The Marble in the Box

You do recognize the box, do you? Usually it is used to load something into the box. But you can see it can be used to steal something out of the box as well. The preparation is done right in front of the audience. The angles are a litte issue. Basically the eyeline of the audience needs to be below the upper edge of the box. But otherwise you are fine. The transposition idea is just there to illustrated what can be done, besides just stealing.

Three Ways to Produce a Coin

I love problems... no wait... I love solving problems. Getting ready for most coin productions is one of those problems. You need to get the coin into your hand secretly. So how do you do that. Well the most common method is putting away a certain prop stealing the coin along the way. Then you hold out until you start producing the coin. And you know what. That is perfectly fine. But I felt like toying around with different premises.

So the first one is by Harry Anderson. It is taken from "Wise Guy" published by Mike Caveney. The book is all about the magic of Harry Anderson. On page 22 you'll find the routine entitled "Sewing A Coin". But it has also been published under the name "As Ye Sew, So Shall Ye Reap" in "The New York Magic Symposium Collection Two". I like the fact that it starts off so playfully. It requires you to use your imagination. So it is not taken seriously and therefore the attention is very low on the actual dirty work. I can tell you from the many times I have been doing this, that the appearance of the coin generates a pretty strong reaction.

The second one is by Jim Abrahams. He does it not with a coin but a metal disc, claiming that this is part of a UFO. One side invisible and one side visible. After that he demonstrates a few other things with it to prove that amusing premise. But the boldness of showing your hands empty is something that others might appreciate. You basically do the exact opposite of what you are claiming to do. You don't pick up the coin, you place it. Which is hilarious I think. A good swindle and the appearance of the coin also works well.

The last one is my own. Actually I use this to produce sponge balls. But you can produce just about anything. You need a key, but putting the key away after you turned the lock is a good motivation to go into your pocket. In fact it is so good, that people don't even take note of it, because it is so natural to do that. So the initial conviction of the hands being empty remains. So the actual production of the coin is a strong one. And putting away the invisible box gives you yet another reason to go into your pocket. Again it kind of goes unnoticed. Which puts you in the perfect position for just about anything. The coin split was an obvious choice, But Spellbound, Karate Coin or tons of other ideas come to mind.

The Ball, the Glass and the Cloth

The Tarbell Course in Magic. What a vast resource it really is. In lesson 28 (page 389 if you have the hardbound copy) there is a little overlooked routine. Simply called "the egg, the glass and the handkerchief". I did very little changes to the handling. But if you had to write it up like a dealers ad it would read something like this. Impromptu! No extras! Easy! Yes, the signed cloth really ends up in the glass! No switching! A real worker! Audience tested!

This is simply a rare gem that nobody does. I mean nobody! If you feel like you are that "nobody" explain yourself in the comments. The originator of this trick seems to have been lost in the ages. In fact Tarbell writes: "This is another effect which has been handed down throughout the magical fraternity for many years."

I really like idea of using a ping pong ball. They are cheap, you can have them signed and you can give it away in the end. In fact if you substitute the cloth for a napkin it really goes into the realm of true impromptu magic.

Check this one out. It needs to be done more often. And if you really fear the one bold moment in the routine, you can use a familiar gimmick to make everything good.

Sponge Splitting

We all have done the splitting of a sponge ball. But nobody lets the spectator do it. This is a way to do it and the methods used here act as a great cancel to each other. To the spectator it will be that they saw both sides of the story. They have been the ones that pull the balls apart AND the ones that split the ball. Do I have to tell you that this is great. To those wondering what exactly the spectator feels when the magicians pulls the ball apart: Feels like the real thing. The angles on this one are not bad, but this is best done as a one on one thing, as the spectator does block a whole lot of view.

This of course is not an entire routine, but a nice prelude to get to a proper routine. Also "fusing" of sponge balls is not often done.

Now let's talk about the moves involved. The initial splitting move is taken from the bible of sponge ball magic: The Encyclopedia of Sponge Ball Magic by Frank Garcia. "The Slow Motion Transposition and Impromptu Routine" on page 102 teaches the move in detail. Then some shuttle passes and the bold move of pretending to pull apart the spectator's sponge ball.

Try this, you will love it.