Tag: magic trick

Professional Mouth Coils by Murphy’s Magic – REVIEW

In my children’s show, I use a mouth coil as the end of my ball manipulation sequence. I use the mouth coil as a production coil, so I don’t use the double loop ones like the David Cressey Mouth Coils, but the ones that are just a coil of paper. The ones I’ve used for years (decades?) are the Bazar de Magia mouth coils.

Recently I noticed that Murphy’s Magic is now making them called Professional Mouth Coils. I was running low on the ones I normally use, so I decided to give the Murphy’s Magic ones a try.

The coils look the same when coiled up, there is a slight texture difference that I can see. The picture below shows both of them inside of the case:

The main difference is that the Murphy’s ones are made from thinner paper than the Bazar de Magia ones. The Murphy’s are also ten feet longer, but both coils are pretty much the same size.

For me, the uncoiling action of the Bazar de Magia mouth coils works better. When the ball turns into the coil in my routine, I start by pulling on the end one long pull, then let gravity do its thing as my other hand catches it. I don’t let it fall on the floor. The main reason is that if kids are sitting on the floor, anyone not in the front row won’t be able to see the coil as it piles up. I think the Murphy’s mouth coils, being a lighter paper, don’t pull themselves out of the coil as well as the Bazar de Magia ones, which makes my catching hand have to do a lot more pulling initially.

For me, and how I use the mouth coils, the Bazar de Magia ones are the winner! They work better as a production coil in my hand. The Murphy’s mouth coils still work fine, but if I have a choice, I’ll grab the Bazar de Magia ones. If you produce them from your mouth, you may be looking for different characteristics than I am.

-Louie
PS: The first half of my ball routine is called Sankey’s Balls and in my lecture notes 2 pack. That part is my version of Balls In Net, which doesn’t use a net. The second half of my routine that uses the mouth coil is unpublished, but basically Percy Abbott’s Perpetual Balls with a couple of surprises thrown in.

Magic Trick Tip for the Fourth of July

One of the reasons I think most magicians shouldn’t do a “one off” show with special themed props is that if you don’t know about the prop and how to handle it, you can unintentionally be disrespectful. Yesterday was Independence Day in the USA, which is celebrated as the country’s birthday. In the USA, we have the US Flag Code, which defines what a flag is, how to hang it, and how to handle it. This is a law, but one that has no enforcement mechanism, so it’s basically etiquette.

Many performers slapped flags on their show for Independence Day and didn’t learn the basics of how a flag should be treated. I wrote this little facebook post:

PSA for “Patriotic” Performers

Many magicians and variety acts are posting pics of them doing magic with US Flags.

Please take a minute and read the US Flag Code. About 70% of the pics / video I’ve seen today are disrespectful to the US Flag.

Here’s a few quick pointers:

1: When displaying the flag (in most instances) the blue should in top left from the audience’s view

2: after producing the flag, do not crumple it up and toss it in your prop box. Respectfully fold up and place it whenever it belongs after the trick

3: Do not set things on top of the flag

4: A flag isn’t supposed to be clothes. (it may be too late for this)

5: do not use any “disposable” items with flags printed on them, like napkins or paper plates.

Don’t be a disrespectful to the US flag! A quick search for the “US Flag Code” will give you more in depth info, like if you want to learn more like how to properly display it on your car. Spoiler alert: 99% of pickup trucks with flags on them are in violation of the flag code.

I thought it was basically a pretty straight forward. If you’re going to honor something, learn it about it. Then I got this comment from Zach Dwyer:

zach dwyer magician

I’m not sure what triggered him, being wrong or what, but he immediately jumped to calling me names, instead of admitting he was wrong, or even letting it go.

Yes, the flag code is unenforceable, there are no penalties for violating it, but it is, in fact, a law.

Should You Do Magic Tricks with Symbolic Props?

In a larger context with performing, why would you use a prop or theme you don’t understand the rules for?

For example: doing a gig for a mosque and using a picture of Mohammad?

That’s an example of a trick that there’s no law stopping you from doing; however, it would be considered disrespectful. It’s a basic courtesy to treat the symbol how it is supposed to be treated.

When I get offered a gig, let’s say for Purim, I don’t do a special show for them, or add in a Purim trick, I do my show. The reason is that I don’t know about it and don’t want to offend anyone.

Great examples of a themed shows are Jack Spareribs Pirate Show or Master Payne’s Ren Faire show.

I should add that I’m all for intentional acts of disrespect. When Sinead O’Connor tore up the picture of the Pope, that was an intentional act. Whether I agree with it or not, she was making a statement.

I’ve always said that if I die because of someone else, I want them to have wanted to kill me. I don’t want to be killed because someone didn’t look before they turned and ran me over, and my death was an accident. If someone kills me, I don’t want it to be a “whoops”; I’d like it to have some purpose to at least that person. Also, I should note that in a perfect world, I wouldn’t die because of someone else.

OK, so that’s a long post to say, if you use a prop that has symbolism, learn about how to respectfully handle it!

-Louie

Library Magic Show Props

We’re at the end of the summer and the Summer Reading Library shows are done. Here’s look at the props that I have on my person during the non-themed library magic show:

And here are the props in my prop bin:

This show had a pretty simple set up, it took about 15 mins to set and strike the show. The non-themed show had elements of other shows that I do, so it was like a “greatest hits” and was fun to do!

-Louie

“I Know This Trick”

A topic that comes up every now and then in social media magic groups is what to do when a kid says, “I know that trick”. Most of the advice given views the kid as a heckler and suggests lines like:
“There are thousands of tricks, how could you know”
“I checked the script, and you don’t have a speaking part”
Lines that try to shut down what the kid says.

This happened at a library show recently, here’s what went down:

The kid wasn’t heckling; it was them simply saying that they want to see the trick! In the video, you can hear how excited the kid was when I said I was going to do the trick.

Try not to look at everything a kid says in your show as a heckle, 95% of the time, it’s not, you’re just hearing it that way. You need to step back and really look at the situation.

-Louie

Card Man Stuff by Al Leech

I picked up the booklet Card Man Stuff by Al Leech recently and I’m digging it!

Card Man Stuff by Al Leech

The stuff in it is older school card magic, and the clunkiness, I think, can be easily fixed. For example, he used the cut deeper force to have a card selected, and that’s a move that I really dislike. I think the problem with that force is that when the cards aren’t in face up and face down clumps, it kinda gives it away. There are better forces that can be done in its place.

The first trick is the production of a four of a kind, and that naturally flows into the second trick, which is a transposition of the two four of a kind sets of cards. I like things in books that can be routines that flow from one to the next to eliminate set up in the second trick, but still work as stand alone magic tricks if needed.

Despite the clunkiness, the tricks are pretty direct, which I like!

-Louie

Chopped Weed Nugs

Yesterday I wrote a post about doing a Chop Cup with a film can and “weed nugs”. What I was using for fake weed looked really green. It’s probably been over two decades since I’ve seen what they look like in real life, so I had to consult a friend of mine who partakes in that marijuana. He agreed and sent me some pictures of what they should look like.

The one on the right is the bright green one, and the one on the left is one after I gave it a dusting of a couple of colors of paint.

marijuana magic trick

I think the one on the left looks way better, not perfect, but good enough to sell the premise to an audience. Things like getting the color of a nugget of weed is one of the challenges of magic prop building that magicians don’t normally think about. I don’t want the chopped weed nugs to look so bad that it takes people mentally out of the presentation hook of the routine.

I’m not sure where I’ll ever do this routine. I have an idea for the presentation that I think works. I personally don’t smoke marijuana, and am not involved in that culture. When performing, my persona is more clean cut, so pretending this is mine doesn’t work. I needed to come up with a routine that doesn’t feel fake. I’ll probably write a blog post about how I intend to present this sometime in the future.

-Louie

Weed Chop Cup

Since I released my Film Can Dice Force, I have a ton of film cans kicking around and have been playing on a chop cup with a film can and “weed nugs”.

chop cup with weed

I’m trying to work out the most efficient way to arrange everything for what I want to do:
1: The magnet is in the film can, and the weed nug has a shim
2: The film can has a shim, and a magnet is in the weed nug
3: The film can and nug both have a magnet

These props are kinda unique, as the fake weed nugs have really no weight to them. So it’s hard to build inertia to dislodge them. The little bit of weight that a traditional ball has really makes a huge difference in how hard you have to set down the film can.

These little challenges make prop building much harder than people think.

-Louie

Magic Trick Box for $25

On a leap of faith I bought a box of vintage magic tricks for $25 while I was in California. I didn’t really know what was going to be inside of it, but I figured it was worth the gamble. Here’s what was in it:

There wasn’t one thing that totally blew me away. The box was definitely worth more than the $25 I paid for it, but not a crazy score.

I’m lucky that I was able to fit everything into my suitcase. A couple of the things are going to move to my shelf!

-Louie

Tommy Wonder’s Card in Ring Box

Tommy wonder card in ring box by jm craft

The other day, I started playing with Tommy Wonder’s Card in Ring Box. This prop is detailed in Tommy Wonder’s book The Books of Wonder. The effect is pretty straightforward, it’s a signed card to ring box. What makes it cool is that the audience sees the card drop out of the ring box.

Before I give my review of this, I should mention that I didn’t pay for it. I don’t know if that really affects how I feel about this, but figured I should mention that.

I took it out and gave it a try at the fair I’m performing out, here’s a peek at it in action:

@louiefoxx The Card In Ringbox is a vintage Tommy Wonder magic trick idea! #cardtrick #magictrick #magic #tommywonder #jmcraft ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

The box looks great, and the measurements are what is in the Books of Wonder. I really like it, and I think it works great for doing a card under a box, then ending with the folded card in the ring box.

My only issue with the box is how the card is attached to the box. In the Tommy Wonder Books of Wonder, there’s a loop of thread that you slip the card into. In the JM Craft magic’s version of it, the card is permanently attached to the box.

This doesn’t sound like a big deal…until you are in a situation where you have a blue deck and the gimmick is red!

Tommy wonder card in ring box by jm craft

At the gig I’m at, I took a brick of Bicycle Cards, which are 6 red and 6 blue. I go through a deck each roving set. That means that on my 7th roving set, I couldn’t do the trick.

Not being able to easily change the gimmick is an issue for me. Sure, I can pack only red decks, since I buy my decks by the brick, which means that I can’t do the trick in half of my shows.

If the gimmick color is an issue for you, like all your gimmicks or whatever are one color, make sure the gimmick matches that! Other than the change from how the card attaches to the box being different from what’s in the book, the JM Craft version of Tommy Wonder’s Card in Ring Box works great!

-Louie