Go back to Andrew's Antics
The Trick #1.................
Effect; Hold out one hand with the palm up. Put a coin, up to US quarter or Australian 20c size in the hollow of your palm.
Offer a small, soft-bristled (softness is important!) brush to your friend and say, " If you can brush the coin off my hand, you get to keep it. But, if you can't, you owe me a coin (20c or quarter)".
Of course, there is little chance they can brush off the coin with the very soft brush you offer.
And never demand their coin when you win because you want them to enjoy your performance and want to see you do more tricks and stunts.
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The first rule of any sort of entertainment is to make your audience feel happier than
they were before you did your bit.
It is not just to show them how clever you are.
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The Trick: #2
THE BELT BET By John Williams
Effect; Bend a belt in half and put it on the table. Hold the folded end
& revolve the whole belt around it until you have the belt in a coil. The center of
the coil will have 2 small openings, one showing the front surface of the belt and the
other opening will show the back (rough) surface.
Give a friend a pen or pencil, ask them to put the point into the opening they think is the center of the belt. If they are right, the belt will catch around the pen when it uncoils and they win.
Just a couple of tries & they will work out whether the rough or the smooth opening is the center> So they then win every time? Only when & if YOU want them to!
Method; You have to ensure that the buckle & the tongue of the belt are not even when the belt has been coiled. Give your friend a couple of goes so they can work out which of the openings they want.
When they pick the right opening but you want them to lose let the end which is outermost (the buckle or the tongue) to unwind one revolution before you grab the 2 ends and unwind the belt. This way your friend cannot win!
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Trick: #3 Reflex Vanish
Effect: Grasp a short pencil in 1 hand & tap it on a friend's open palm. Say you'll do this a few times & he must be ready to grab the pencil when you say "Now!" On the 3rd tap, you say "Now!" & your friend grabs.. nothing- your pencil vanished!
Method; Each time you tap, bring your arm up slowly in an arc so your hand
& the pencil pass your ear.
On the second backward swing, you secretly leave the pencil
tucked behind your ear.
Bring your hand down, say "Now!" loudly & extend your first
finger. When your friend makes his grab, he will trap your
extended finger & realize the pencil has gone!
Practice for smoothness, more important than speed.
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Trick: #4 Vanishing Coin.
Effect; Show a coin on your palm & cover it with an opaque cloth. Ask some friends to one at a time reach under the cloth, to verify the coin value & presence. As the last one confirms the coin is still there, use your other hand to gesture, then get anyone to take away the cloth & the coin has gone under "test conditions".
Method; This is the first item in the series where I ask you to use a human gimmick, stooge or confederate. Hold out your hand with the coin on it & drape the cloth over. The last person to check the coin is the one you have previously arranged to secretly help you. They take away the coin!
Difficult to organize? No, because almost everyone will go along with this just to see the effect on their other friends & know something no-one else does.
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Trick: #5 Candy Release.
Effect; Show a doubled cord with several circular candies on it. Hold the 2 ends of the
cord. The loose candies have the cord through their central hole & are stopped from
falling by a candy firmly attached to the double end of the cord.
Ask 2 spectators to hold the ends of the cord (1 each). Cover the cord & candies with
a handkerchief, then reach under with one hand as you ask the crowd to say the magic
word.Your free hand takes away the cover & everyone sees the candies loosely
piled on your other hand. You didn't cut the cord. a miracle!
Method; There is no stooge. Double a piece of cord & push the folded
part through the center hole of 1 candy. Open out the folded end of the cord & slip
the candy through it, then pull the ends of the cord so the loop tightens & it looks
as if the candy is firmly attached. Push the ends of the cord through several candies and
you are ready. Make sure you have a clean handkerchief to use for the trick if no-one
offers one.
When they have seen the candies are "locked" on the cord & you have covered
them, reach under & loosen the loop of cord which holds the bottom candy in place. It
will need a little private practice. When you push the loop back over the candy, all of
the sweets will drop onto your palm. Then you can take off the handkerchief & show
Mission Accomplished!
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Trick:#6: Hop Off Candy
Effect: Ask 2 friends to hold the ends of a cord after you have threaded one candy on it. Cover the candy with a cloth, reach under and ask everyone for the Magic Word. Ask someone to take away the cloth & they all see you have the candy on your palm. It has jumped off the cord!
Method; You need 2 identical candies, they should be opaque & one is
secretly prepared in advance. You carefully break the candy in half, then with a little
saliva (or water) you "glue" the pieces together again. The other candy is
hidden in your sleeve.
When you reach under the cloth,you can easily & quietly squeeze the pieces apart but,
of course, you don't show anyone the gimmicked sweet! You swap it for the regular candy
hidden in your sleeve before you ask someone to take away the cloth.
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The Puzzle: #7 Odd & Even Coins
Effect: Show 10 similar coins & 3 glasses. Then challenge your friends to sort all the coins among the glasses so there are an odd number of coins in each glass!
Method; Your friends will find this easy to do if you don't spell out the
conditions clearly - All coins & all glasses must be used.
It is really in how you say it. Put 4 coins in 1 glass & 3 coins in each of the
others.
Then, put one of the glasses with 3 coins inside the glass which has 4 coins!
Now, the glass which you put 4 coins in has 7 coins in it!
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Trick: #8 .
Effect; Tie a single overhand knot round a matchbox cover or a cardboard tube. Poke 1 end of the soft cord through the tube. Slide the knot off the cover & push it inside, at the same point you poked the end of the cord. In the blink of an eye, the knot vanishes!
Method; Follow the directions carefully & watch the knot vanish. This
may be the ultimate self-working trick!
An important point which will help you performing this & many other tricks. Don't bore
your audience or warn them in advance by saying something like,"I am tying a knot
around the cover (or tube. Now I will make it go!" Talk, for instance, about black
holes or there will be no surprise when the knot dissolves & no magic.
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Trick: #9 Double Your Money
Effect; Show a banknote laying on your palm, at right angles to your
fingers. Ask a spectator to duplicate your actions (with his own note) & you will show
him how to double his money!
When he is ready, raise your hand & the note in front of you & fold the note back
toward you. Say, "I have now doubled my money". "Groan".
But wait, fold the note over toward yourself again, then fold the sides together. Now
unfold the note & show you have 2 banknotes!
Method; Preparation & an unexpected outcome make this simple miracle
easy & a good fooler.
You start with 2 notes. Fold one in concertina style about 3 times then fold the top &
bottom together so you have a small packet which you hide in the palm of your hand under
the note which your audience will see.
Show your volunteer "the only safe way to double their money". Then when they
think the gag is over, ask him to do exactly what you do. Start folding the visible note
in various ways. While you friend is just folding one note you will have your TWO notes
folded together.
So, when you unfold the outer note, the concertina folds in the hidden note will make it
spring open automatically. You have doubled your money.
Special notes..... (It is well known by that name but here is more
information. You usually fold a note over on itself, making a packet about half the size
of the note, then your second fold makes it about a quarter the note's original size.
With the convertina fold, you fold a small section at 1 end of the note forward onto the
main part of the note. For your second fold, you fold the double thickness behind the
note.
Your third fold is to bring the triple thickness onto the front of the note. When you have
folded the whole length of the note, if you let 1 end go it will open out in a zig-zag or
concertina fashion.
This is much better than the standard type of fold for the production trick. If you folded
the hidden note in the usual way, you would have slowed down the finale of the trick by
having to unfold the visible note, then unfold the hidden note.
Use the concertina fold & the hidden note will spring out when you unfold the visible
note, giving a faster & more effective finish.)
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The Trick in #10; The French Drop
Effect: Hold one hand, palm up, in front of you & show a coin (or it could be a sweet) between the tips of your thumb & fore-finger. Slowly bring the other hand, palm down, over the coin & close your free hand around the coin. Turn your now empty hand over & gesture magically. Open your fist & the coin has gone. But you can make it re-appear from your young relative's ear, hair or even from under their hamster! An important note, this is usually done by uncles but we would like to see more aunts (even grandmothers) doing this sort of thing to amuse youngsters. Long fingernails will not be a hindrance if you put in a half hour practice.
Method; The dirty work starts when your free hand covers the coin. Relax
the grip of your thumb & fore-finger & let the coin drop to your palm. Squeeze
your thumb slightly to the palm & the coin will be gripped, hidden by the cluster of
fingers around it. If this seems not to work for you, bend your thumb over the palm &
the coin. You may be lacking enough confidence for the grip in your hand to be secure. A
few more tries in private & you will be right. Slowly revolve the hand with the hidden
coin over as the fist which appears to hold the coin moves away slightly quicker.
Your spectators' eyes will naturally follow the faster hand, but let me emphasize that
smoothness is more important. The quickness of the hand doesn't deceive, it really
attracts attention. It is the comparative slowness of the other hand which is doing the
work.
With a magical gesture reveal the vanish of the coin, then make it re-appear wherever you
want.
This is deemed to be sleight of hand. Now you know that sleight of hand is really
"slow juggling"!
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The Trick in #11; Colour Reading Fingertips
Effect: Show a small bag & 4 balls of differently coloured wool. They are the same
size & weight. Ask someone to put the balls in the bag & shake it around. They
hold the bag above eye-level & name the colour of 1 of the balls. You put 1 hand in
the bag, feel around gently & take out the correct coloured ball!
Method; Simple effect, they're always the best! When you or your partner prepares the balls, make the knots which secure the balls different in ways which are hard to see but very easy to feel.
Examples might be a small cluster of knots, a single knot, gluing the end of 1 ball in place so there is no knot, even a small loop sticking out of the knot. When you perform this miracle, let each person examine 1 ball at a time.
By the way, it's not a good idea to be too forward offering everything you use for examination. A magician always uses normal items. If you don't put the idea in their heads, they wont think otherwise.
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Trick in #12; Coin Catch
Effect: Show a glass, a coin & a straw.
Bend the straw in half, then put the glass with the opening down on a table and put the
coin on the center of the glass.
Offer the bent straw to a spectator & ask them to lift the coin off the top of the
glass using just the straw.
Don't give them too long to work this out. But no matter how long they have, your wager is
safe. They cannot win!
Method; This is a "betcha" or "bar bet", not a trick.
Whatever chicanery or skill your friends have, the result will always be in your favour.
That is because the coin is, of course, on the bottom of the glas - so no-one can meet
your challenge to remove it from the top!
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Trick in #13; Coin Thru
Effect; Fold a sheet od paper twice so that it is a quarter its original
size. Cut a SMALL triangle from the center of the folded sheet.
Then unfold the paper & show a coin which has a much larger diameter than the width of
the hole in the center of the paper.
Ask if your friend can push the coin through the hole? They can use the scissors if they
want, but can't tear or cut the paper.
Method; With the creases in the paper & the scissors on the table,
your spectators may well come up with several ideas.
But the creases & the scissors are mis-direction! If you use a coin so wide that it
can't be squeezed through the hole, only you will be able to do the deed.
Simply put the coin under the hole in the paper & push at it (through the hole) with
the tip of a finger or the point of the scissors. You don't have to make the coin travel
through the hole - you push (at) it through the hole!
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Trick #14 Crayon Divination.
Effect: Give 4 differently coloured crayons to a friend. Ask them to select one & put
it in your hand after you turn your back. With just a second for thought, you correctly
divine the colour of the chosen crayon!
Method Assuming you cannot really read your friend's mind, just follow these steps; Give
your friend the crayons, turn your back & put 1 cupped hand behind you. When your
friend put the selected crayon in your cupped hand, turn the crayon over, seem to weigh
it.
Then ask your volunteer to take back the crayon.
Put your hand to your forehead and, if you remembered to scrape a small piece of crayon
under a fungernail, you will be able to make your friends beleive you really can read
their minds.
You just need the smallest trace under a nail to know which crayon was selected. And using
only a very small trace also prevents your friends finding out how you did it.
You could do this effect by moistening one finger & then rubbing it on the crayon to
collect a trace of the colour on your finger.
Be careful to leave no discernible trace of moisture on the crayon for them to find when
they get the crayon back.
Here's another good one.....hit
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crazy sponge ball vanish
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More to come
07/30/99