vanishing bird cage – MagicShow.Tips

Take Up Reels

Today I’m making a couple of take up reels! These are reels that are typically used for the vanishing birdcage. They don’t have anything to do with the actual vanish of the cage, they simply take up slack in the pull and lock it short. This allows you freedom of motion before you do the cage vanish.

People frequently ask me what kind of cage this will work with, and the answer is that it’s great for any cage that works on a wrist to wrist pull. That means an Abbott’s style will work as well as an Owen vanishing birdcage.

The take up reel can be used for more than the birdcage. The Chimney Vanish with a silk will work or pretty much anything that goes up your sleeve. If you have any question about if this will work for you, feel free to contact me!

-Louie

Vanishing Birdcage in the Wild

Magicians frequently say that the modern style of vanishing birdcage doesn’t look like a cage. They really don’t, however cages that look like them do exists. I cme across them every now and then, here’s one:

and here’s another:

In real life, there really isn’t a birdcage that’s handheld anymore. Modern birdcages for pets are giant. No one really uses a handheld cage anymore.
-Louie

Vanishing Bird Cage in Real Life!

One of the criticism’s of the Vanishing Bird Cage is that it doesn’t look like any bird cage that exists in the real world. Here’s a bird cage I found at a junk shop:

That’s pretty much what the size and shape of a modern vanishing bird cage. So they do exist in the world!

-Louie

Walter Blaney’s Perfect Vanishing Cage

I finally picked up one of Walter Blaney’s Perfect Vanishing Cages!

It’s really well made, and unfortunately when it arrived, I wasn’t in town to really get to try it out. I do use the Summers/Riser Baby Lindy Vanishing Birdcage in one of my shows, so I kinda knew what to expect from the quality of this cage. It’s got a nice smooth action, but will still stand upright on its own!

walter blaney perfect vanishing bird cage

This cage reminds me of one of my older Owen Vanishing Birdcages from the 1980’s.

-Louie
Click here to learn more about the vanishing birdcage!

Fixing a Vanishing Birdcage!

A while ago I got a text from a friend who found a vanishing birdcage that was for sale. It was in really rough shape, it was missing a bar, had another bar that was loose and two of the corner bars needed to be fixed.

I bought the cage with an experiment with my bird cage guy to see if he could repair it. It came back and it looks like a totally different cage!

Not only were the bars replaced/fixed he also cleaned the cage. The cage was pretty loose when I got it and he tightened it up a little bit so it’s less like handling a jellyfish!

I’m glad I tried this and it’s good to know that there can be a second life to some of these old broken cages!

-Louie

Unusual Vanishing Bird Cage

Here’s a new addition to my vanishing bird cage collection!

This one has the ends of the large bars pointed instead of square. In theory that is going to hang up less than having the ends square.

This is something that I have thought about, but never did to any of my cages. First of all, not all the corners would need to be pointed, just the ones that are on the leading side of the cage. Next, I think that IF this one did hang up on your sleeve, it would really hang up and wedge the sleeve into it making any possible continued yank up your sleeve much harder.

This is a fun cage variation to add to my collection!

-Louie

Vanishing Bird Cage from Germany?

The newest addition to my vanishing birdcage is also one of the most interesting to me. This one came from a Potter and Potter auction and there really wasn’t much bidding action on it. I got it for $150 (gavel price) and they simply listed it as from the 1920’s and German.

This cage has some very fine detail work on it. Like the super tiny sleeve guard, there were two, but one is missing. The screws that hold it on are very fine!

This cage is missing a bar and it appears to have been repaired at some point. I also don’t think that the ring that the pull attaches to is original.

Another fun this is that this cage has a perch and this perch is a spring! I guess that is a lot easier to attach than a wooden one, and more flexible!

This is a fun addition to the collection!

-Louie

La Galeria Vanishing Bird Cages

The first vanishing bird cage that I had was a La Galleria and was given to me when I was a teenager. It has broken bars and while I used it for years, the broken bars were a challenge. I eventually had it repaired and it worked great!

Recently one popped up for sale that was in great shape, so I bought it. Here it is on the left next to my old one on the right:

My old one collapses really well, it’s got a nice action to it. The one I just got doesn’t really collapse well. It’s like the hinges that hold the large side bars on it are slightly too big and you almost have to fight the cage to get it to collapse, and when it does it’s not as slim as it could be.

I’m glad I have my original cage as it works much better, and I’m not judging this version of the vanishing bird cage on the recently acquired one. It’s nice to add another to my collection, but that one will be a collection piece and not a working one for me!

-Louie

German Vanishing Bird Cage

It’s been a crazy few weeks for adding vanishing bird cages to my collection! At the last Potter and Potter auction this vanishing bird cage was listed:

This one went for an amount that I could afford! Lately the ones being auctioned off have gone for crazy amounts of money, but those were also a bit more collectible. This one doesn’t have a name (manufacturer or performer) attached to it, so I think that’s partially why it went for less than they’ve been going for.

I can’t wait for this one to show up!

-Louie

My First Vanishing Birdcage

When I was a teenager I was given a La Galeria -The Gallery of Merlin vanishing birdcage that had a couple of broken bars. I used that for a long time and struggled through the broken bar occasionally snagging on my sleeve. Then about 12years ago I had someone fix the bars, and I used that cage until I got an Owen vanishing bird cage.

Recently one of the La Galeria -The Gallery of Merlin vanishing bird cages popped up for sale and I bought it!

The solder and rivets on the bars of this one appear to be in much better condition that the one I’ve have for 30+ years. I’m happy to add this to my collection and can’t wait for it to arrive!
-Louie
Click here to learn more about the vanishing birdcage!