Tag: close up magic

Roving Magic Show Set List

Here’s what my props for a roving magic set look like:

The bottom row is my card routine, which is modular and can run anywhere from about 90 seconds to 7+ minutes. The top row are the other props that I use. Everything goes into my pockets except for the empty chop cup.

The top row is the fortune teller (it’s in my PCAM lecture notes), then my Out for Beers trick, three shell game and a chop cup. The nice thing about these props is that there’s a lot of texture I can have with my roving magic set. The opening is always the card routine, then the next trick depends on the group.

-Louie

Chop Cup Thoughts

Yesterday I posted about my new sequence for the chop cup, go read that and watch the video before reading this post, as I’m going to write about a few things in that post.

Here’s what I like about that routine:

1: It doesn’t use the standard chop cup move of shaking the cup with the ball, or in this case a die

2: It’s not presented as a “where is the ball,” but as what will happen to it.

3: Once the routine starts, I never go to my pocket.

For me, the big thing is that I want to remove the going to the pocket element during the routine. If you keep going to the pocket, the audience knows that’s where the big ball or die comes from. Don’t fool yourself that repeatedly going to the pocket fools them, they may not have known when you snuck it in there, but they do know where it came from.

-Louie

A New Chop Cup Routine

Last week I started working on a new sequence with a chop chop. Here’s what it looks like:

The cool thing about performing at a fair is that I get a lot of opportunities to try out different sequences to find what I like. This is what the routine looked like at the end of last week, and then in a few days I’ll be starting at a new fair and really deciding if this is what I want the final (for now) routine to look like.

-Louie
PS: Click here if you want to learn more about how I work on trick in my show.

Learn a Chop Cup Routine

Here’s a simple chop cup routine that you can learn, and do with any standard chop cup.

What I like about this routine, over many chop cup routines, is that I only go to the pocket once, and it’s not immediately before the production of the eight ball.
-Louie

Simple Chop Cup Routine

an eight ball, dice and dice cup for the chop cup magic trick

When I made a small batch of dice chop cups last week, people asked me for a video. Honestly, I thought everyone knew what a chop cup does, but I was wrong. If you don’t know what a chop cup is, it’s a gimmicked cup that will hold out a ball, or in this case dice.

Typically, this is one with one visible ball; however, in routines like my CeeLo routine, it uses three visible dice. How the normal routine goes is that a ball keeps disappearing and reappearing under a cup, then at the end, there’s a giant ball or whatever under the cup.

Here’s a quick video of a chop cup routine that I made for the people who asked:

I was just improving and did this sequence. It’s actually a pretty good sequence; it has a lot of effects.
1: Teleportation: Die goes from pocket to under the cup
2: Penetration: Die goes through the top of the cup
3: Vanish: Die disappears from my hand
4: Production: Eight ball appears

That’s a lot of magic in less than 20 seconds!

-Louie

What is the Greatest Packet Trick of All Time?

Of the hundreds of packets tricks I’ve learned and tried, last week I took out an old one that I really haven’t done since I was a teenager, and was amazed at how much people loved it! That packet trick is COLOR MONTE!

While it’s not my style to do, I also can’t deny how great it is! It’s really the sponge balls of packet tricks!

There’s so much action in it; you get a lot of magic effects in a short amount of time. Plus it has a story that’s easy to follow and makes sense. Not some wacky story about bigfoot or splitting breakfast with a football team.

This post is just a shout out to an amazing routine!

-Louie

Easy App Magic Trick without a Magic App!

It’s no secret that while I have used phone based app magic, I’m not a huge fan of them. They are frequently abandoned by the creator once sales slow down or are affected by a lack of internet connectivity. Recently, I posted about a trick with my phone that doesn’t go the traditional magic app route. Here’s what the first version of the trick looked like:

The first version needed some double lifts, which is fine, but I learned they are totally unnecessary. There’s no reason to have them, and they could be eliminated with a slight adjustment. Taking them out, really streamlined the trick, and the adjustment allows me to do it with a borrowed deck!

This is a good example of looking at a trick and trying to improve it past the “it works” phase to make it work better!

-Louie

A Simple Cell Phone Magic Trick

Personally, I don’t like using my cellphone for magic tricks. It’s too easy for an audience to say something is an app or AI. The other reason is that so many magic specific apps get abandoned by their creators, and they just stop working.

Here’s a little magic trick that I came up with that uses a cell phone:

The video above was the test of the trick, I’ve tightened it up and removed all the double lifts from it.

Honestly Evaluating The Magic Trick

What I like about this is that it doesn’t use any magic apps, so I’m not relying on some magician in their basement in Alabama to keep it updated!

What I don’t like about it, is that the effect is fairly slow. Removing the double lifts speeds it up a lot and takes out a lot of unnecessary process.

One last thing, I found the trick is stronger when it’s repeated a second time!

When creating magic tricks, I think it’s important to evaluate what’s going one. Figure out what you like and don’t like and what makes it hit harder for the audience. Try things, take risks. .

-Louie

Fun Origami Magic Trick!

In the summer, I frequently work with Jeremey the Juggler, who is a juggler, but also an origami master (I’m not sure if that’s an official title). One day he mentioned that he made an origami box that just happened to kinda do a magic trick.

Here’s his video:

I’ve helped him in the past with a tutorial, you can see it here!

When he mentioned this to me, I took a piece of paper from a magazine and made one and came up with a little routine with things in my hotel room:

There’s really not much to do the trick. A false transfer and use your arm to cover you loading the object on top of the box. Then use the box to do the second vanish.

It’s a quick, fun little sequence that appeals to magicians and origami people.

-Louie

Close Up magic in Spanish

This summer, I’ve really been trying to speak Spanish more when performing close up magic for groups where that is their native language. I perform in California a lot, so I encounter groups that don’t really speak English frequently. I’ve been working on my Spanish for the last few years using Duolingo, and I can safely say that I’m not conversational; however, I can communicate!

When I approach a group, I can tell them why I’m talking to them, what I do, and I can tell them what I need them to do during the trick. In close up magic, I don’t really have any jokes in Spanish, I do have a couple in my stage show.

The trick that got my into close up in Spanish was Emerson and West’s Gourmet Mouse! This can be easily narrated, and the picture cards help tell the story. I kept working and I can do my normal close up set (mostly)!

With things like Duolingo, or whatever, you really don’t have an excuse not to know a bit of a second language. Even when you don’t speak it well, it shows that you’re trying and I think audiences really appreciate that!

-Louie