MagicShow.Tips – Page 16 – A daily blog about magic by Louie Foxx

Magic Show Prop Box

For my show this summer that I’ll be doing at libraries and summer camps, I wanted to dedicated prop box for it. I found this old RC Cola box at a junk shop. The guy wanted way too much for it, but I talked him down to where it made sense as I didn’t want it as an advertising collectible, I just wanted it as a box.

Once I got the box home I covered it with black fabric, added metal corners and changed the hinges. Here’s what it looks like now:

This was a quick, easy way to make a prop box for the summer magic show. It doesn’t need to last for years, just 3 months!

-Louie

Out of Town – Shipping Notice

**The daily blog will continue to be updated below this pinned post**

This is a quick heads up that I’m out of town today (5/2/25) through May 9th, 2025.

No orders will ship during that period or work on products will happen while I’m away. In stock items will ship on Monday 5/12/25.

**The daily blog will continue to be updated below this pinned post**

The Moisture Festival Podcast – Live from the 2025 festival part 2

This episode is part 2 of the LIVE podcasts at week one of the 2025 Moisture Festival!

In this episode Louie chats with acts appearing at the festival. This is a great episode to meet new additions to the Moisture Festival family!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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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

Mystery School Monday

Last night I was the guest on Jeff McBride’s Mystery School Monday. I think that Jeff said they’ve been doing these Monday meetings for something like 15 years!

It was great to be talk to magicians about who I am and what I do. We talked about performing at fairs, vintage magic tricks and why to perform shows at retirement communities.

I also got to talk about my “That Way More” presentation for the ambitious card. I always love sharing this trick and explaining WHY it is the way it is. If you’re a Mystery School member last night’s meeting should be in the archive.

-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

Gold at the End of the Rainbow!

These gold coins are simply Eisenhauer dollar coins that I painted gold. They are for my summer library show.

My show is about colors and have a magic wand that I painted like a rainbow. At the end of the rainbow is a pot of gold, so I’m going to produce a coin from the end of the rainbow magic wand. Then I’ll produce multiple coins (with the Sylvester Pitch), then do a series of vanishes and productions with a single coin that ends with the production of a jumbo coin.

I always try to have some sort of a sleight of hand sequence in my family show. It’s a way I can show that I can do the stuff and it’s not just prop driven. While this isn’t 100% necessary, I do this for me!

-Louie

Breakaway Flower

Another prop for my summer library show is a breakaway flower. This is like the old breakaway wand comedy prop, but it’s flower.

It does have one other bonus bit to it, the top flower separates from the stem. They are attached by a magnet. The idea for the routine will be that the flower is going to disappear. It breaks and it put it back together a few times. Then the flower separates from the stem. I toss the flower in the air and it disappear, but the kids notice it’s stuck to my butt. The flower finally disappears (in a devils hank?) and reappears somewhere else.

Nothing super crazy here, but a way to theme the breakaway wand from a comedy prop that’s added to a routine, to it being one of the main props for the routine.

-Louie

Hand Held Microphones

In my audio box I have a lot of things, one of them is an extra handheld microphone. This is a Shure SM58 that has an on/off switch. The reason I have the switch is so that sound guy can leave that channel on and I simply switch in on or off as needed. That way I won’t have the delay of the sound guy realizing I’m using the mic and him turning the channel on.

If the venue has a handheld with an on/off switch I will use theirs. However I did an event recently and their handheld microphone sounded like talking into a marshmallow that was inside of a metal can. I plugged my Shure SM58 into their cord and it was much better sounding!

It doesn’t take much to travel with that in my audio box and it comes in handy much more often than you’d think!

-Louie