close up magic – Page 15

New Magic Trick by Louie Foxx

I’m excited to release my first card trick in a long time, this is called Placeholder!

Effect: You show a deck of cards that’s in new deck order. A card is selected, but kept in place in the deck of cards, so the whole deck stays in order. Now the spectator spreads the cards and their card is now blank card in its place in the deck that’s in new deck order!

One of the the things that this routine solves when using a special deck is how to get that deck in play without. In this routine the deck of cards is in order and stays in order throughout the trick, so you can openly take out the deck and there’s a reason why it’s not used for everything else and that it’s in order and you need to keep it that way.

Here’s a demo of the Placeholder routine:

Right now I’m having an introductory sale on Placeholder. It will retail for $20, however now through May 31, 2024 you can get it for only $15 with USA shipping included!

For more information or to order Placeholder visit:
https://www.magicshow.tips/placeholder/

-Louie

Self Vanishing Headphones by Ellusionist

Way back in June I put together a quick little sequence with my Airpods. There’s nothing crazy here, it’s a sponge ball sequence and a matrix move. However it’s a solid impromptu sequence.

@louiefoxx Airpod trick! The 10 and 2! #airpod #headphone #appleairpod #apple #trick #10and2 #sleightofhand #louiefoxx #magic #magician #technology ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

I think that needs more and a while ago at a magic club meeting someone had Ellusionist’s Self Vanishing Headphones. Here’s what the trick looks like:

They are describing the trick as a modern ball vase, however they totally missed what makes the ball and vase great. In the ball and vase you can take the ball out of the vase, you can’t take the airpods out of the case. I altered my case by drilling some holes in it so that it can actually hold the Airpods.

Now I’m able to do the classic ball vase where I take out the Airpods, put them in my pocket, they reappear in the case, then vanish from the case and reappear in my pocket. Now it’s a ball vase. That’s not what I do with the trick, but with the simple addition of adding some holes to it so that it actually holds the Airpods makes the prop soo much more versatile!

Whenever I get a gimmick, I always try to think of how it could be better for me and what I want to do with it. Being able to start my routine with the Airpods in the case is HUGE!

-Louie

Getting Them Talking About My Show!

When I was at an industry tradeshow on Wednesday pitching my show, one of the things I did at my booth was my card routine. This is the meat of the close up magic that I perform. It’s basically a multiple revelation of a signed card. It ends with the signed card as a sticker.

People at trade shows will usually put these on their shirt of badge and wear them all day. They end up being a walking billboard for me. people will ask them about the sticker and they’ll talk about me. I think I originally got the idea for having something visual that sticks around long after the trick from Michael Close. He talked about it in his lecture 20ish years ago and I think did a thing with a bill that turned to a bunny and left that with people.

When I’m at a booking trade show, especially when I’m new to the market, my goal is to get people talking about me. My sticker card trick is a great way to do that!

-Louie

Painting a Magic Prop…

One of the tricks I’m working on uses a fake lime slice. The one on the left is how I get them. It looks good, however the white rubs off fairly quickly and from a short distance it’s not obviously a lime.

For the one on the right I went to an art store and the lady there helped me pick out a paint to use that should be more permanent. So far the new white paint is holding up a lot better than the original paint.

Sometimes it’s the little things like white paint on a fake lime that makes a huge difference in the trick!

-Louie

Finger Off Extreme

I love fun little sight gags and Finger Off Extreme by Luca Bono is FANTASTIC! It’s a silly little gag where you pull you finger off.

@louiefoxx Sleight of hand!! #sleightofhand #magic #magictrick #pinky #degloved #louiefoxx #brokenbone #ouch #wtf ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

What’s great is the visual of the bone is soo unexpected. The trick isn’t hard to do, you do need to palm the piece, but that’s really not a big deal. The props are well made, the packaging is fun (if that’s important to you).

I highly recommend Finger Off Extreme!

You can get it at: https://kranzomagic.myshopify.com/products/finger-off-extreme-by-luca-bono

-Louie

Cards for Color Changing Card Backs

When I was buying some props at a Walmart I came across the Nertz game that is put out by Bicycle. It’s got different colors of the rider back cards. These would be great for making color changing card tricks. The only downside is that these appear to only come in jumbo index.

Cards for color changing backs magic trick

and a funny little thing that I noticed is on the back it lists all the colors and which ones are new. It lists red as a new color?!

If you’re working on a color changing card effect, I think it’s worth it to pick up a pack of these!

-Louie

News Spot

Here’s a news spot I did earlier this week:

It’s an OK media spot, not the best. They wanted 90 seconds, and I ran the card trick for the camera guy and producer and they wanted the whole routine, just done in 90-120 seconds. That made the spot rushed, I should have let most of the effects linger longer for displays of the card.

Then the camera work during the card trick missed a lot of things because it was tightening up when it should have been wider. All in all, it wasn’t a bad TV spot, but it wasn’t great.

-Louie

Linking Pins on Stage

In my close up set I do the linking safety pins and I love the trick. I’ve even gimmicked a larger set of about 5 inch pins to do the trick with. The 5 inch pins are good for about 30 people, there’s too small for a real stage show.

I found these giant safety pins and I think they’d be great for using on stage!

The challenge now is figuring out context to do them and getting more than a couple of minutes out of them. In my close up routine I use someone from the audience. Since I’m bringing someone onstage I really need to get at least 4-5 minutes out of the routine to make it worth the time it takes to get someone onstage.

In my writing this morning I had the idea of combining the linking pins with the thumb tie. The idea is the beginning phases will be my normal linking pin routine, then I’ll have my thumbs tied to “eliminate sleight of hand” and then the pins will end up going on and off my arms. That’s the idea, we’ll see how it plays when I get a chance to try it out!

-Louie

Part of the Team!

One of my favorite types of show are shows were there are a lot of other performers. It ultimately feels like more of a team effort and you’re not out there working alone. Sure, my time on stage I’m alone, but before show and after show it feels like a group effort!

That said, you can check me out on 3/16/24 at the Hermosa Community Theater in California. This should be a fun show as I don’t know any of the magicians that I’m on the bill with, so I’ll get to meet some new people and see some new acts!

-Louie

Doing a Bar Gig

I don’t do a lot of bar gigs anymore, I’m not opposed to them, but they don’t normally make sense with my schedule. Last week I headlined a comedy show at a speakeasy. It was a fun gig!

One of the skills you need for these gigs is to be able to follow any act. The act before me was a comic that was fairly blue, and I do a “TV clean” show, so there’s contrast and the audience has to shift mental gears from his style to mine. There’s nothing wrong with what he was doing, that’s his art. When there’s contrast like that, you need to come onstage with confidence, you’re bringing the audience into your world.

Before the show I always try to do some close up magic, that will have people in the audience already on your side!

The “green room” was in a back corner of the bar and the cool thing was I could watch the show on the TV!

Also I don’t normally have merch to sell at bar gigs, but I took some of my faux children’s books C is for Conspiracy: The ABC’s of Conspiracy Theories and pitched them from the stage.

They sold well after the show, so that was a bonus!!

Bar gigs have a lot of challenges, like sight lines, rowdy crowds, challenging stages, however I find them very rewarding as a performer. Because they are typically smaller venues you can connect with people a lot more than in a larger venue.

-Louie