Bachelor's Needle

This is my little update to the old classic published in the Tarbell Course in Magic - Volume 3 at page 102. You can also find it in "Abbott's Encyclopedia of Rope Tricks for Magicians" if you own that. A few years ago, Penguin Magic ripped off the effect calling it "Eye of the Tiger". Fuckers!

I made a few changes. First I added phases. Even though no actual increase of difficulty or drama happens, it sure feels like it. The first phase introduces the idea, nothing happens. The second time the actual effect happens with minimum conditions. On the third time the conditions seem increased with the addition of the knot. I didn't find it mentioned anywhere, but I think that the "pull back" right after the effect is necessary to underline the impossibility of the action. Nobody seems to do it. And the last phase is my little addition. Including a spectator helps so much elevating this little trick from gem to jewel.

This is one of the "warm up" tricks I do whenever I busk.

Additional idea: If you color just one end of the rope, it will help a lot to make the effect more visible to the masses. Basically the "needle and eye" could be white while the "thread" is red.

One more thing. A constant problem seems to be the fact that the loop seem bigger after the penetration. This is solved, by giving the loop a half turn counter clockwise twist right before pinching it. The literature I read on this is often very unclear about this. They say "turn it to the right", which depending on the viewing the whole assembly could mean either direction. Counter clockwise is the way to go!