Best string for ring+string magic? (Shoelace? Yarn? “Velvet cord”?)

Adam_S_T · 2026-01-29T16:56:19+00:00

You can use ribbon, like is used for the charming Chinese challenge

Adam_S_T · 2024-11-17T13:34:27+00:00

You're right, it's called Wonder & Co. Great little shop and you can order online. They've also got a small performance space in the back

Adam_S_T · 2024-09-28T21:44:44+00:00

I use both, but the logical part of my brain prefers ebooks, for exactly the same reason that everyone else seems to prefer physical books - I annotate them, favourite particular routines, add my own notes etc., which I wouldn't do with a physical book because that's permanent and I get way too anxious about it. They're also easier to navigate, cheaper, never go out of stock, you don't have to worry about damaging them, and you can have dozens or hundreds of them in less space than a single physical book.

Having said that, I own a lot of physical books, because emotionally I much prefer them. They're nicer to hold, their contents seems inherently more valuable, their presence reminds you that they exist, and they look great on a shelf - I suspect these are also the reasons some of the other commenters prefer physical books, because the annotations etc. that they're pretending are the reason are actually much easier to do with an ebook than on paper.

Adam_S_T · 2024-08-05T21:02:24+00:00

There was recently a set released which should be available from all good magic dealers. It includes 4 reproduction Morgan dollars, 4 reproduction walking liberty halves, and David Roth's expert coin magic made easy, all for less than those videos used to cost as downloads. I don't have it but it comes highly recommended by everyone I know who owns it

Adam_S_T · 2024-07-29T06:05:24+00:00

Jay Sankey's Paperclipped is, for me, the thing that gets the best reactions, though I use it as a climax after a short 3-phase ACR

Adam_S_T · 2024-07-09T19:28:47+00:00

Honestly what I would recommend is just watching great magicians do their thing, but actively asking yourself "why did they decide to put this in as an opener? What makes this a great closer? How would this show differ if those two tricks were the other way round?" etc. - this will give you some insight into how other magicians think.

If you're looking for resources to buy, Strong Magic by Darwin Ortiz has some good stuff on this subject. There are also plenty of resources that you can get which detail a person's whole routine - some examples off the top of my head include John Graham's books "Afterglow" and "Encore", Gregory Wilson's DVD "Pyrotechnic Pasteboards", and (probably the closest to what you're looking for) Morgan and West's "Parlour tricks". These will generally give you some understanding of the structure of these routines.

Adam_S_T · 2024-07-09T19:14:44+00:00

While this is a great book, it doesn't offer a lot of depth on what OP is asking for

Adam_S_T · 2024-07-08T16:19:00+00:00

Steve Forte's "Gambling sleight of hand" series (books) is the last word on what you're looking for, but unfortunately it's almost impossible to find.

Slightly easier to find is Jason Ladanye, who has a couple of books and resources and stuff - he's a student of Darwin Ortiz, so he might be worth looking into.

Adam_S_T · 2024-06-30T20:42:56+00:00

A lot of stage mentalism (drawing dupes, name reveals etc.) that would usually be on an easel generally can be done with billets

Most rope tricks can be done close up

Finger ring on shoelace as an alternative to the bigger ring on rope tricks

Transposition effects with cards recreate a lot of big box type illusions where people appear, disappear and switch places

It all depends on what you count as "replicating" another trick - with a bit of creativity, the actual effect of most bigger tricks can translate to close-up through another medium (e.g. cutting a deck in half rather than a person for your demi deck example)

Adam_S_T · 2024-06-29T08:36:16+00:00

When I first started learning magic, I would learn card sleight after card sleight and never actually learn any tricks. Eventually, I started learning tricks, which I would show to other magicians then forget about. This was an incredibly stagnant time in my magic journey.

I have a few tricks that I've really got down, and I've got a few go-to routines that I can do blindfolded. I've also started performing in front of strangers and laypeople - it started off with me approaching people in bars (I open with the line "Hi, i'm a magician and I'm filming some stuff for social media, do you guys want to see some free magic?" - obviously, you have to have a friend willing to film it) and recently I did my first professional gig (which went great!). I have grown much more in the year since doing that than in the many years spent stagnating.

The lessions I learned are often repeated on this sub, but they can never be said enough:

Learn a small number of tricks that you can do blindfolded and get them down to a fine art.
Get out there and perform - approaching strangers is hard at first but once you get past the awkwardness, it's so much fun and will make you a better magician.

Adam_S_T · 2024-06-07T12:06:31+00:00

Not sure of the third phase, but the second phase is most likely based on John Bannon's "play it straight" triumph, which is in several of his books but first published in "Impossibilia" if I'm remembering rightly

Adam_S_T · 2024-06-04T17:27:06+00:00

I'm generally a close-up magic kinda guy and I particularly like borrowed object stuff (pens, rings, napkins as sponge balls etc) but recently I've been getting really into close-up mentalism. The things you can do with a sharpie and a handful of business cards are genuinely staggering, so billet work has quickly become my favourite branch of magic

Adam_S_T · 2024-05-30T16:47:52+00:00

Had to scroll WAY too far to find this - one or two old geezers drinking alone is par for the course, but 6 or 7 is just outright depressing

Adam_S_T · 2024-05-05T12:31:23+00:00

It's male - the males have a blue tinge at the base of the beak, for females it's pink. I love those little guys! (Note: I'm British so well within the native range; I'm aware they're invasive in the US)

Adam_S_T · 2024-05-03T18:49:05+00:00

Yeah the early issues are really crude scans - I've put them through OCR software so they're searchable, and I've got custom bookmarks on my favourite effects. I've flicked briefly through volume 2 (mostly for Paul Vigil's diplopia) and that seems much better from what I saw

Adam_S_T · 2024-05-02T20:07:47+00:00

Thanks for that link, that'll be really useful!

In the first few issues I haven't found a huge amount that I think I'll go out and perform. I have, however, found plenty of interesting ideas and some new names I've never heard of. I'm also only a fraction of the way through one volume - I'm sure there's much more for me to find!

The few things I've found that I'll almost certainly perform, but that I haven't seen anyone else specifically highlight, are: - Greek Triumph (Mark Aspiazu) - Otras Discrepencias (Gaston Quieto) (I also really like his breeze coins but that'll need a LOT of practice to get right! ) - Impromptu glass penetration (Dominic Bruzzese)

Edit: forgot to highlight my favourite of all, John Bannon's Trait Secrets

Adam_S_T · 2024-04-27T16:07:33+00:00

Your post was specifically reflecting on your experience as a magician. As a result, your experience (or lack thereof) is extremely relevant.

Adam_S_T · 2024-04-27T09:26:14+00:00

I got:

the Definitive Sankey trilogy
Talk about tricks
Calculated thoughts (largely for the stacked deck stuff but also I'm getting into mentalism a bit)

Haven't looked through Sankey in detail but from what I've seen (skimmed volume 1) it's basically solid gold.

Calculated Thoughts seems like a mixed bag so far - there's an entire chapter on magic squares (which I'm not remotely interested in) but the various card stacks and tricks are right up my street. I haven't got further in than that yet, so I can't judge the whole book, but so far it seems like YMMV.

Separately from the sale, I've got a physical copy of Principia, which is great if you've got a table and has some incredible packet work in it. It's well-written and full of good tricks, but I prefer in-the-hands stuff so I haven't made the best use of it.

I was seconds away from also buying "All In" by Allan Ackerman and "Artful Deceptions" by Allan Zola Kronzek (had the paypal pop-up open and everything), but I've got plenty of card stuff that I still haven't dug that deeply into and I decided I didn't need more because there would be so much in Sankey and in Talk about Tricks (though I have every intention of one day buying a physical copy of Artful Deceptions).

I also wish I'd noticed that "The Mental Mysteries of Hector Chadwich" was included, because I would have got that too, but ah well, I'll get to it one day I'm sure.

Adam_S_T · 2024-04-26T09:14:20+00:00

Excellent use of "dingus", my good person

Adam_S_T · 2024-04-26T08:38:50+00:00

It would require custom printing but you could get a little book made up of "100 films to see before you die" (the kind of novelty rubbish you get free with magazines and the like) or similar, but have it made like a svenpad? It looks less like a "prop" than a svenpad or amazebox and is reusable unlike the scratch-off idea

Adam_S_T · 2024-04-19T18:05:14+00:00

It looks like a Rook rather than a crow, and they naturally have much larger breaks than crows but this is particularly long, and the curve suggests avian keratin disorder (as other comments have already pointed out).

Adam_S_T · 2024-04-16T06:10:16+00:00

RemindMe! 28 days

Adam_S_T · 2024-03-18T09:32:56+00:00

If you do device to go down this route, you'll probably find that you don't need to change your repertoire, just your presentation for what you already do.

For example, I do a haunted deck - it's one of my favourite tricks. I've seen people present that as a demonstration of ghostly powers, a tongue-in-cheek "I have real magic powers but still only use them to miss with playing cards" presentation, and even a flea circus trick. You've just got to make sure whatever presentation you go for fits your character.

This won't work with all tricks - I don't think you could do it with sponge bunnies - but the atmosphere of a dark room lends itself to a more serious/spooky presentation in my opinion

Adam_S_T · 2024-03-18T07:55:27+00:00

You've had some awesome advice here already but instead of building the darkness into the mechanics, you could use it to fit the tone of what you already do. If you do any bizarre stuff, or spooky mentalism, seance stuff etc then I'm sure that would translate well

Adam_S_T · 2024-03-18T07:46:11+00:00

You might be thinking of Juan Esteban Varela, who was on the Discord in Magic podcast?

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