” entertainment really doesn’t add much value to the event. If you are doing ambient entertainment in a wine garden, it makes more sense, than in a random walkway.


This act would be way more successful if it tried to engage people. He could do this by simply by changing lyrics to song to thing that are happening around him, or talking to people. Instead he was a human jukebox on auto play.

Prune Your Hedges…

In my show, what used to be the second routine was a really long routine. It was also a long time before it got to the payout of the trick. It was a 6-8 minute routine with one magic effect. It’s a funny routine, but too long for the second trick. What I did was … Continue reading “Prune Your Hedges…”

In my show, what used to be the second routine was a really long routine. It was also a long time before it got to the payout of the trick. It was a 6-8 minute routine with one magic effect. It’s a funny routine, but too long for the second trick.


What I did was cut out a chunk of the routine that was funny, but compared to the rest of the routine felt less spontaneous. I was guiding the person onstage into a funny situation. While funny and the person on stage was genuinely reacting, my responses were too canned. There was a time when I was figuring out the routine and my responses were much more genuine. Now I’m just going joke to joke.


I needed to get out of this. I cut that whole section, and the routine is playing a lot better. I also moved this trick to the third spot in the show. The routine that is now in the second spot has three effects in it, with the first one happening immediately, and the second one pretty quick. They are all good tricks and keep the momentum going.


Just because you can get 8 or 10 mins out of a routine doesn’t mean you should. Shortening the trick for me is getting a better reaction than the longer version.

How To Create New Tricks…

It drives me nuts when people say they “aren’t creative like me” or that ” not everyone can create new tricks”. That’s total BS, it’s not that they aren’t creative, it’s that they aren’t motivated to be creative. Just like learning a sleight of hand move it simply takes practice. The easiest way to start … Continue reading “How To Create New Tricks…”

It drives me nuts when people say they “aren’t creative like me” or that ” not everyone can create new tricks”. That’s total BS, it’s not that they aren’t creative, it’s that they aren’t motivated to be creative. Just like learning a sleight of hand move it simply takes practice.


The easiest way to start your creative thinking is to read a description of a magic trick and figure out a method. Don’t watch a demo video as what you see can affect what you do. Watching a demo could make try to make you recreate that specific the method, this isn’t what you want to do.


Coming up with your own methods is a good starting point for learning to be creative.


The key to being creative is actually putting energy into it. Sure some ideas pop out of nowhere, some are the result of specific work. I used to set aside 30-45 mins every morning to try to come up with ideas (magic tricks / jokes / etc). The key is to do it everyday, I do it in the morning because if I do it then, it will get done. Be aware that 95% of these ideas will be junk, but you are mining for the 5% that’s good.



What Me Worry…

It really cracks me up when magicians worry about exposure of tricks where the method is technological. The “exposure” they are worried about is when this similar tech becomes used in applications for the general public. A good example is someone makes a die that you assign tasks to, and have an app linked to … Continue reading “What Me Worry…”

It really cracks me up when magicians worry about exposure of tricks where the method is technological. The “exposure” they are worried about is when this similar tech becomes used in applications for the general public. A good example is someone makes a die that you assign tasks to, and have an app linked to it. You put the side up when you are working on that task. The app knows what side it up and tells you how long you devote to each task. This is essentially a tech that’s been used for magic for a long time.


I think there are two reasons that people that are upset with magic tech becoming everyday tech. The first is that when it’s magic, it’s a niche market and very specialized, so it’s expensive. These people are upset that the value of their investment has been decreased. The second reason is that these people aren’t willing to put in the time to learn to do it any other way (i.e. Sleight of hand).

Here’s a good example, many people make a little cube that has different colors on all of the sides. Due to the tech, you always know what color is on top. However if you are aware of a similar device to keep you on task at work, then the impossibility of the trick is diminished. How can you do the same trick?

Here are two ways:

1. Instead of the cube, they write down a color on a business card and put it in their pocket. Using standard mentalism techniques you can easily know their color.

2. You put a prediction on the table. The pick a color on the block and it’s covered up so you can’t see it. You turn over the prediction and it’s the color they picked. Methodwise this is simply using the block to tell you what color was picked, then you use nailwriter for the prediction.

Both methods will have the same impact as just using the tech, but won’t become obsolete when the magic tech becomes everyday tech. The moral of the story is to go out and learn some sleight of hand.

Cards Across…

One of the new tricks that I’m working on is the Cards Across trick. This is a trick I had to do as an “emergency” when I thought I had set up a trick, but hadn’t and didn’t realize it until I already had people onstage. When this happened, I went into my mental toolbox … Continue reading “Cards Across…”

One of the new tricks that I’m working on is the Cards Across trick. This is a trick I had to do as an “emergency” when I thought I had set up a trick, but hadn’t and didn’t realize it until I already had people onstage. When this happened, I went into my mental toolbox of magic and did Cards Across.


Cards Across is a great trick, however it’s a very common trick. How do I jazz it up and give it my own twist. My thought was doing it with 7 red backed cards and 10 blue backed cards. Then having the packets switch places, not just the number of cards. So it’s a transposition, not a transportation. This is a small change, but one that I like, and makes the trick a little bit more unique to me.


I’ve done this trick three times, twice on Sunday and once yesterday. I’ve learned a lot about doing it in those three shows. First of all, I need to mention the two different color backs at the beginning and not really mention it again until I’ve done the pile displacement. I need to focus on the numbers of the cards, and the transposition is a bonus.


Camera Work…

Good video footage of your act is very valuable these days. It can be used for promo, social media or simply just to get better. With 4K video cameras being fairly inexpensive, you really have no excuse to not have a decent promo video. I try to record most shows, and that footage can be … Continue reading “Camera Work…”

Good video footage of your act is very valuable these days. It can be used for promo, social media or simply just to get better. With 4K video cameras being fairly inexpensive, you really have no excuse to not have a decent promo video.


I try to record most shows, and that footage can be used however I need to. Normally I do this with the camera on a tripod. If I’m in the same place for a while, I can put the camera in different places and get different looking shots. With different angles of the same venue, in theory I can cut them together and make it look like a multi camera shot.


Sometimes I’ll give the camera to a magician to record. It’s interesting what most magicians tend to focus on. They focus on the trick, not the the bigger picture, or the reaction to the trick. Personally I want a tight shot of the me and the person on stage. This is the beauty of using a 4K camera, you can crop it to the trick, or the reaction, or leave it as is.

Video Is A Great Tool…

One of the hardest parts of working on new material is figuring out what works in front of an audience and what doesn’t. I’m always amazed that usually what I think are my best ideas end up falling flat in front of an audience and the ideas I think are dumb play really well. An … Continue reading “Video Is A Great Tool…”

One of the hardest parts of working on new material is figuring out what works in front of an audience and what doesn’t. I’m always amazed that usually what I think are my best ideas end up falling flat in front of an audience and the ideas I think are dumb play really well.


An easy way to figure out what works and what doesn’t is video. Sometimes things feel good on stage, but then you rewatch the video and the trick, joke or bit isn’t hitting as hard as it felt. Video also shows all the gaps in your show. You will see and hear every dead spot in your show.


When you watch your show on video it can be very painful to watch, and I think this is why people don’t like watching their show on video. Unless you are hiring someone to take notes, you need to do this. If you can’t watch your show, how can the audience?


With me working on a new show, I tightened up a trick in the show by watching the video, I made it play a lot better than it was. Without the video it would have taken months to figure out, not hours. The hard part is sitting down and actually doing the work.

More Gypsy Thread Progress…

The Gypsy Thread trick is officially in my library show this summer. I’m still having problems with selling the ending. I think the main problem for a child watching the trick, is the restoration feels like it’s something that should happen. Almost like it’s a child’s novelty toy. What I’m thinking I’m going to do … Continue reading “More Gypsy Thread Progress…”

The Gypsy Thread trick is officially in my library show this summer. I’m still having problems with selling the ending. I think the main problem for a child watching the trick, is the restoration feels like it’s something that should happen. Almost like it’s a child’s novelty toy.


What I’m thinking I’m going to do is have two pieces of string. A kid and I will both tear them up and my string won’t restore, however the kids will. Then the kid might make mine restore for the kicker. This lengthens the routine, and highlights the fact that the pieces don’t just go back together automatically.


Adding the second person to the show also makes the trick play larger and opens it up to some bits that don’t exist when you do it as a solo. I’ll need to play with the method a little bit to be able to get the two balls of string (one restored and one not) to look the same. I think this change will really help sell the effect.

Learn About Your Tools…

In my continuing work with the Silk Thru Coat Hanger routine, one of the things I’m doing is examining the props. Since the props weren’t made specifically for me and what I’m doing, the odds are that they can be improved for what I want them to do. The first thing I did was look … Continue reading “Learn About Your Tools…”

In my continuing work with the Silk Thru Coat Hanger routine, one of the things I’m doing is examining the props. Since the props weren’t made specifically for me and what I’m doing, the odds are that they can be improved for what I want them to do.


The first thing I did was look a the coat hanger. I originally was using a wooden one, however this was pretty heavy and had a seam in a spot where the silk moves and frequently snagged. I ended up buying some plastic hangers at the dollar store and altering them so the were smooth where the silk and thread needed to move. This was a huge improvement.


Next I started to look at the reel. Currently I’m using a P & L Fingertip Reel. I ended up altering this a little bit. Inside the reel, I added teflon discs to the spots where metal touched metal. These discs are sold to add to gimmicked coins to reduce clinking sound and make them slide better.

These teflon discs really added to the smoothness of how the reel retracted.


I also recently ordered a couple of different reels to see if there’s a style that I prefer, rather than simply using the first one I got. I’ve got a Tango Ultimate Reel and a Kirkendall Reel coming this week. We’ll see what I end up using.


Finally I looked at the silk that I’m using. I went from a square silk to a diamond cut one. The main reason is weight, the reel can move a lighter weight faster than a heavier one…or in my case, can move a larger one for the same effort as a smaller one.


All of these little things end up making a difference. At the very least I know my props really well!