Gummi Bears

This has been brewing in my brain for years. And I have done this many times. This is the great impromptu trick with food. You can do it with M&M's, Smarties and all other sweets that come in different colors. And this trick actually makes sense. Everyone has a favorite kind of color. So it is kind of natural that a magician does his magic thing to turn them the color he wants to.

And because it is food the method could not be more simple. No need for secret preparation, You simply prentent to eat the one you like and suddenly you are set up. Methodwise three switches. Spellbound, Bobo and Bobo in this case. And as the last one goes in the mouth you destroy the evidence along the way. This is simply a good little trick.

The Button Story

Going on with this notions box theme here is something with buttons. The main "sleight" is the Bold Coin Vanish from Modern Coin Magic. A underused sleight I think. Although the term "sleight" doesn't really do it justice. It's just a bold thing you do. You can reverse the "sleight" of course. That way you get loaded instead getting rid of the coins. Must be pretty cryptic reading these lines I suppose. Watch the video! The buttons going back in the box sequence is the actual reversal of the bold vanish. Pick up two, put in one. So you can choose which buttons end up in the hand in the end.

A similar routine I have seen years ago by Jay Sankey. A whole punch of paper clips are picked up one by one and in the hand they link. Cute little trick.

But you can do more of course. What about a standard Spell Bound routine? The most simple one would be copper coins turning to gold coins, which are drop in a cup. Near the end the cup is turned over and all the gold coins have become copper again. You don't see that routine very often. And here is why: In most "warm" lighting conditions the difference between copper and gold is not great. The lack of visibility of the trick is it's downfall. The standard structure is flawless I think.

Long story shot: Have buttons change into coins one by one. Logical? Check! Visible? Check! Great scope? Check!

Poker Spellbound

A standard spellbound routine. Three poker chips in this case one by one change into a coin. David Roth's Wild Coin routine #1 and #2 come to mind when you see this. (Coin Magic by Richard Kaufman) That routine has the coin be dropped in a cup. This wouldn't be possible in this case as the sound it would make would totally take away the presumed illusion. So I decided to be all open about it. And then I got me thinking about premises. What if magic actually happened and I fail to see that. So this is what I ended up with.

Finger Tips Coins Across aka Three Fly was the main inspiration to use that particular handling. Not being restricted to tables and to do a coin trick at chest height is always a good thing. I drew influence from Troy Hoosers coin work. The book Destroyers should be anybody read if you wanna know about direction and coin magic.

The first change is simple, the second one automatic if you a standard ungimmicked Three Fly. Same with the next two changes. The third change is a classic Spellbound change, while the last one is merely the good ol' Bobo Switch.

Placing the coins up to my eyes is not only a personal thing, it's also darn practical and funny. That way you don't need a table nor any receptical at all. Here is a suggested continuation of the effect, if you own a coin holder. Change the three poker chips into three coins. A shuttle pass will do it and it would significantly broaden the effect. As the last change will be off beat it's execution should be not really a problem.

Copper Silver Transposition

I'm not a big fan of Copper/Silver Transpositions. Mainly because copper and silver is not a distinguishable as most magicians seem to think. Have a slightly yellowish light and both coins looks the same. Same goes for Copper/Silver Spellbound. One weakness of most spellbound routines is at the same time it's greatest strength. The fact that the actual switch of the coin happens exactly at the same time as the perceived effect. It is visual as hell. But naturally the thought of a switch during that brief covering action occurs. So my solution is to use the familiar gimmick. That way you disconnect the moment of the effect from the moment of the method, creating time misdirection and thereby creating a magic effect that is harder to figure out, while still maintaining the visual aspect of a spellbound routine.

But even when you do all those little things the elephant in the room remains. Of course you must have switched it for a different coin. And that is why I think that exposing the fact that there are two coins is good. As you are not insulting the spectator's intelligence by sending the subtext that you are hiding shit but won't admit it.

That puts you in a great position for a standard copper silver transposition. The thought that both coins are genuine has been established already so there is no need to prove the fact.

Let's go into the details here: The spellbound phase has only two moves. One is the standard spell bound move (ending in FP) which is particularly easy, as no magic happens. The second real move is the shuttle pass. I use the Danny Korem variation on this, which he called the "Jumping Shuttle Pass". You find this in issue #4 of the Looking Glass on page 141. In my opinion it is a real improvement over the more standard way of doing this.

The first two phases of the transposition are no-brainers. Everyone can come up with this. But the part of the coins switching while a spectator is holding on to one of them is of course the old Nate Leipzig version. You can find it in The Close-up Magic of Frank Garcia - Part I on page 34. Most version I have seen involve the magician digging into the tightly closed fist of the spectator. That is always a sad thing. Have them extent thumb and index finger. Makes work a lot easier for you.

If you are feeling super bold and you feel that you can actually get away with it, you can actually fuse the coins into one. One side would be copper the other one silver. Personally I would not use it. But it's nice for magicians, who see through the method anyway. It was a throw away idea of mine.

Again I'm not a big fan of Copper Silver in general so this is not part of my act. But I promised myself that I would also go through plots and ideas that don't interest me as much. So please excuse the lousy performance and the many flashes. I really didn't feel like doing another video.