coin in ball of yarn – MagicShow.Tips

Always Tweaking…

In my show yesterday I did the Object in Ball of Yarn with the fishing pole using a different switch than I had previously used. The switch worked, however I wasn’t 100% happy with it. I felt like it was a little too dirty. Sure the audience didn’t know, but I think it could be … Continue reading “Always Tweaking…”

In my show yesterday I did the Object in Ball of Yarn with the fishing pole using a different switch than I had previously used. The switch worked, however I wasn’t 100% happy with it. I felt like it was a little too dirty. Sure the audience didn’t know, but I think it could be cleaner.

The audience knows when something is not quite right. They may not know what happened, or even really consciously know that something isn’t right, but they can sense it. Like when you go into your case to grab something , but you are also doing something else secret and that grab takes a second longer than it should. The audience feels that. If you have too many of those moments, they’ll start to add up.

I think recognizing that you have moments that aren’t quite right and fixing separates the good acts from the just okay acts. It’s that little bit of care that that helps move your magic to the next level.

Audience Getting Ahead of You…

Sometimes in comedy the audience gets to the punchline before the comedian says it. When the audience gets ahead of in magic, it can really build a finish for the trick because they have time to process the trick. This shortens or eliminates the lag that happens after the Ta-Dah and before the applause.

The Object in Ball of Yarn that I’m working on right now, when the revelation happens, I think the audience already knows what’s in the ball of yarn. From watching the audience and the person onstage, when the paper is revealed tied to the end, the know it’s the drawing from earlier. Frequently the person will say, “it’s my drawing” before it’s untied from the end of the yarn and I have to prod them to unfold it. At that point we’re just confirming what they already know.

With the audience so far ahead of the trick, it can do a switch of the paper at a time where there’d be too much heat in other tricks. This opens up the technical side of the trick to using bigger paper, which will make it much more visible!

Fishing Pole and the Ball of Yarn…

One of my favorite things is figuring out magic tricks. A couple of days ago I made fishing pole reel to wind up the yarn from the coin in the ball of yarn trick. Yesterday I used it in a show and learned a few things about it.

First my method of attaching the yarn to the string needed improvement. The yarn was threaded through a small hole and then knots were tied in the yarn to keep in from pulling back through the hole. Well, the knot pulled itself through the hole. I’ll need to either tie a lot more knots, tie something to the end that’s larger than the hole, or simply just tie it around a post. This is an easy fix.

Second thing that I learned was that while my pole is collapses, I should have it fully extended before the show. It’s a waste of time to have it extend it, and I also use an extendable pole in my show, so I don’t want a feeling of duplication.

The final thing that I need to do is to change the method for the trick. Right now I’m using Vernet Magic’s amazing trick The Yarn as my method for making the billet appear on the end. This is a great method for getting the billet on the end of the string when the trick is done in your hands. Unfortunately using a five foot fishing pole has created an unanticipated challenge when the string is five feet from your hand. I’m solving this by changing the method for this trick, and the bonus of the new method is that the trick will play a lot larger!

I love that this fishing pole is in my show, and I’m hoping that I can figure out both the technical part and the presentation part so it stays in my show!

Another Idea Becomes Reality…

There are magic tricks that I’ve always been fascinated by and wanted to do in my show. Over the years some of these tricks have been in a version of my show and having done them, I don’t need to do them again. There are other tricks that I keep revisiting, trying to find a … Continue reading “Another Idea Becomes Reality…”

There are magic tricks that I’ve always been fascinated by and wanted to do in my show. Over the years some of these tricks have been in a version of my show and having done them, I don’t need to do them again. There are other tricks that I keep revisiting, trying to find a way to make them work for me. One of those tricks is Coin in Ball of Yarn.

The basic effect is that a borrowed or marked item disappears and reappears inside of a ball of yarn. There are a lot of ways to do this effect, and a lot of ways to present it. Usually the method dictates whether the ball of yarn can be shown before the trick has started or not, which will affect how the trick is presented.

Years ago I was working on an Object in Ball of Yarn and wanted a fishing pole for the person to be able to reel in the yarn. Unfortunately commercially made fishing pole reels aren’t designed to handle yarn. A fly fishing reel almost works, but they are too small to hold a meaningful quantity of yarn. I hand built a contraption on a vintage hand drill that reeled in yarn, but was super heavy, hard to work (for someone in the audience) and ugly as heck.

About a month ago I started working on a new version of Object in Ball of Yarn and a friend of mine suggested that I use a fishing pole. I told him that they don’t work for yarn. He suggested I make one using old movie film reels. Then it hit me, I have a 3D Printer, why not just print it out and it will be exactly how I want it to be. Here’s what I printed out yesterday:

It finished printing out last night and I tried it out this morning and I’m happy to report it works great! The nice thing is that the fishing pole is made from a “travel fishing pole”, so it collapses and easily fits in my luggage. Another prop that I have for this trick is bowl to hold the yarn, and this bowl has a fitting on it to screw into a mic stand. Between the fishing pole that collapses and not having to travel with a stand for the bowl, this is becoming a pack medium, play big routine!

Coin Size…

Recently someone asked me about what size coins I use. Personally I use silver dollar size coins, and I believe you should too. The reason is simple, they are bigger and more visible. There’s really no reason to use anything smaller. Sure some things are easier with smaller coins, but if you take that argument … Continue reading “Coin Size…”

Sure some things are easier with smaller coins, but if you take that argument to cards you’ll see it wrong. Poker sized cards are what 99% of magicians use, however there are bridge size cards which hardly anyone uses for magic. These cards are smaller making a lot of card magic easier with them.

Currently it’s easier than ever to get gimmicked coins custom made and they aren’t that much more expensive than standard gimmicked coins. If you wanted a larger size gimmicked coin you can do that. You’re no longer limited to what’s a stock item.

You owe it to yourself and your audience to use dollar sized coins…Unless you are making an artistic choice to use a smaller coin. For example my coin in bottle routine uses a half dollar, but there is a reason I’m using that coin in the presentation. This also doesn’t apply if you are using a borrowed coin for something like coin in ball of yarn.

Borrowed Item Production Before the Item Vanishes…

There’s a trick I’ve always wanted to do, but it’s never played how I want it to. The trick is object in ball of yarn. Over the years I’ve done it in various form, like coin or dollar bill. I know why it doesn’t play (for me) is that once the coin is gone, it’s … Continue reading “Borrowed Item Production Before the Item Vanishes…”

There’s a trick I’ve always wanted to do, but it’s never played how I want it to. The trick is object in ball of yarn. Over the years I’ve done it in various form, like coin or dollar bill. I know why it doesn’t play (for me) is that once the coin is gone, it’s not a surprise where it will reappear when the ball of yarn comes out.

About a year ago I thought, what if the ball of yarn is being unraveled before the dollar disappears? Would that make it more of a mystery when the dollar is on the end? I think it does.

One hurdle I’ve hit is a presentation one, why are they unraveling the yarn in the first place? I played with it being a race, if they could unravel the yarn before I completed a task, they got the dollar. This felt too manufactured.

Another hurdle is how to make the dollar disappear. I don’t use fire, so burning isn’t an option. I dislike the idea of a shredder because the item doesn’t disappear. Ideally the vanish would be subtle. Like the bill is folded up and dropped in a glass, then after the dollar reappears in the yarn, it’s gone from the glass.

I’m not sure the direction this will take, but I think it’s a great idea.