FLAME PROOF cool your suer do love ping pong balls huh:)
Magic 8 Ball
Group: alt.magic.secrets Date: Tue, Jul 8, 2003, 4:20am (EDT+5) From:
***@REMOVEabpc.biz (fLaMePr0oF)
As it's sharing time, here's a nice stage variation of Fearson's
floating cigarette I came up with...
Effect: The magician produces an 'eight ball' asking if anyone else has
or
has seen a 'magic 8 ball'? He tosses the ball to an audience member to
have a look at telling the audience that this is his 'magic 8 ball', of
course as people in the front examine it they find absolutely nothing
magic about it, it's just a plain old 8 ball...
Now when it's tossed back to the magician he explains that this 'magic 8
ball' isn't like the usual kind that make predictions, and placing it in
the palm of his hand he says "watch this" and as he waves his other hand
over it, it slowly begins to levitate from his palm!
The magician levitates the ball left to right from palm to palm, down
almost to the floor and back up, making it pass through a ring made with
his thumbs and index fingers and back to his palm. "You see" he says,
"Mattel corporation may have the rights to the 'magic 8 ball' that you
can buy in the store, but my 8 ball really is magic!"
Method:-
Art & craft first...
You need a ping pong ball, a hair dryer, and some black gloss ENAMEL
spray paint (You may have to try a few brands to find one that coats
best, but the acrylic sort is no good). You'll also need some invisible
thread, scotch tape, some white 'spot' stickers, (or a very steady hand
with a paint brush), a cardboard tube (like the kind from a roll of
aluminium foil) and a wad of cotton wool.
Oh, and you'll also need a real 8 ball, of the kind found on smaller
'kids' size pool tables. (You should find this fairly easy to find as
many of them are of a very similar size to a ping pong ball).
Now, mount your hairdryer somewhere so that the jet points straight up,
switch it on (I find high heat helps drying although some paints coat
smoother with colder air), and 'float' your ping pong ball in the air
jet. It's pretty easy to spray a good smooth even coat on the ball - the
ball will begin to spin which helps, but you'll probably have to
experiment with a few before you get a really nice job done. Once the
ball is dry (and give it TIME - it's surprising how long it takes to
COMPLETELY dry), you can remove it from the air jet and either apply
your white spot stickers with an 8 carefully arted on in black, or if
you're really ambitious you can paint the spots directly on with white
and then black enamel paint and a fine brush.
(Tip: I found some 'spot' stickers with a glossy finish in my local art
shop, but the alternative is to spray or paint the stickers with white
gloss enamel or acrylic before peeling and sticking them. I also found
some black number 'transfers' which were a good match to the 8 on the
ball and applied those to my glossy stickers, otherwise you'll just have
to do your own art.)
Now you have two identicle looking '8 balls', but one is light enough to
hook up to your IT ;o) I like to hook up by making a small loop in the
end of the IT and putting a very small strip of scotch tape in the loop
and stick and smooth this well onto the ball. The reason for this is
that the ball then tends to spin less while suspended, making the spots
on the sides go round and round, although you still have to be VERY
steady and handle the IT very carefully to avoid 'twists'.
(Alternatively you can slip a loop of thread round one of the 'spots'
then spinning is less apparent if it does occur, but I like to have the
spots visible on the sides with one slightly higher than the other as
this seems to add to the whole aura of the effect).
As for the levitation, that and general hook up, you can get from Steve
Fearson's floating cigarette routine from downloadmagic.com (Although as
Steve has seen fit to have a pop up advertising that every purchaser
gets a free copy his rip-off version of Anders Moden's "Healed n' Sealed
Soda" I think it fair to say you can have a copy of the floating
cigarette PDF for the purposes of making THIS EFFECT if you email me ;o)
Now, assuming you've digested Floating Cigarette, you're only question
will be, "How do I switch the balls"? Well, you can use any switch you
like really, but here's a method I've found very smooth and easy, and it
even confounded a fellow magician for weeks because he didn't figure the
switch and wondered how I could possibly get Invisible Thread to support
a real 8 ball...!
Here's where the cardboard tube and cotton wool come it, I seal up one
end of the tube and insert a good wad of cotton wool inside down to the
sealed end. This tube is mounted inside the back of my jacket between
the shoulder blades with the open end sticking up an inch or two. Now,
when the ball is thrown back to me after examination, I'm looking for a
good high catch - I hold up my right hand beside my head to indicate my
desire to the person throwing which usually works - also practice having
someone 'lob' the ball to you and moving so that you're catching it at
about head height or just above. (The best aim is to catch the ball just
level with and slightly behind your head - this actually looks like a
very natural catch).
As I catch the ball the final time I hold it there with my hand raised
for a moment as if to punctuate what I'm going to say next, "Now! This
magic 8 ball is a little different from the kind that give you those
predictions or help you make decisions..." I'm now lowering the ball to
my palm - "Watch this..." What has happened is that as I catch and hold
the ball, I'm turning slightly to the right, dropping the real 8 ball
into the tube at my neck, (splay the edges out a little if you like for
greater ease), and collecting the hooked up fake ball which is held on
the back of my head by a loop of scotch tape folded and clipped to my
hair! Of course, this switch has some drawbacks - it's pretty angle
restrictive; you can never turn your back to the audience, and also
relies on someone else's throw. I practiced for a LONG time with someone
else, and on my first performance, had that person near the front as a
stooge to throw the ball back to me the final time, (I'd tossed it out
to several people, so I could repeat and establish the catching style
first), but find that now I can do well with most people. (If someone
throws way to short and the ball hits the floor, well it only serves to
establish the weight and solidity of the ball and is easily passed of
with a nice quip).
Well, there you have it, I'm sure people will work on the switch etc. If
you don't mind using stooges, you can always have your stooge do the
switch and toss you back the fake ball, then get your hookup on the fly
with wax - I'd be interested to hear any more ideas / methods on this
part.
God bless all
fLaMePr0oF <><
"Dan Perez" <***@houston.rr.com>, wrote in message news:KuONa.50748$***@twister.austin.rr.com...
I came up with this earlier today, showed it to another amateur magician
and he was impressed.
Effect: Tear the end off a paper wrapped soda straw (from any
restaurant).
Note to your audience that a lot of people blow on the straw to shoot
the wrapper away, but you're a magician and magicians like to do things
the hard way. So you're going to levitate the straw out of the wrapper.
You place your hand over the straw and slowly the straw rises up, pops
out and falls to the floor. The straw and wrapper can be examined at the
end of the trick.
Method: Using an Exacto blade, cut a slit in the paper wrapper just
above
the top of the straw, just enough so you can get the straw out but still
have the wrapper basically intact. Prepare the straw by cutting a very
shallow slit in the bottom rim. Cut a length of invisible thread about
four inches longer than the straw and tie a loop in one end and a knot
in the opposite end. Catch the knot in the slit at the bottom of the
straw and carefully thread the straw and thread back into the paper
wrapper. The looped end of the thread should be hanging out of the slit
at the top of the paper wrapper. You then loop your middle finger
through the loop when you pick up the straw to do the trick. Tear off
the "top" of the straw so your audience thinks it was sealed. Then, with
your finger in the loop, slowly raise your hand above the wrapper while
holding the bottom wrapper end with your other hand. The rigged straw
will levitate slowly out of the paper wrapper. When it is almost out,
pop it up quickly and it will tumble to the floor, releasing itself from
the thread. You can then pick up the straw and and let the audience
examine the wrapper and straw.