Peeking Behind the 3d Curtain…

Last week at the KAX Conference I was part of a panel talking about 3d printing. One of the things that a lot of people think that 3d printing going to be hard to do. It’s pretty easy, it can get complex, but for what most performers are doing, it’s easy. I made a quick video on how to make a holder for a thumb tip and a dollar bill for inside of your case:

https://youtu.be/cSoRNDiOChQ

Taking a peek behind the curtain of 3d printing hopefully will take some of the mystery out of it. It’s really changed my life, instead of having to make props out of found objects or cardboard, I get exactly what I want!

Test Firing the Cannon!

Over the last couple of days I designed and built a tiny cannon that will shoot out a flea in a flea circus. I picked up some flash paper and finally got to try it out and it worked! It’s always a good feeling when something translates from your head to a physical prop easily.

If you’re not 3d printing props, you are really missing out. Basically within 3 hours of chatting about making a flea cannon I had one in my hand. The video below has a little overview on the 3d printing process as well as a demo of the flea cannon.

If you don’t have a 3d printer, you are really missing out!

Large Three Shell Game…

One of the silver linings of the current “social distancing” is that I’m able to get work on some of my back burner projects, things that I aren’t a priority, but would like to get done. In the past, I have made a couple of giant shells for the three shell game out of a resin, but used a casting method to where the shells weren’t uniform. I’ve wanted to make a set where the shells inside and out were more uniform.


Yesterday I 3D printed a giant shell which will be the original that the other shells will be made from.

Giant Walnut for shell game

The next step is to make a silicone mold and cast them in resin. I’ll probably put a magnet in them so that they handle more like a chop cup than a shell game set.

Ideas Become Reality…

I’ve been keeping notebooks for idea for magic since I was a teenager. Most of the ideas from the early ones are horrible, but every now and then I’ll flip through them and find something interesting. About 10 years ago I had an idea for a trick, but it was missing something that would make … Continue reading “Ideas Become Reality…”

I’ve been keeping notebooks for idea for magic since I was a teenager. Most of the ideas from the early ones are horrible, but every now and then I’ll flip through them and find something interesting. About 10 years ago I had an idea for a trick, but it was missing something that would make it functional.


I was running at the gym and notice something triggered an “ah-ha moment” that made the idea work. When I got home, I created the two parts on my 3D printer and printed them up. Here’s one of them in the CAD Program:

And here’s the other one that’s printed out:

Now that I have these two pieces, I’ve assembled the trick and am happy to report that the trick works!


The sad news is that in the 10 years since I had the idea my performing style has changed a lot and this really doesn’t fit how I perform. However it’s been in my head for so long, I’m going to keep developing it at home and try to figure out a way to make it work.


TLDR: Always keep an eye out for solutions to a problem