close up magic – Page 4 – MagicShow.Tips

The Miracle Pad by Mike Giles

A while ago I came across the Miracle Pad that was put out by Mike Giles. I remember being a teenager when this came out. I think in the late 1990’s this was something like $60 or $75, which was a lot of money for a close up pad!

This is a fancy close up pad, and it will facilitate a production of four half dollars and a jumbo coin.

I’m playing with it and the routine that I came up with is a matrix, that ends with a production of four coins and the jumbo coin. My routine isn’t quite at straight forward as you’d expect it to be with this prop. I had to add in an additional think to make it happen.

I never really intended to use the Miracle Pad as a gimmick. I put a table base on it and it’s my close up magic table that I use with projection. Since I had it with me on the ship I’m performing on, I got to playing with it.

Honestly I don’t think I’ll ever use it as a gimmicked pad in my shows, but it’s fun to play with!

-Louie

MAK Magic’s Mint Condition

My best guess is in the late 1990’s MAK Magic put out Mint Condition. This is an expanded shell coin that had the back of the coin on the inside. That allows you to show both sides of the shell when it’s empty.

I’ll admit that when it came out I thought it was a dumb idea. It was an improvement that didn’t really improve how a shell coin is used. For most close up magic, I still think it’s not necessary.

The place where this coin is great it for social media videos. Where is someone knows about a shell coin, it removes that when you show both sides of the coin. Social media is a great place for things that correct little details in magic tricks that are overkill for an in person performance.

The other thing is that I don’t think that Mint Condition was a huge seller, as a there’s not a lot of mentions of it when I do a Google Search and I can’t recall seeing one pop up on a used magic site. I guess them being uncommon is good for people who are using them!

-Louie

It’s the Same Trick!

Last summer when I decided to build up my TikTok account, I was told that posting consistently was the key. Posting something everyday is a ton of work and it burns a lot of material. I didn’t want to post just the current new trick that everyone was doing. What I settled on was original material and historical (vintage) material. I’ve been having a lot of fun with the vintage magic tricks! For the original stuff, I’ve found that I can get more mileage out of things if I can use the same trick in different forms.

Here’s an example of a packet trick with cards that I came up with:

@louiefoxx the purple #cardtrick #magictrick #cardmagic #magician #purple ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

And to get more than one video out of it, here’s the same trick done with money:

@louiefoxx What’s up with stocks? #stocks #stockmarket #money #magictrick #magician #magic ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

For me this is a great way to get double the mileage out of something! Not only that, but it helps me create magic that’s not card tricks!

-Louie

Lucky Penny Magic Trick

A trick I’ve been doing as part of my EDC magic is signed penny to key fob. The effect is a signed coin ends up permanently sealed inside of a “lucky coin” holder on your keychain. The nice thing about this is that it’s almost 100% self contained. I have everything I need to do the trick on my keychain, except a marker.

I’ve been using my original first design for a little bit and spent a little bit of time other day tweaking the design. The colors are just what was in the printer and have nothing to do with the design, besides making it easier to tell them apart.

The first redesign was good, the second was better and the third was a huge step backwards. I went back to the second redesign and it was the best of the three. That’s the great thing about 3D printing, it’s easy to tweak designs to get them where you want them!

-Louie

A Shuffle and a Cut to Order!

I’ve been playing with some shuffle sequences. You can see one of them at this blog post from a few days ago called Red / Black Separation. In a natural extension of that shuffle sequence I came up with what I’m calling A Shuffle and a Cut to Order.

Here’s what it looks like:

@louiefoxx Shuffle and a cut to order! #cardtrick #magictrick #shuffle #cards #poker #magic #magician ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

I like the progressive nature of this routine where the cards go from shuffled, to separated by color to finally them all in new deck order! The trick has three different beats to it (but not three effects) which I like and each builds upon the previous. The other night thing about this over the previous Red/Black Separation is that this is much easier to do!

I’m glad I kept playing with this!

-Louie

Why Jrod Illusion is an A-hole

Sometimes “working” magicians are pieces of sh*t. I posted a video of a trick with bills on TikTok, and Joe Rodiguez (Jrod Illusions) decides to post how he thinks it works. That’s part of TikTok’s game with magic videos for amateur magicians and I understand that and am OK with that. But when a supposed working magician exposes stuff, it’s makes me want to post on all of their videos how they do stuff. I won’t because that gives them engagement, which is TikTok gold.

OK, so here’s the video:

@louiefoxx The Eighty Dollar Trick! #magictrick #money #twenty #magic ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

Ok, you’ve seen the video, now here’s his comment:

Here’s the problem with his comment…he’s 100% wrong. Like a beginner magician should know there are no magnets involved in the trick…and he calls himself a professional. It really makes me wonder about the quality of the material of his show based on the lack of knowledge displayed in that comment. While I haven’t seen his show, I would suspect it’s pretty much garbage tricks done poorly by someone who doesn’t understand magic. I could be wrong, and that’s just my opinion.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on Joe Rodiguez (Jrod Illusions).

-Louie

Red / Black Separation

I’ve always like red / black separation card effects. I think it’s because when I was a teenager I saw a John Mendoza VHS tape where he did a routine called “the squeeze” or something like that. The effect was a deck was shuffled and kept going back to red/black order.

Over the years I’ve done several versions of this in my close up magic. The other night I was playing with a version that I had come up with as an offshoot of something else I was working on.

Here’s what it looks like:

@louiefoxx Two shuffles, that’s all. #cardtrick #magic #cardmagic #magictrick #cards #shuffle ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

Then ending where they separate into suits I like, but not sure that to non-magicians that payoff is any better than just red/black. Also I think it needs three phases. The first two could simply be shuffles into red/black. Maybe the second shuffle is a zarrow and up the ladder cut?

I’ll play with it more and actually try it on someone this week to see if it plays well.

– Louie

The Card Clothespin!

Here’s a quick little novelty card reveal that I’ve wanted to do for a while, I just never have a clothes pin:

You can download the instructions on how to make the trick here:

The Card Clothespin Download

If you make one, let me know how it plays for you!

-Louie

Jazzier Aces

A couple of months ago I published Elmsley Plus count in Vanish Magazine. This is a way to do a face up Elmsley Count and not show the same card twice. It’s a little tweak that will make tricks where you have to pass the first and fourth card of the count as different cards hold up better on video.

A good example is Peter Kane’s Jazz Aces.

@louiefoxx Cleaning up an old magic trick! #cardtrick #magic #magictrick #cards #aces #kings #update #vintagemagic ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

If you post a video there and there’s a discrepancy like showing two of the same card when there shouldn’t be two of them, people will mention that in the comments. The routine above passed the TikTok test with no one noticing the method behind the Elmsley Plus count. I think the reason it works is that the count shows exactly what the audience thinks they should be seeing.

Is using a gaffed card to remove the discrepancy in an Elmsley Count worth it? For recorded video, YES! In a live show I don’t think it’s necessary.

-Louie

Is ACAAN a Boring Effect?

With all the buzz about the Atomic Deck and magicians arguing whether ACAAN is a good trick or not, it got me thinking about why magicians are fascinated by ACAAN.

Here’s my theory why magicians are into it, there’s really only one way to do it and that’s a memorized deck and a displacement. That method isn’t easy to do and beyond the reach of a beginner magician. Most magicians are lazy and don’t want to put in the work, so selling a method that’s “easy” for something that’s beyond most magicians skill level solves a problem and leads to sales.

That’s it, it’ makes the difficult attainable for people who don’t want to put in the work.

The problem is there compromises that are made to make the trick easy that change the trick from an Any Card At Any Number to something else. Usually a Selected Card at a Any Number, or Any Card at Selected Number or combination of the two. There’s nothing specifically wrong with those effects, but they’re not ACAAN.

The things added to make the trick easy take away what makes the trick amazing, and that’s how simple the trick is. Name a card, name a number and boom the card is there. Not name a card, now roll these dice, multiply that by nine and add 13, now deal to the number and your card is there. The added procedure kills the effect. Magicians who think the plot is boring are bored by the added procedure that makes the trick easy.

Magicians love to say, “it’s not the effect it’s the presentation that matters” are the same ones that say ACAAN is boring. Those are the magicians that aren’t putting in the work. The effect matters! What would you rather have:

1: Strong effect with a weak presentation
2: Weak effect with a strong presentation
3: Strong effect with strong presentation

I think we can all agree that number 3 is the goal. That means you need to put in the work!
-Louie