'Torn and Restored'

Alright, so today's trick is one that you can perform anywhere like most tricks on this site. 'Torn and Restored' is a pretty easy trick to do that takes pretty much no skill at all. Makes for a good beginners trick.



Performance: The magician holds up a piece of paper towel and tells the spectators that he is going to rip it up. He than begins to do as he says and rips the paper towel into strips. After the paper towel is all ripped up, he places it in his hands and squeezes it. He than starts to slowly open up the once ripped pieces revealing that it is all back together.

Secret: The secret to the trick is that you have a crumpled up piece of paper towel behind that non ripped piece. You hold the crumpled piece in the top corner. When you rip the towel up, you simply place the ripped pieces in front of the ball. When it is all ripped up, you just fold the ripped pieces to the front. When you open up the paper towel, you are simply opening up the crumpled piece. Just make sure that you don't show the ripped pieces.

Note: You can use other kinds of paper if you want. Depending on the situation, you can use napkins if you are at a restaurant or what not. It is all up to you. You could even use 2 pieces of identical newspaper for an even cooler effect.

I will be away for the next week; so I won't be posting anything new. Sorry for the inconvenience.

'Card in My pocket'

Sorry again for not posting in a while. I worked at camp all week and didn't have a whole lot of time to work on this blog. Though today's trick should make up for time loss. 'Card in my Pocket' is a trick that can be done in either one or two ways. 1)chosen card ends up in your pocket or 2) card ends up in spectators pocket. For this performance we are going to do the 2nd option mainly because it has more of a reaction factor.

Performance: The magician has someone pick a card and place it back in the deck. He than shuffles the cards and states that he is going to find their chosen card. After a few seconds of looking, he tells the spectator that he can't find their card. The magician checks his own pockets to see if it somehow jumped into it but states that it isnt there. But then he tells the spectator that maybe the card jumped into their pocket. The spectator than checks thier pocket and to their amazement their card was in thier pocket!

Setup: There is a little setup that you need to perform beforehand and you must be very sneaky about it. You need to secretly place the duplicate of the forced card in the spectators pocket. This sounds kind of hard but isnt that bad. It is done the easiest when you are at someone's house and you can just place it in thier coat pocket that is in their closet. Or if you are realy sneaky you can slip it into their back pocket of their pants. Either way you do it, just be careful.

You need to know how to do any kind of force in order for this trick to work. The force I use for this trick is one called the 'Glide Force' [see video below for explaination]. You force the chosen card upon them and get them to place it back into the deck. You then pretend to not be able to find it. From this point forward, the trick is already done. You just tell them to check their pocket and the duplicate card will be there.



The 3 P's Practice, Practice, Perform

Note: David Blaine did this trick to a girl and her mother on his TLC special. The secret to that variation is that the camera man secretly placed the card in the little girl's pocket before they even turned on the camera.

'2 Card Prediction'

So I thought for today's post I would do another sweet card trick known as the 2 Card or 2 Deck Prediction. It is a pretty solid card trick that only involves a little bit of set up. As always, this is one of the tricks that David performed in the past.

The effect: The magician asks a spectator to pick a card out of the deck faced down and to put it on top. The magician than takes a different deck of cards and picks a card out of it and places it on top. He than swaps the 2 decks and reveals the card that the spectator chose. He than asks the spectator to flip over the top card that the magician picked and to their surprise, it is the same card that they picked! The magician some how knew exactly what card they were going to pick.

The setup: Have the card you want them to pick on top of their deck; we will say the 8 of Spades.

The performance: So how does the magician know what card the spectator is going to pick? Here is how to do it. Hand the deck of cards to the spectator and ask them to pick a card from it and to place it on top (make sure they do not look at it). Once they pick their card and place it on top, you simply go through your deck of cards and pick out the 8 of Spades and place it on top of your deck. Now you say that you are going to swap decks and reveal each others cards. Once you have their deck, do a double lift revealing the 8 of spades. Than ask them to flip over the card you picked; it will be the 8 of Spades as well.

So imagine that; with a little move like the double lift, you can do a pretty sweet trick.

Note: make sure that the spectator does not look at the card that they pick!

The 3 P's Practice, Practice, Perform

'Arm Twist Illusion'

Hey sorry everybody for not posting lately. I have been recuperating from my back surgery I had a little while ago. But on to the next trick shall we. Today's trick is one that you can do anytime anywhere and without any need for setup or props. Make sure you acting skills are up to par for the best results of surprise.



The Performance: You ask a spectator if they have ever seen something like this and ask them to try along with you. You place your hand on the ground thumb facing you. Tell them that they can see it best if they stand on the other side of you. When they are ready, tell them to twist their arm slowly counter clockwise. They won't make it very far but to their surprise, you continue to twist your arm all the way around till it has make a complete 360 twist!

This trick does not require you to dislocate your bones or anything. It is simply a matter of
untwisting

The secret: So, the secret to this illusion is very simple. When you ask your spectator to get on the other side of you, you just simply twist your arm around. So when you 'twist' your arm counterclockwise, your are simply just untwisting your arm. If you do not understand this explanation, just check out the video below.

Note: If you wanted to add a little more kick to the trick, you can have an accomplice crush a water bottle to make a crunching sound as you finish the twist. Makes for a pretty cool effect

[gimmick] 'The Coin Bite'

Today's trick is known as 'The Coin Bite'. This is a highly popular trick that David Blaine has performed in the past. It is an illusion that seems to twist the laws of physics and reality; like most magic tricks. Click here to go directly to Penguin Magic to buy your own 'coin bite gimmick'. The site offers numerous types of coins you can buy such as Canadian Loonies and Toonies to Canadian and American Quarters. This trick is definitely one that all street magicians should have.



The Performance: The magician asks a spectator for a coin such as a quarter. He than takes it and explains to the spectator about melting points and how if you squeeze a coin long enough you can actually bend the metal. He brings the coin up to his mouth and bites off a piece of the coin! Not only that, he than spits the missing piece back restoring the coin to its original state. The coin can than be inspected showing that its just a normal quarter.

The Secret: The quarter that the magician bites a piece off of is a gimmick coin. It is a quarter that has been sawed off in a way that makes it look like it has been bitten off. The two pieces are attached by an elastic. When the magician brings the coin to his mouth, he simply folds over the top piece with his tooth and when he brings the coin back down, he just holds the top piece down with his thumb behind the quarter. When he wants to 'spit' it back together, he just lets go with his thumb and the elastic brings them back in tact.

Method: This performance uses a little bit of misdirection and sleight of hand. When you take the coin that the spectator gives you, you need to switch it secretly with the gimmick coin. Once you have the coin switched than you are all set to go. When the trick is over, just simply switch the coin back to the one that was given to you.If you do not want to use misdirection or sleight of hand, you can do the trick by just saying "watch this" than do the trick and not ask for a coin. But asking for a coin gives the trick a little more of a kick.

Note: Its probably not the best to do this trick with people behind you but if you just happen to have big thumbs and can hide the piece, than go for it.

3 P's Practice, practice, Perform

Restored Pop Can

This is probably one of the funnest impromptu tricks you can do for your friends. The first time I saw it, I thought it was a gimmick pop can. But with a little research I found out that it didn't take a special can but simply took a little science knowledge. Now I should clarify my previous statement about it being an impromptu trick; it is a 'setup' impromptu trick. I know that kind of contradicts itself but its the only way i know how to explain it. You make it look like its an out of the blue trick. You will see how and why in a bit.

The effect: The title of the post pretty much explains its self. But just in case, the effect is that a pop can that has been crushed and opened is restored to its unopened state filled with pop.

The Performance: The magician is walking down the street and finds an opened pop can. He asks some spectators if they would like a drink. They obviously say no and that its empty. He than gives the can a little shake and right before every one's eyes, the can restores itself and even the lid is not opened. The magician opens the can and even the 'fizz' sound is there, and gives the can away to be drunk. Needless to say that from now on, people who see this trick will never leave an opened pop can on the ground until it has been tested with a little shake.

The Setup: This trick does take a little bit of a setup but not enough to give you a migraine. For the 'Restored Pop Can' all you need is a little pin, a small piece of paper, a black marker, and a place where you don't mind to make a mess. The first thing you need to do is find a place where you don't mind making a mess. Hold the can of pop upside down and poke a hole near the top of the can. Pop is going to spray out pretty fast so be careful. Once you have about a third or so of the pop sprayed out, crush the can to make it look like it is empty. You need to now trace out on a piece of paper the shape of where the can would be opened 'the lid part'. Now cut this piece out and colour it black. Once you have it in place, you are ready to go. 'Plant' the can in a place where you know you will be passing by.

How it works: When the can gets crushed up, it leaves the gas still fully loaded inside. So when you give the can a shake while having your thumb over the small hole, it makes the can expand back to its normal state. Just make sure to cover the hole while you open the can as well in order to get that 'fizzing' sound.

Well that is the Restored Pop Can trick. You can use this trick anytime and people will love it every time. Also, when you want to make the can look unopened, just do a little rubbing notion over the black paper and slip it off. The can will look completely unharmed. Cheers

The 3 P's Practice, practice, Perform