Video – Page 2 – MagicShow.Tips

The Stop Trick

I have a bunch of cards from a FA-KO deck, but I don’t have the booklet. One of the cards has a picture of a stop sign on it, and I started playing with it and this is what I came up with:

It’s pretty basic; the first is a second deal, and the second is the drop force.

I’m just “meh” at a second deal; if there’s no heat, it’s fine. One thing I noticed that’s a tell with most magicians that they’re not dealing the top card is when the hand holding the deck swings back and forth. I think that movement is magician’s thinking: “the big motion hides the smaller motion,” and I guess it does, but it doesn’t look right. I’ve noticed that when I try to keep my hand holding the deck static, my second deal flies by more magicians than when it moves.

I guess that’s a tip for the second deal?

-Louie

The Ice Cream Cup!

One of the tricks that I’m working on for a tour in April needs an opaque, tall, tulip-style ice cream cup. I spent hours searching thrift stores online and didn’t quite find anything I liked…well I did, but I also didn’t want to buy 36 of them!
I finally gave up on trying to find one that already exists and decided to design my own. The nice thing about this is that I get something that is what I want, instead of the potential limitations of gimmicking something that is already made.

Here’s what the trick looks like in my garage:

The ice cream scoop is something that Dan Harlan sells called The Scoop and he even posted this on his social media:

The cup is my design, and here’s what is it:

Obviously, you don’t need to use The Scoop with it; it would work great with a loop ball or just sleight of hand with a ball. Anything you can fake put into it would turn to the streamers.

Ok, so why did I make a full glass, when I don’t show it empty at the start and could just put confetti in it?

Simple, clean up.

There’s no cleanup with streamers; no one needs to sweep or vacuum them up.

For me, this is the perfect solution for the second half of turning ice cream into something exciting!

-Louie
PS: If you want one of these, contact me for pricing!

More Snake Basket Progress

I’ve got the current version of the snake basket and aside from some potential minor changes, this will be the final version (for now). For context, here’s the first version:

And here’s the new version:

You’ll notice a couple of changes from the original version. The first version was a card trick, and this isn’t. The original ending, with the snake jumping out with the card in its mouth, always felt anticlimactic to me. The ending is the snake jumping out; the card was a lower point than the surprise of the snake jumping out. Using the snake jumping out as the end to close the routine makes more sense to me.

With this no longer a card trick, I could get rid of the card fountain. That’s good, because when the cards shoot out, they need to be picked up. With confetti, it’s just swept up after the show.

I also like that the ending plays bigger than with a card. A card is hard to see clearly what it is from a distance, this will play much further back!

-Louie

How Do I Do This?

Here’s a card revelation I found on a hard drive from a January 2024. I’m not sure how I did it.

Here’s what it looks like:

I guess I posted about it here:
https://www.magicshow.tips/magic-show-tips/card-production/

It’s kinda cool, I wonder why I stopped playing with it?

-Louie

Talking To Strangers – Magic Podcast

The magic review site Magic Orthodoxy has a blog about getting started performing magic for people you don’t know. It’s called Talking to Strangers and I was a guest on it!

You can listen to my episode on Spotify at: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7nX5NWXTQ2TmoX52uyPjhj
and you can watch it here:

Hope you learn something from my past experiences!

-Louie

3d Printed Shell Game!

A while ago, I made a set of natural shells and then made a silicone mold of them. I used that mold to make a bunch of resin shells for a shell game workshop. One of those resin shells recently got 3d scanned and I’ve started printing them!

These are a great beginner set or set to throw in your backpack to carry around and not beat up a nicer set.

You can find or more or order a set at:
https://www.magicshow.tips/shell-game/

-Louie

A New Routine with a Block

This is an idea I had a while ago, and 3d printed it:

This is a three phase mental magic type routine. I read someone’s mind, then they read my mind, then a magic trick happens. I took it to a magic meet up and here’s what the magicians think of it:

Billy McComb, in one of his books, mentions an easy way to create new routines is to combine two tricks. I think his example is a thumb tie and card to wallet. The block trick I came up with combines the Color Vision Block with a super old stage magic trick. I don’t think people are expecting the part that uses the old stage magic effect, and by the time that part is revealed, I’m way ahead of them. Also, people newer into magic may not recognize it as it’s not really used much anymore.

-Louie

Snake Basket Demo!

The snake basket that I’ve been building is finally starting to take shape! I have a completely functional version of it! Here’s what it looks like:

I’m going to make a small change to the code. I’m going to add a three second delay after the button push for the action to take place. I want to be able to have some physical distance between my hands and body when the actions take place.

-Louie

Embracing the Real Moments

Last week when I was performing at a comedy club, I had a drop during the Hoop and Cup. When it happened, a kid from the audience said something. Here’s what happened:

When someone says something in the show, I try to lean into it. It’s a real moment and something that makes that show unique. Many magicians would shut the kid down with a hack line like, “I checked, and you don’t have a speaking part in the show,” or whatever. Personally, I hate lines like that, and I think 99% of shows could benefit by embracing real, spontaneous things that happen. Yes, there are times you need to shut it down because it’s going now where, however, you usually should explore it first.

The Stop Trick

In my collection of old magic stuff, I had a pack of FAKO cards. This is a deck of gaffed cards and novelty cards.

The pack I had was just the cards without the booklet, so I’m not 100% positive as to what tricks the cards do. One of the cards has a big stop sign on it, and here’s what I’ve been doing with it:

It’s just a second deal until they say stop, and then a timing force for the second time. Every time I do it, the person has a great reaction when they see the card!

-Louie