Urgent Magic Help for Christmas! 🎄✨
Hey fellow magicians! 🎩✨
I need your help this Christmas. I'm putting together two effects to surprise my 30 spectators, but I have some questions and I think you could help me improve them. Here's what I've got:
Effect 1:
Before dinner, I'm going to hide a card under the tablecloth. During dessert, I'll ask a spectator to choose a card (forced, of course), look at it, and then I'll lose it in the deck. I'll fan the deck and show their card isn't there. Then I'll ask them to look under the tablecloth… and BAM, there's the card! 😮
But here's where I'm running into trouble:
The tablecloth will be full of plates and hot food, and I'm worried the card might be discovered or get ruined.
I'm also worried someone might catch on too early.
Any tips to make this cleaner and more secure?
Effect 2:
This one is a bit more ambitious. I'll tell them I'm going to put them into a dream by snapping my fingers. When I do, I'll tell them this is a dream and when they wake up, nothing will have happened. The idea goes like this:
I'll have two glass jars, each divided by a mirror separator. In each jar, there will be two different amounts of ingredients (for example, lentils in one and chickpeas in the other). On one side, a small amount will be visible, and on the other, a large amount.
I'll have a yogurt that looks freshly sealed, but it will be pre-gimmicked: I will have opened it beforehand and placed an internal separator with two compartments. On one side will be the mixed ingredients, and on the other, the yogurt will be intact.
I'll show the jars and put the ingredients into a bag. When I take them out, I'll say they've “traveled” to the yogurt. I'll open the yogurt, and they'll see the ingredients, but not the yogurt. 😱
Finally, I'll seal everything with tape, put it back in the bag, and take it out again: the yogurt will be intact, and I'll be able to scoop some out to show.
Questions:
How can I easily make a mirror separator for the jars?
How can I make the internal yogurt separator foolproof?
If anyone has ideas to simplify or improve these effects without accomplices, I'd really appreciate it! 🙅♂️
Thanks in advance! Magic regards and Happy Holidays.
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For the first trick, if you're attaching the card under the table, I'd leave the deck on the table and announce I'm going to make a card penetrate the table. Have them name the card, then clearly show your hand under the table. While you retrieve the card that's stuck there, use your other hand to tap the deck and declare that a card has fallen. Pulling it out face down, you slowly turn it over to reveal it's their selected card.
Hi there!
For Trick 1:
I'd stick the card with a tiny (and I mean tiny) bit of magician's wax underneath the table, not on the tablecloth. No one will look there.
For Trick 2:
Regarding the separator: Look for flexible polycarbonate sheets. The thing is, they're usually transparent. Mirror-effect polycarbonate also exists.
All the best,
Greetings,
I agree with David on effect 1.
It's better to just stick the card under the table.
For the second one, I'd venture to suggest you switch effects. I'm not saying it's bad, but you definitely don't end up clean, quite the opposite. And if it's a family gathering, everyone's going to want to check things out, and you'll have to make a quick exit before they snatch all your props. Effects like that are better suited for stage, where you can just ditch everything afterward. For close-up, it's just too risky.
Good luck
So, what's the approach?
Any ideas for #2?
Let me see what I can come up with, okay?
Okay, thanks, let me know when you know.
Where can I buy magician's wax at a brick-and-mortar store?
Looking for a brick-and-mortar shop? You'd find it at a local magic store, if there's one in your city.
Otherwise, check out the Magia & Cardistry store.
https://tienda.magiaycardistry.com/producto/cera-de-mago-mesika/?srsltid=AfmBOoqul4TjDfT8XJCPlhQmjcsQd1HgqomOA1CQRexh2KOnku-ec5B5
If that's not an option, you can always make your own, or even use BLU TACK instead of magician's wax.
https://magigram.com/es/club/beginners/la-alacena-del-mago-antiderrapantes-ceras-blu-tack-puntos-de-pegamento-y-cinta-de-doble-cara-1185/
And Zeta, any ideas for trick 2?
Oh boy. 😅.
I felt a bit of pressure just reading your idea, and here's why.
One thing I've learned is, aside from practice, never to perform an effect without solid preparation and repeated rehearsal.
You don't even have the effect finalized enough to rehearse it, and you're planning to perform it on the 25th.
Even if you found a solution (and @davidoliver.ramos has already given you a solid one), I still wouldn't advise you to do it, given how little time you have left.
Plus, as @mario_garcia_diaz pointed out, you wouldn't end clean the way you're proposing it. You'd also need to find a solution for that, and it's tough in a family setting because everyone's going to want to handle everything.
I'd recommend you find an effect you've already mastered and can let them examine without any issues.
All the best!!!