April 2008 ~ TRICK OF MAGIC

Beads Of Mystery

Effect: You mend a broken necklace by magic.

Secret: There are two threads in the necklace – one through all the beads and the other through all but one. Tie one knot at the top of the short thread and two knots on the long thread. Show the beads then cut off the bottom bead. The beads slide off the long thread into a glass on your table. It looks as if the beads are all separate. Pretend to drop the loose thread into the glass but secretly keep it in your hand. Make a magic pass and then show the beads magically rethreaded.

A Phantom Message

Effect: Someone's name mysteriously appears written on your arm.

Secret: Secretly find out someone's name and write it on the back of your forearm with a piece of soft soap before you perform this effect. This will be invisible to our audience until your rub some cigarette ash or soot over it. At the appropriate moment during your performance, you can dramatically reveal this name!

Effect: A spectator's initials appear on his own hand.

Secret: Hand someone a soft pencil and ask him to print his initials on a sugar cube. Take the sugar and secretly press your thumb against the initials. Drop the sugar in a glass of water. Ask the spectator to hold his hand over the glass. To show him what to do, you guide his hand over the glass. As you do this, press your thumb against his palm. You have now transferred a copy of the initials to his palm. He will receive a surprise when he sees the initials on his palm.

Metal Bending

Effect: A spoon is bent and then straightened again.

Secret: Take the spoon in your left fist. Position the bowl so it rests on the table. Move your right hand over the left and change the left grip to hold the spoon by third and little fingers. As you pretend to press the spoon against the table top, bring your hands up to a vertical position as if really bending the handle. Move the hands back and forth as if the metal is becoming really supple. Blow on the spoon and throw it on the table. The handle is straight.

On Your Mark

Effect: A selected card is located within seconds.

Secret: With a soft black pencil draw a diagonal line down both sides of a pack of cards. When you show the trick, you remove the cards from the case and ask someone to take any card, remember it and return it anywhere in the pack. Pick up the pack and look at your pencil mark. At one point there will be a small back mark out of alignment with the rest of the line – that is the chosen card.

Effect: You make a finger ring vanish.

Secret: The ring is tied to a long piece of elastic which runs up your sleeve to a safety pin attached to the top of the sleeve.The elastic should be long enough to allow you to put the ring on your finger. Take the ring off and pretend to show it in the air. When you let go, the elastic carries the ring up your sleeve. You could, if you wish, find the ring (a duplicate) in a sealed box that has been on your table since the start of the trick.

Match Restoration

Effect: A matchstick is broken in half then magically made whole.

Secret: You need a handkerchief with a matchstick hidden in its hem. A match is taken from a matchbox and wrapped in the handkerchief. Ask a spectator to break the match through the material but make sure it is the one hidden in the hem that he breaks. Shake out the handkerchief and the match just removed from the box falls out. Casually put the handkerchief (with the broken match concealed in the hem) back into your pocket. It appears that the match was restored by magic.

Two In The Hand

Effect: Someone thinks of one of two items, you predict which.

Secret: Give someone any two items. They could be coins, cards, buttons – anything you like. He holds one in one hand and one in the other. While your back is turned, ask him to think of either object – he has a free choice. To help him concentrate suggest he holds the chosen object up to his forehead. After a short while, ask him to lower his hand and you then turn round.You know which he chose as the hand holding it will be lighter than the other. Holding it up causes blood to drain from that hand.

Effect: When you shout at a coin, it gets so upset it bursts into tears!

Secret: Secretly conceal a wad of wet tissue paper between the first and second fingers of your right hand. Borrow a coin and place it directly on top of the tissue. Be careful that you do not allow anyone to see the tissue as you do this. Now squeeze the coin and the tissue together. Water drips from the tissue and it appears that the coin is crying.

Effect: A pack of cards divides to reveal a chosen card.

Secret: Ask someone to take a card, look at it and remember it. Point to the top card of the pack. As you do this you secretly drop a few grains of salt on the top card. The spectator puts his card on the top of the pack and the pack is then cut, so the chosen card is hidden somewhere near the centre. Hit the edge of the pack with the heel of your hand and, thanks to the secret salt, the pack will divide at the chosen card.

Going By Tube

Effect: A rolled magazine travels up and down a string.

Secret: Roll a magazine into a tube and use paper clips to hold it. Double a piece of string and hook its centre on the bottom clip inside the tube. A second string is looped through the first as shown in the illustration. Pull on the strings at top and bottom and the magazine will rise up the string. Pull on the top string, relax your grip on the lower string and allow your hands to move slightly closer together and the magazine will go back down.

Effect: A box of matches is opened and the drawer held upside down. The matches defy the laws of gravity and do not fall out – until you command them to.

Secret: Wedge a match across the drawer of a box of matches. You will probably have to shorten the match to do this. When you take the drawer from the box, hold it by the sides to keep the secretly-wedged match in position. Command the matches to fall and release the pressure on the wedged match. All the matches fall from the box on your command.

Colour Sense

Effect: You identify the colour of a crayon handed to you behind your back.

Secret: Ask someone to take any crayon from a box and hand it to you behind your back.You then turn to face the audience but keep the crayon behind your back. Secretly dig your right thumb into the crayon.Keep hold of the crayon behind your back as you bring your right hand up to your forehead as if concentrating. Take a quick look at your nail – you will see bits of crayon in it and will know the chosen colour. Concentrate some more and then announce the colour.

Effect: A coin disappears.

Secret: Put a coin in the centre of a handkerchief draped over your right hand. Place a glass tumbler on the palm of your left hand. Turn your right hand over, retaining a grip on the coin and bring the handkerchief over the glass. When the glass is covered tilt it towards you. Drop the coin. It hits the glass (convincing everyone it has gone into the glasses) and drops onto your hand. Place the glass (still covered) on your table and casually drop the coin in your pocket.Remove the handkerchief – the coin has vanished.

Anti-Gravity Cards

Effect: Several playing cards adhere to your hand, until you tell them to fall off.

Secret: You need to make a special card. It is simply an ordinary card with a tab cut from another card attached to its back. The special card is first placed face up on your palm and the tab is gripped between your fingers. Arrange some more cards between the special card and your hand as shown. Turn your hand over and the cards will appear to be sticking to it – until you let go of the tab.

Where Are The Matches?

Effect: Two empty matchboxes and one containing some matches are moved around on a table. The spectators are unable to identify which box contains the matches.

Secret: All three matchboxes are empty. Attached to your right arm and hidden by your sleeve is a matchbox containing some matches. Shake a box with your left hand it sounds empty. When you mix up the three visible boxes you can make any one appear to be the full one, simply by shaking it with your right hand. The spectators think it contains matches because they hear the sound from the hidden box.

Effect: Spectators try to win some money – but you win.

Secret: You show five envelopes. One contains a £5 note, the others slips of paper. You have secretly marked the money envelope with a pencil dot. Ask someone to mix the envelopes then return them to you. Move the marked envelope to the second position. Ask someone to spell "money", transferring one envelope to the bottom of the pile for each letter. He keeps the envelope that falls on the letter Y. Do the same with three other spectators. You are left with one envelope, the one containing the money.

Spin Vanish

Effect: A matchbox is banged on a spinning coin to stop it. When the matchbox is lifted the coin has vanished.

Secret: Spin a small coin on the table top. Hold the matchbox, which must be empty, so that the drawer is open side down. Bang the matchbox sharply on top of the coin. Ask a spectator if he thinks the head or tails side of the coin is uppermost. Lift the box and the coin has disappeared. Because you banged the matchbox down so hard the coin penetrated the cover and is now inside the box.

Effect: You stick pins into an inflated balloon – but, thanks to your magical powers, the balloon does not burst.

Secret: The balloon has on it several pieces of clear adhesive tape. These will not be visible from even a short distance away. Push a pin into the balloon at one of the taped areas and the balloon will not burst (although it will go down after a while). You can push the pin into several different places to prove your magical ability. When you want the balloon to burst simply push the pin into an area that is not protected by tape.

Effect: You hold a shuffled pack behind your back and locate the four Aces

Secret: Secretly remove the Aces from the pack. Push them into a paper clip which is pinned to the inside of your coat at the rear. When you want to show the trick, hand the pack to someone to be shuffled. When the cards are returned to you, hold them behind your back and say you are about to attempt the impossible. Secretly remove the Aces from the hidden clip and bring them forward one at a time as if you have searched through the pack for them.

Food And Drink

Effect: From cards bearing the names of foods, you pick out the odd card on which is written the name of a drink.

Secret: You need six blank cards, one of which is fractionally longer than the others. Hand five cards to spectators and ask them to write down foods. The long card is handed to someone with the request that he write the name of a drink. The cards are mixed up and handed back to you. Without looking you immediately pick out the drink card. You can detect it quite easily by touch.

The Travelling Coin

Effect: A coin travels from one hand to the other.

Secret: Place a coin on the palm of your left hand and another on the fingers of your right hand as shown. Turn over hands quickly and simultaneously. Lift the right hand and the coin has vanished. Lift the left hand to reveal there are two coins beneath it. Due to the positioning of the coins, this trick works automatically. Even so, you should still practise it in private before showing it to anyone. If you are left handed, you may find that the trick works better if the positions of the coins are reversed.

Effect: A spectator tries to put a paper clip on the centre of a group of five cards but fails.

Secret: Glue five playing cards together. The card in the centre should stand out from the rest. Show the cards to a spectator. Hand him the clip and ask him to put it on the centre card when you have turned the cards face down. He puts the clip on the centre card. When you turn the cards face up the clip is actually on the end card! The trick works by itself – but there is no need to tell your audience that!

Effect: A small bell rings of its own accord.

Secret: A small bell is on your table. Hold an opaque scarf in front of you, between your hands. In the top right corner of the scarf there is a small pin. Show the other side of the scarf by moving the right hand to the left and the left hand to the right. Do this a few times, then pin the scarf to your left shoulder. This leaves your right hand free to reach down and ring the bell. Immediately bring your hand back up to recover the scarf from your shoulder.

Spotted

Effect: You predict the numbers on two dice.

Secret: On a postcard write the numbers four and five. Place the card in an envelope. Glue two dice in one end of the drawer of a large matchbox with the four and five spots uppermost. Put two loose dice in the other end of the drawer. Open the matchbox to show the loose dice. Close the drawer and ask a spectator to shake the box. Take the box back and open the drawer at the end containing the glued dice. Allow someone to see the dice then close the drawer. Your prediction is opened and it, of course, correct.

Sweets To The Sweet

Effect: Sweets, produced from a handkerchief, eventually vanish.

Secret: Tie a wrapped sweet to a long length of thread. Attach the other end of the thread to the centre of one side of a handkerchief. Fold the handkerchief in half. Hold two corners in one hand and two in the other. Tip the handkerchief and the sweet falls out into a box on your table. Allow the handkerchief to fall open, with the sweet hidden at the rear. Lift the handkerchief and repeat the above movements until you have produced numerous sweets. Then tip the box to show they have vanished.

Effect: A coin is shown on the palm of the left hand. A moment later the coin has vanished.

Secret: This trick only works with a small coin. The coin is shown on the palm of your left hand which is then closed into a fist. You then press the nail of your second finger against the coin, for on that nail is a small piece of soap. When you open your hand it seems that the coin has disappeared – but it is really stuck to the back of the second finger with the soap.

Effect: A rope passes through your assistant's body.

Secret: Two spectators are invited to examine a long length of soft rope. Put the middle of the rope over your assistant's head to her front. Take both ends of the rope around the back of her body where you apparently cross over the ends. In fact your assistant secretly sticks up her thumbs and you wrap the rope around them as shown. Hand the ends of the rope to the spectators on either side. When you clap your hands your assistant secretly lowers her thumbs and walks forward – free of the rope.

Effect: You predict the total of a sum.

Secret: Write 1089 on a piece of paper, fold it and place it on your table. Ask someone to choose any three digit number. All three digits must be different and the first must be higher than the last. Get them to reverse the whole number and write that underneath the first. If, for example, he chose 983 he now writes 389. The lower number is then subtracted from the other. The answer (which, in this example, is 594) is then reversed and this time the two are added together. Open the paper – your prediction is the same as the spectator's total. In fact, if the calculations are done correctly, the answer is always 1089!

Effect: Two handkerchiefs are thrown in the air where they knot themselves together.

Secret: Apart from the two handkerchiefs, all you need for this trick is a small elastic band hidden in your right hand. Pick up one of the handkerchiefs with your left hand and place it in the right. As you do so, push a corner of the handkerchief into the elastic band. Do exactly the same with the second handkerchief. Throw the two handkerchiefs into the air and catch one of them as they descend. The elastic band holds the two handkerchiefs together and they appear to be knotted.

Effect: Two pre-determined cards are caught in mid-air.

Secret: Secretly place the Seven of Clubs on the bottom of the pack and the Nine of Spades on the top. When you do the trick, remove the Seven of Spades and the Nine of Clubs from the pack. Show them briefly and push them into the pack. Throw the pack in the air but keep tight hold of the top and bottom cards. Pretend you have caught the two you now hold. Show them triumphantly and everyone will believe they are the two cards you placed in the centre of the pack earlier.

Salt Cellar Suspension

Effect: A salt cellar is suspended from your fingertip.

Secret: All you need, apart from the salt cellar, is a toothpick. Keep the toothpick hidden behind your forefinger as you touch the salt cellar. Secretly push the toothpick into the top of the salt cellar. Hold the hidden toothpick between your thumb and forefinger and you can lift the cellar. It appears that the cellar is sticking to your finger. Take the cellar in your left hand and pull it away from the toothpick. As you hand the cellar to someone for examination, secretly drop the toothpick on your lap.

Effect: You tell a spectator the name of a card he chose.

Secret: Spread a shuffled pack face up to show they are well mixed. Remember the bottom card. Turn the cards over and ask a spectator to take one. Ask him to remember the card and then place it face down on top of the pack. Cut the cards a few times. Spread the cards before you. The selected card is the next card to the right of the one you remembered earlier. Pretend to read the spectator's mind and reveal the card selected.

Chain Reaction

Effect: Paper clips form themselves into a chain.

Secret: Link 10 paper clips and put them in one corner of an envelope. Put a strip of glue on the inside of the envelope, just above the chain. Put 10 loose paper clips into the envelope and you are ready to show the trick. Tip out the loose clips then drop them, one at a time, back into the envelope and seal it down. Tear off the corner of the envelope. The chain will drop out. Casually put the envelope in your pocket and display the chain of clips.

Effect: A playing card changes value magically.

Secret: You need an Ace of Clubs, a Queen of Hearts and one other card. Score across the centre of the Ace and the Queen and glue them together for half their length. Use the third to form a back to the special card. Hold the card in your left hand with the flap pointing upwards. Pass your right hand over the card and, as you do so, push the flap down to its lower position – and the card changes.

Effect: A small ball defies gravity and floats in space

Secret: The secret is a long loop of dark thread which is on your table with a ping-pong ball resting on it. Put your thumbs through each end of the loop. Lift your hands with the thread stretched between them and the ball appears to be floating in the air. With practice you can make the ball float from hand to hand (it is really just rolling along the thread). You must wear dark clothing for this trick and be a little distance from your audience so the thread cannot be seen.

Effect: You use a watch to divine a thought-of-number.

Secret: Show a watch and ask someone to think of any number from 1 to 12. Tap a pencil against numbers on the dial. As you do this, the spectator mentally counts to 20, one for each tap, beginning with one above the number he is thinking of. You make the first seven taps anywhere on the watch face. On the eighth, tap your pencil on 12. Continue tapping the numbers anti-clockwise around the dial. When the spectator reaches 20, your pencil will be pointing to the number he is thinking of.

Effect: A playing card vanishes when placed in a glass tumbler.

Secret: You need a piece of clear plastic the same shape and size as a playing card. Place this on top of a pack of cards. Cover the cards with a handkerchief and apparently remove the top card in the handkerchief. You actually take the sheet of plastic. Show a glass tumbler and ask a spectator to push the card, still covered by the handkerchief, into it. Whisk the handkerchief away and the card has vanished. Being transparent, the plastic cannot be seen from even a short distance away.

Effect: A match rises from a matchbox.

Secret: Make a small hole in the top of a matchbox. Push a match into the hole as shown in the illustration. When you push the drawer, the match will be forced out through the hole. If you tilt the matchbox slightly with the end of the drawer facing the audience, it will give the impression that the match rises from the drawer as it is opened.

Effect: You identify a chosen card.

Secret: Place nine cards on the table. The suits do not matter but the values must be the Ace to the Nine. While you are out of the room, someone chooses any one of the nine cards. When you return, you know immediately which card has been chosen because you have a secret assistant who holds a pack with a Nine showing. They secretly indicate the value of the chosen card to you by the position of their thumb over one of the nine pips.

Money Telepathy

Effect: While you are out of the room, a coin is hidden under a cup. When you return, you announce the value of the hidden coin.

Secret: A secret accomplice is used. It is your accomplice who actually places the cup over the coin. He places the cup down in such a way that the position of the handle tells you the value of the hidden coin as shown in the illustration. Before doing this trick, you must agree with your accomplice which handle position will be at the 12 o'clock position or you may read the signal upside down and that could prove disastrous! This trick can of course be performed using any currency.

Effect: Three coins increase to six in your hand.

Secret: Show three coins and count them out on to a magazine. Unbeknown to your audience there are three more coins hidden inside the magazine cover. Fold the magazine slightly and tip the three visible coins into your hand. At the same time the three hidden coins will slip from the magazine into your hand too but the audience do not know about this.Wave your other hand over the one holding the coins. Slowly open your hand to show that the coins have mysteriously multiplied. - MAGIC

Effect: A string is threaded through a drinking straw. The straw is cut in two but the string remains unharmed.

Secret: Secretly cut a short slit in the straw. Thread the string through the straw. Bend the straw in half and pull both ends of the string. This forces the string through the slit in the straw. Your hand hides this from the audience. Cut through the straw, as shown by the dotted line in the drawing. Now pull the string from your hand. The straw is in two pieces but the string is still whole.

The Ninth Card

Effect: You divine the identity of a selected card.

Secret: This is how to make someone take the card you want. Secretly place the card you decide to use ninth from the top of the pack. Ask someone to call a number between 10 and 20. Count that number of cards, one at a time, from the pack. Add the digits of the chosen number. Deal that number of cards off the cards just dealt. Ask someone to look at the next card. It will be the card you placed at ninth position. You can reveal it in any way you wish.

Effect: You reveal a thought-of name.

Secret: Cut a slot in the top of a box with a removable lid and tape a small box on the inside. Write the same name on 10 slips of paper. Put them in the box and replace the lid. Hand out 10 blank slips and ask spectators to write a name on their slip. The slips are put in the box through the slit. They actually go into the hidden box. Remove the lid for just one slip to be chosen. As all the slips are the same it is easy to reveal the name chosen.

Going Up!

Effect: Two tumblers are suspended from a newspaper balanced on a magic wand.

Secret: Bend a paper clip around your magic wand to form a U shape. Tape the wire to a newspaper. The newspaper is shown and then folded into a long flat tube. The secret wire should be on the side of the newspaper nearest to you. Place the newspaper across two tumblers, making sure that each prong of the wire goes into the tumblers. Place your wand between the tumblers and lift it towards the newspapers. The newspaper will be lifted – but so will the tumblers.

In The Red

Effect: You instantly identify a selected card.

Secret: Place all the black cards on top of the red cards and you are ready. Spread the cards face down and ask someone to take any card. Make sure he takes one from the top (black) half of the pack. He then replaces it anywhere in the pack but you make sure he replaces it somewhere in the bottom (red) half of the pack. Look through the cards and somewhere in the red cards will be one black card. That is the chosen card. Remove it and show it to everyone.

Fruit Transformation

Effect: An orange transforms itself into an apple.

Secret: Carefully cut the peel from an orange, as shown in the illustration and scoop out all the fruit. When the peel has dried put an apple inside it. Hold the peel closed and it appears you are holding an ordinary orange. Cover the orange with an handkerchief. When you remove the handkerchief, take the orange peel off the apple but keep it hidden within the material. Casually drop the handkerchief (with the orange peel still hidden) behind something on your table or put it in your pocket, as you display the apple.

Effect: A coin disappears from your hand in spite of the fact that several people check it is there.

Secret: Show the coin on the palm of your hand and cover it with a handkerchief. Go to several people and ask them to feel the coin under the handkerchief. The last person you approach is (unbeknown to the rest of the audience) your secret assistant. He pretends to feel the coin but actually takes it off your palm. You can now pull the handkerchief away with a flourish and your hands are shown completely empty. The coin has disappeared.

Effect: A ball rolls across the table until you tell it to stop.

Secret: Under the table cloth is a small ring attached to a length of strong thread. The thread runs across the table to where your secret assistant is sitting. A small ball is placed on the table. It must go into the concealed ring. On your word of command your assistant pulls on the thread and the ball moves. You then pick up the ball and hand it to a spectator. As you are doing this, your assistant pulls the ring from beneath the cloth and hides it.

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