One of the endings that I’m doing with my three shell game routine is using a small cap that goes under the shell to replace the standard shot glass. I got the idea when I was on a flight and realized the tiny liquor bottle cap would fit under a shell. (you can read the post about it here)
Here’s a demo of what it looks like:
You could put a shot glass on top of the cap and shell for a triple cover! I really didn’t want to use the shot glass, as it’s bulky, heavy, and semi-fragile. This is a good solution for me!
The Juggling Monte routine that I’m working on has taken another step closer to reality. One of the challenges that I identified early on was how to make a two dollar bill visibly different from a one dollar bill onstage. The solution was to write “lucky” on the back of it. Originally I thought writing it in pink, sparkly ink would be good, however I just made one with white ink with a black border and I think it looks great!
There’s not much to making this prop. I took a white paint pen and wrote lucky on the bill. Once it dried, I used a black Sharpie to do the outline. Finally, I took some matte clear spray paint and gave it a light coat to seal it. Hopefully the sealant will protect it from dinging or chipping.
I still need to write some jokes and figure out the routine, but it’s off to a good start. We’ll see how it actually plays for an audience.
The ending to a card trick is one of the most important things. Does the ending have punctuation, or is it just “meh”? A card trick routine that I’m working on ends with a prediction of the selected card. I’m not going to get into the routine in this post, but just the ending. Here are the three options:
Not too long ago, a magician I was hanging out with said he didn’t think that younger people understood or knew what the shell game is. I disagree; I think young people know what the three shell game is, and my reasoning is that every ballpark in the USA plays a version of it on the jumbotron. Here’s the shell game at a Cincinnati Reds game:
It’s a simple concept of a game, and younger people definitely know what it is, or it wouldn’t be played in stadiums! This is one of the things that I like about it, it IS RELATABLE because people have played it before!
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.
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.
Sometimes there are stages that are more challenging to work than other stages. This stage and audience configuration is a good example of that.
First, let’s tackle the obvious: there’s a walkway between the benches and the bleachers. Unfortunately, that’s just how it is, and there’s not really anything you can do about that.
The bigger issue is getting on and off stage; it’s a high stage, so a lot of stairs, and the stairs are off to the side. It’s good that they are on the side; if they were on the front of the stage, the handrails would be a visual distraction. It just takes a lot of time for me or someone from the audience to get on and off stage.
I have a spot in the show, right after my introduction, where I need to hand something to someone in the audience. That’s dead time while I walk on and off stage.
Here’s what I did:
Opening bit, then walk into the audience to give the thing to someone in the audience.
2nd trick happens on the floor in front of the stage.
After the second trick, I bring someone from the audience to the stage with me for the third trick.
For the fourth trick, it happens on the floor in front of the stage. This trick needs access to people so they can hold things at different points.
When the fourth trick is done, I bring someone from the audience back to the stage with me and send them back to their seat when the fifth trick is done.
The final trick happens with me solo onstage.
There are a lot of ways to deal with the “long walk to the stage“, however for this situation, moving my show between the floor and stage worked great; it reduced the dead time a lot. This makes the show feel tighter!
One of the things that I try to do when creating magic routines is to think about what they look like. This is important when you perform at places like state and county fairs, where you have a transient audience. Having strong visual hooks that will stop someone that’s walking by is important in that market.
Here’s an example of a visual hook, it’s part of my Body Language Book Test which is in my 2025 PCAM Lecture notes.
In the routine, a guy ends up hitting me in the belly with a tube. It’s a great bit, but more importantly, the routine is visually interesting virtually the whole time!
Three Easy Way To Adding Visual Appeal To Magic Routines
Here are three common, and easy ways to add visuals to magic routines: 1: Props – If you have an interesting prop, that is obviously visually interesting, and of course, the bigger the better! People need to see it from a distance, or they won’t stop. 2: People – More people onstage can create drama. You’ve changed your show from monologue to dialogue. 3: Action – Having motion onstage makes people stop to watch. A bad dance troupe will having an easier time getting a crowd than an amazing stand up comedian.
Ultimately, most things will use more than one of the things above to draw attention.
Also keep in mind that not every single routine needs to be a giant thing, for texture in your show, you should vary things. A great example is Franz Harary in one of his MEGA illusion shows also does silk to egg.
He’s popping up everywhere, and that got me thinking, what magic trick could I do with him.
A Simple First Step To Creating Magic Tricks
The easiest way to create a magic trick quickly is to find the theme, in this case Jimothy and figure out what to do with it. I’m travelling right now, so I’m limited with props, which can be a good thing when trying to create something new. I did have some blank face playing cards, so that gave me a start, it’ll be a card trick, with a picture of Jimothy.
My idea was to do an ace assembly type trick, with Jimothy and things raccoons eat. The challenge was that I didn’t have enough blank face cards to do it in the traditional way with 16 cards. I think this was a good thing, because most ace assemblies are too long and redundant, but you kinda need to have three “traveler” piles because there are four aces. I didn’t have that restraint for this trick.
On my trip to the Bay Area a couple weeks ago, I ended up picking up a great vintage magic prop! It was Buried Treasure Bean Box by Arturo. Here’s what the original ads looked like:
And here’s what mine looks like:
This is a prop that I do plan to use in my show. I have an idea for it, so when the opportunity to buy it popped up, I jumped on it!
I really like the idea of the item being buried in beans (or whatever). The problem with this is visually it’s hard for an audience to see what’s going on because you have to see the beans from the top. With a camera, this would work great!
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.
