Tag: spoon magic

Money Paddle!

A while ago I bought a money paddle that was made from wood that was reclaimed from Houdini’s house in New York. I really don’t like the money paddle, but having one got me to play with it a little bit and I came up with a couple of ideas that weren’t standard.

the first uses money on the paddle, but the effect is slightly different:

@louiefoxx Houdini VS Andrew Jackson! #houdini #andrewjackson #magictrick #funfacts #fakefacts #escapeartist #closeupmagic #sleightofhand #louiefoxx #twentybucks ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

The second idea is a better and more original idea:

@louiefoxx Spoon Optical Illusion #spoon #opticalillusion #magic #louiefoxx #magician #magictrick #what #surpriseending @seattlekraken #sleightofhand #wtf ♬ original sound – Louie Foxx

This was a fun to play with and I have a few more ideas for the money paddle that eventually I’ll get around to recording.

-Louie

Spoon Trick…

The trick I’m working on today uses a spoon. Here’s the first proof of concept video of it:

I found the tiny spoon at a garage sale a few months ago, and have been trying to think of a use for it. Obviously it would be some sort of shrinking or growing effect. For the method, I think the first shrink is interesting, the final shrink is less interesting to me.

For the first shrink I really stumbled upon when I was working on a different trick with a spoon, and realized I could essentially make the first shrink self contained. That eliminated the need to have to steal anything or ditch anything initially. Ideally, if I could avoid sleeving the spoon for the second shrink, that would be the best, however I can’t think of a way to do that without ditching the spoon. The nice thing about sleeving (or using a topit) is that you end with nothing palmed.

-Louie

Junk Bin Magic…

Many years ago I bought a trick in a bin of discount magic that was a change of a spoon to a fork. When I opened the package, I thought it was garbage, and as written in the instructions, it really was garbage. Then I started presenting this as a transposition between and fork and a spoon and it played much better. It’s a real fooler for audiences.

This trick has basically lived in my preshow for years, but never made it up into the main show. It was missing something. I ran the trick through a workshop group I’m in and they all thought it needed a surprise ended. They were pulling for a spork, which is funny, but I think it lacks visual contrast from a spoon or fork as an ending.

Here’s what I came up with yesterday:

I do like the surprise of the knife. Now the routine needs to be fleshed out a bit more and performed for an audience a bit and we’ll see if it goes anywhere…

Road Problems…

At the fair I was performing and at the end of the show I looked down and my giant spoon had broken in two pieces!

The spoon act was something that I had taken out of my show a while ago, but started doing for a gig this summer. It’s been in the show all summer since!

I do have more spoons at home, the issue is that the spoon is big and heavy. My car won’t be home until November, so if I want to grab another one, I’ll have to fly with it. Luckily, my friend Elliott Hunter understands metal and gave me some advice to try to get it through the summer. The simple crutch is some JW Weld and hopefully that will hold.

I’m going to have to be careful with it, but with a bit of luck, I won’t have try to fly with one of these!

Learning By Cutting…

Reflecting back on performing with World of Wonders last week, it really got me out of my comfort zone. Performing in a three minute context isn’t something I really do anymore. When I was starting out I built my show at comedy open mics in 3-5 minute chunks, however it’s been a while since I’ve worked in that format.


The big thing for me is that it’s gotten me to edit. I was cutting out things that really didn’t need to be there. Also when you’re doing a routine as a stand alone bit, you’ll notice what’s a strong joke or bit and what felt like it was a good joke, but it’s just your momentum from the whole show that helps you get a laugh.

I’ve also written some new jokes and come up with some new bits for the routines I was doing.

I’m really glad I did this, it’s not my normal thing. I learned a lot!