SOLIDMAGIC – Contributions to Legerdemain

Buffalo Shells 15/11/2019 Do we need more sets for the Three Shell Game? Certainly! We always welcome a good new set. Micha Stehle, the meanwhile well-known shell man has done it again and produced what could well be the biggest shells for the 3-shell-game ever! They ...
Stock Market Crash 11/11/2019 In magic, I find we have motions similar to a stock market. A bubble-and-crash is often caused by a sudden trend or overestimating the price, which shoots into unrealistic heights. It seems like everybody discovers it and wants to participate. Of course, ...
The Scorpio 06/11/2019 Here is a presentational angle on the “Omni Deck” (the clear plastic deck of cards block). I bought one with the scorpio inside, which is a weird thing to look at (and even weirder to hold it in the hands). It is ...
Deep Work 31/10/2019 I have been asked how I managed to publish six thick books in German in such a short time (roughly four years). My answer has always been: “I focused on the task, and put in some deep work.” I have a reading hint for ...
Google vs. Books 31/10/2019 We live in a time where we don’t actually need a good memory anymore. When we want to know something, Google does the work for us. Most of the quests for certain information are done on the Internet these days. You’ll find ...
Simple, Easy and Right 30/10/2019 “The right thing to do never requires any subterfuge; it is always simple and direct.”– Calvin Coolidge This is one of the proverbs I remember and think about often. Especially when I am stuck in the creation process of a magic routine. I ...
Take Action 30/10/2019 “Actions speak louder than words.“ We all know that saying, and it is true. Especially for magicians. In too many performances, words dominate (often useless, thoughtless filler words or patter). Sometimes, important points can be made with small actions. Showing an envelope empty ...
Motivation for Magicians 30/10/2019 Sometimes, we suffer from being de-motivated, and see no reason to create this or that. This happens to me more often than I want. To escape that bad mental state, and switch immediately into the “creating mode” again, I use a cheat ...
5,000 Writing Plots 30/10/2019 When trying to find new ideas to create a script or screenplay for a magic routine, the beginning is, most of the time, the most difficult hurdle to take. The “blank page” is the most important thing to overcome. And the most ...
Themed Acts 30/10/2019 Creating a themed act is a challenge. I wrote about one approach to handle them in this article earlier. I know most of us do not face the challenge of creating a themed act too often in their magical lives, but when ...
The Brexit Trick 29/10/2019 I have been doing my version of the silk and purse routine (I first learned it from Patrick Page) for a long time. Recently — after the Brexit debate started — I switched to using the British flag, which makes it more ...
The Art Of Missing Out 29/10/2019 There is a trend contrary to the “be more productive, informed, on top of all, etc.” It is called the “art of missing out” (AOMO). Google for it and you will see how strong it already developed. The FOMO (fear of missing ...
TNT III – English Version 26/10/2019 For all my English speaking friends, here is the detailed explanation of my effect TNT III, which is an interesting version (and so far the most advanced version) of the “Signed Card in Sealed Envelope”. This is totally practical, and will fool ...
Eisenhower Matrix Applied To Magic 18/10/2019 I am sure you are familiar with the famous “Eisenhower Matrix”, a productivity system developed by the president of the same name. It is a wonderful, and very useful asset in one’s time-management repertoire, and I use it all the time (not ...
Ockham’s Razor Blade 18/10/2019 In the 14th century, William of Ockham published his principle: “Entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity”. There are books on this, and they are an interesting read. Take the time and read what others have to say on this. The essential ...
The Negative Approach 17/10/2019 Many magicians wish to do spectacular routines that make them unique or stand out from the crowd. The search for the “perfect” trick. That has that extra amount of positive things in them. Often in life, the lack of negative things is ...
Script vs. Screenplay 16/10/2019 Often we talk about “scripting” our routines. With that we mean writing down a routine, with patter, stage directions, and all necessary information. Some people refer to it as a screenplay. But there is a difference between a script and a screenplay. Strictly ...
Holism 15/10/2019 Holism is something very important to me, especially in magic. Whenever I conquer a new routine, I visualise it from a holistic point of view. For me, it is important how a routine looks to the observer as a whole, and I ...
Three Simple Questions 14/10/2019 Sometimes, I wonder why it is so difficult to battle the monkey brain (I love this concept of the monkey brain; it gives you a reason to have a combat on a daily basis). It is so easy when you ask — ...
My Wacky Old Brain 14/10/2019 I chose this title because I read that the headline is important, as well as to create click baits. So I tried my best to do so. The topic of this article is a method that enables me (with the least effort of ...
Think Cards 13/10/2019 Sometimes, the simplest things are the best. Here is such a thing, a suggestion to effectively fight the monkey brain and help to establish habits. Both is difficult to do for humans, but the “Think Cards” concept is one of the best ...
Magic and Short Stories 12/10/2019 Combining a short story with magic is a challenge. You always have to take care that the magic does not get overshadowed by the story’s impact, and vice versa. When I was studying mime, we were encouraged to invent short stories and ...
Working With Ideas 11/10/2019 The most valuable thing we have these days are ideas. Ideas are the means of payment of the post-industrial age (I believe they always were). By definition, ideas are made up by the mind. They are invisible before you have them, only ...
Sharing Is Not Making A Gift 11/10/2019 Some wonder why I do this blog, and why it is all for free. Well, there are two points that go for it. If you look up “sharing” in Wikipedia, it will return this: “Sharing is the joint use of a resource or ...
The Book Without Words 11/10/2019 There are so many things that are distorted in our magical society. We are on a race to the bottom, but the many don’t seem to care, ignore it on purpose, or simply haven’t noticed. It is difficult to find a way ...
The Grass is Always Greener There 10/10/2019 If we give new magicians the “inside” addresses on the Internet and the addresses of the important companies, then their progress will be fast. They will know a lot of things in a very short time. They will be able to accomplish ...
The Spanish School 10/10/2019 Many things have been told about the mysterious “Spanish Magic School”. The why’s and who’s that make this particular school of magic so different to what us rest-Europeans have. What is it? When I was touring in Spain, I couldn’t see too much ...
Jay Sankey Rules 10/10/2019 I consider Jay Sankey one of the most creative magicians we have on this planet in this time. No matter what presentational style he chooses to enter at any given time (I don’t care for that too much, the effects he creates ...
Stuck in the Middle of Nowhere 09/10/2019 The false-transfer or false-take is a foundation in magic. How many times do we need to place an object from one hand into the other (or take the object out of one hand), only to show it vanished a moment later? Basic ...
Create a Themed Act 08/10/2019 Themed acts have a particular charm to them. The act is held together by the theme, and constructing a show or an act is relatively easy, because the selection of material is dictated by the act’s theme. Say you want to create a ...
Table-hopping Chess 07/10/2019 I don’t table-hop anymore, only very seldom. But when I was doing it more regularly, here is a little strategy that is easy to make, doesn’t cost a lot and is fun to perform. This gets all your props in a handy ...
The 100 Props Challenge 06/10/2019 There is a challenge in the wide range of the self-optimisation field, and this is called the “How to Live With 100 Things” challenge. This is about minimalism in life, and it is certainly not everybody’s cup of tea (and it is ...
The 365YOU! Project 06/10/2019 The title says it all: it is about YOU, on 365 days, a full year. It is about your progression and life as a magician, and I plan to bring a project into your life that might be interesting, or at least ...
The Point of No Return 05/10/2019 What makes a professional and an amateur in magic two different beasts? The difference is vast, and sometimes, I wonder which is the happier of the two. An interesting aspect is to view this in the context of the information overload. The amateur ...
The Big Chance 04/10/2019 Seeing the stuff the big online magic companies are offering to their (mostly young) audience, triggers some critical thoughts. In the modern magic industry, we see all the Hollywood-style video clips, all the perfect merchandising, all the well thought out public relations. We ...
The Blank Book Test 03/10/2019 There are more book tests in magic than magicians being prepared to buy. The amount of the various systems and editions is staggering. I had my fair share of them: M.O.A.B., Flashback, Codex-X, you name it. All of them are good, but some ...
The Erdnase Bible 02/10/2019 A strange title for a strange trick. It is another version of the Signed Folded Card plot, but has some intriguing logic in it. The signed, folded card is found clipped to the inside of a miniature edition of the Expert At ...
Linking Pins Finale 01/10/2019 I love to perform the Linking Pins. A miniature version of the Linking Rings, this always registers strong in close-up. With a minimum of (natural) props a maximum of effect. I like tricks of that nature. I used the Jerry Andrus Linking Pin ...
The No Bullshit Bullet Journal 30/09/2019 Using notebooks for decades, I think I know the one thing or another on how to take notes, and what works for me and what not. In recent years, the craze for the bullet-journal method came up. Everywhere in the social media ...
Misconceptions About Presentation 29/09/2019 How many times have you heard this: “It doesn’t matter what you do, but how you do it!” “Presentation is all that matters.” “People don’t care for the technique, all they are interested in is the effect.” I am tired of listening to magicians telling these ...
A Street Table or Not? 28/09/2019 Should we use a ‘street table’ when doing our magic open-air or in the streets? Difficult question, and I don’t think there is a definitive answer. I used one, and I didn’t use one. I loved it, and I hated it. Depending ...
The Artist 27/09/2019 Very true, and a well-written article about being an artist by David Ackert: ”Musicians, artists, theatre people are among the strongest and bravest people on the face of the earth. In one year they face daily rejection by people more than what others ...
The 80/20 Concept 26/09/2019 The Eighty-Twenty Rule — known as “Pareto’s Principle” — is an interesting thought. The rule says that ...
The 12 Inch Concept 25/09/2019 Here is an exciting concept that can help in many routines in close-up. The idea is to make certain moves invisible to the spectator by the position and distance of the hands. The working behind this: if two things are about 12 ...
Teatime 24/09/2019 Sorry, but no other title for this one. The principle is interesting. Another version of the signed folded card. This time a nice switch. Let me explain a basic switch first along with the principle. You will need a small tea sieve. ...
Card in Bottle 23/09/2019 Robert Harbin’s Card in Bottle is a terrific trick. I love Eric and Martin Lewis’ brilliant adaptation/method for doing it. The only wee drawback is that it demands the use of a black-art table to get rid of the empty bottle. For ...
Buddha Card 22/09/2019 The title stems from a Dr Stanley Jaks mystery, in which he used a purse and a small Buddha figurine. His routine inspired me to create this baby. It is a combination of three routines for formal close-up shows sitting at the ...
Multiplying Bottles Hack 21/09/2019 This video clip is in German, but I don’t bother to do it again in English because the content is clear. It is my hack for the modified set of bottles. As you have read, my bottles are closed with a cork ...
A Practical Table 20/09/2019 There is always a need for a practical table. Here is another one I designed years ago for a commercial manipulation/patter act. This table system is very easy to construct, packs flat and offers lots of possibilities. The material used was very ...
Build an Act 19/09/2019 Often, one wonders how to start to build an act, or short program. Here is the simplistic system I use. Take three file cards and some Post-its. Label the file cards with “Opening”, “Middle”, and “Finale”. Now start to search your repertoire for ...
3-Shell-Game Bag 18/09/2019 In the past months, a craze is going on with the shells, peas and all the related stuff for the Three Shell Game. All 50 years or so the same procedure. Here is a practical and nice solution I found to carry ...
Erdnase False Shuffle 17/09/2019 This is the shuffle I use whenever I want to create the impression of a genuine shuffle. it is based on the good old Erdnase False Shuffle. Another proof that the old, basic things are good, safe and practical. Go dig out ...
7-Card-Monte Handling 16/09/2019 Years ago I played with the 7-Card-Monte. Here is a clip I found on my old smartphone and had forgotten about. You will find out the handling by yourself. I think it is a subtle use of the ‘move’.
Ascanioesque Double Lift 15/09/2019 This is one of my handlings of the double lift, following the Ascanio school of magic. It is a ‘floating double’, and the video should make everything clear. And thanks to Lolo from Sevilla, Spain for the beautiful ring! :-)
Bill in Lemon in Bottle 14/09/2019 This is a lavish idea. I thought that it would heighten the effect of the Bill in Lemon, but Harry Riegel tells me he couldn’t see a big difference in audience reaction in comparison to the normal version. Maybe it’s just the ...
Anti-Gravity Bottle 13/09/2019 Do you remember the old trick where two glasses are placed with the openings down onto a transparent glass plate (or a book), which is then turned over with the glasses being suspended in mid-air? This old trick, which was done with ...
Pimp Your Cups and Balls 12/09/2019 I am a Cups and Balls afficionado, and therefore a lot of ideas have accumulated over the past years. As usual: some are good, some are better, and a few are bad. Here is a selection of them. You decide what to ...
Multiplying Bottles Retouched 10/09/2019 I needed to do the Multiplying Bottles in my Scottish Act. Therefore, the use of Whiskey bottles suggested itself. I got an old, beaten-up bottle set for almost nothing. On redecorating it, I discovered a few things. First, I cleaned the bottles and ...
Checklist New Stuff 09/09/2019 Whenever I decide I want to buy, learn, or add something new to my arsenal, I work with a checklist. This is a tremendous help in my decision making. The more YES, the more likely the thing is going into my life. Here ...
Glasses on the Table 08/09/2019 It is always a problem to use glasses and a table. They might tumble (and they do). I built a table top with two holes, large enough to hold the glasses. The glasses I use are polycarbonate glasses, which are almost indestructible. ...
About This Blog 07/09/2019 In the past weeks (actually months), I redesigned and built everything for this project new from scratch. The design is minimalistic, but that’s on purpose. Nothing should detract you from reading the content. I tried my best to make this as mobile ...
Balls For the Cups 06/09/2019 The Cups and Balls depends on two props mainly: the cups and the balls. It is interesting that most magicians don’t give too much thought on the little balls they use for the routine. The decisions they make are based on the wares ...
A Quote From Seth Godin 05/09/2019 Here is something interesting which landed in my inbox today. It is well worth to think about. Seth Godin writes some tremendous things in his blog/newsletters: “The optimists who got excited about the ‘everyone has a microphone’ promise of the Net 20 years ...
A Quote From Ken Brooke 04/09/2019 I don’t think anybody comes into the magic business these days with the intention to make a lot of money — at least here in this country. But then, I was having an interesting life, which any other job wouldn’t have given ...
The Container Theory 03/09/2019 For me, the thumb tip is a container. A container that transports stuff from one place to another. But with a big difference: the container is invisible! Both before and after the transport. If we examine the usual procedure, we will note the ...
Props and Gear 02/09/2019 Gear is an important aspect of street performing, and if you do it for a while on a regular base, you will know what I mean. Money spent in quality props (like cups, balls, wands, pouches, tables, Dye Tubes, silks, even ropes, ...
The Street Magician 01/09/2019 I have been thinking about the topics for this blog a lot, and hit upon a crazy idea: I would write something for the street magic performers out there. Here we have the first outline, the result of some brain storming sessions ...
Cups and Balls Loading Sequence 31/08/2019 There are two things that disturb me: the increasing number of performers doing Gazzo’s exact cups and balls routine; word for word, move for move, and bit for the bit. I mean — does it make sense? How difficult is it to create an ...
Cracking Magic 6: Selection of Material 30/08/2019 This and the following articles should be of some help to you in making proper selections. We must understand it that the tricks and books I will suggest are my opinion, and your taste may vary. But then, this is written with ...
Cracking Magic 5: Note Taking 29/08/2019 Haven’t mentioned in the last article already that the computer is not my most important tool for the archive, here is one of the most important tools (besides the brain): notebooks. Not the electronic ones, but the ones made from real paper. I ...
Cracking Magic 4: Organisation 28/08/2019 Now that we have the little notebook or whatever, it is time to get some structure onto it. Here is the system I have been using for years, and it proved to function. The whole thing is to make the number of sub-folders ...
Cracking Magic 3: Tools 27/08/2019 A quick view of my usual archive workspace. Everything needed for a practical archive is here. Now we will discuss two tools useful in building our archive. These are few and may differ from what you have been using already. Again, very few and ...
Cracking Magic 2: Archive Structure 26/08/2019 Let’s look at that monster called archive. You will build one from scratch. Much better than wasting time in trying to get some overview of the mess you have already. This will be your new archive, which also represents your new life ...
Cracking Magic 1: Introduction 25/08/2019 There are tons of books, courses, and even blogs dedicated to self-organisation. But for magicians and their magic-specific needs, there isn’t too much information available on this topic. In past years, I have been helping other magicians create their acts and shows, and ...
How to Write Magic Books? 24/08/2019 An interesting question. I believe that the most valuable information a reader can get out of a magic book should be the answer to the holy question “Why did the author do it that way?”. In my publications in German, I detailed a ...
Magic as an Indicator of Growth 23/08/2019 Most of the time, magicians take magic too seriously. I am not only thinking of an abundance of psychics and mind readers, body-language-readers, intuitive, mediums, voodoo priests, religious wonder men, spoon benders, or any of the other creepy mortals that populate our ...
A Thumb Tip Holder 22/08/2019 It is important to get the thumb tip in a show without fumbling out of the prop case or centrepiece. I tried many holders, and this is the one I settled on for a long time now. I made it out of a plastic thumb tip, ...
Quick Starters 21/08/2019 Sometimes, one wonders how to give a trick a quick and interesting theme, to get a quick start in developing some presentation. Often, time runs short, and it requires a quick fix. Using catch-phrases is a surefire way to start a presentational ...
The 24/7 Magician 20/08/2019 I am a firm believer in the thesis that a magician — for mentalists this is a necessity — should be able to perform something anytime and anywhere. The so-called ’24/7 Magician’. The mastery of sleight-of-hand enables us to perform with almost ...
How to Better The Card to Wallet 19/08/2019 Here is a small bit of refining the handling of a Card to Wallet routine, with the purpose to obscure the moment of the loading of the card into the wallet. I am sure others must have hit upon this as well ...
A Bass Player in Magic 18/08/2019 In bass playing, a trend arose to elevate the instrument to a higher level. Tons of sophisticated bass solos were written and performed, the complexity of bass playing techniques increased, and virtuosos of the instrument appeared. Some of this new material sounds ...
The 12 In. Concept 17/08/2019 Here is an exciting concept that can help in many routines in close-up. The idea is to make certain “moves” invisible to the spectator by the position and distance of the hands. The working behind this: if two things are about 12 ...
A Matter of Reputation 16/08/2019 Seth Godin wrote in one of his newsletters: “There’s a chasm between science, where the identity of the discoverer doesn’t matter, and culture, where, “because he said so”, is a factor in our beliefs. The reputation of a jazz musician, or a comedian or ...
A Comparison to Chess 15/08/2019 I subscribed to the chess website Tiger Chess by GM Nigel Davies. My thoughts were two-fold: I wanted to improve in my chess and looked for a course that was constructed on a long-term basis. A solid training plan. Second, I wanted ...
The Family of Three 14/08/2019 The Three is a substantial number. Think of a trio, threesome, triad, troika, triangle, triumvirate, trilogy, triptych, trefoil, three-piece, triplets, God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost, third-party and many more. The Three has its roots in many facets of life: nature, religion, ...
How to Save Time, Money and Energy 13/08/2019 Ninety percent of the magicians waste their time, energy, and money on: ‘Research’ on the Internet. Passive consumption video clips, DVDs, PDFs Passive consumption conventions and get-togethers. Passive attendance of magic-club meetings. Spreading and evaluating gossip and speculation. Participation in useless forum discussions. Day-dreaming about performing this and that ...
Move for Balls and Net Routine 12/08/2019 I was playing around with this, and discovered an important thing. The move is much easier, when the left thumb is pressed against the right palm, which then pushed it more or less out of the way. Watch out for the position and ...
About Lectures 11/08/2019 I am not sure whether this is because times have changed. Or people have changed. Maybe both. I have been doing lectures for the past 30 years now. My beginnings as a lecturer in 1984 were humble. I did my first lecture explaining ...
R.I.P. Don Wayne 10/08/2019 One of the greatest designers, inventors and consultants in magic has gone forever. So sad. Such a loss for magic, and for all the many friends you had. Your footsteps are huge.
Mark Elsdon‘s Hidden Gems 09/08/2019 I got a hold on these eBooks by Mark Elsdon some time ago. After reading them, two things dawned on me. Not that I don‘t have some understanding of magic and read through all the relevant books and magazines. But more because Mark ...
The Rehearsal 08/08/2019 Practise is not only needed if you want to have the techniques at your fingertips when you need them. It is necessary for complete routines, acts, or tricks. Seems to be logical, but is seldom put into practice. There are many ways to ...
The Morning Routine 07/08/2019 Most successful people have morning rituals. There are fixed times in the early morning where they execute important things: they write, practise, think, or workout. All successful people have this habit. I learned that Ron McMillan used to go through his whole ...
Simpler Magic 06/08/2019 To experience a lighter approach to magic, we could think about simple things: simple props simple handlings simple effects Less is more, and this holds for magic as well. Less complicated methods and sleights, less riff-raff presentation-wise, less boasting and bragging, less ‘new’ things. Maybe we get MORE ...
LePaul Cards and Envelope 05/08/2019 There is a trick in the book ‘The Card Magic of Paul LePaul’ which has fascinated me since my youth: it is the ‘Cards and Envelope Mystery’. The effect is that four signed Aces vanish from the deck and appear in a ...
Focus 04/08/2019 The information overload is severe. It is impossible to follow everything and be up-to-date. There is something amiss all the time. How is it possible to keep it up? The solution is one word: FOCUS. Focus on what is essential for your magic, focus ...
Trapped 03/08/2019 How many does a person need? iPhone, iPad, iMac, Time Capsule, MacBook, iPod, various Clouds – Dropbox, iCloud, Evernote, etc. Do not to forget all the social media accounts and networks. With all that equipment, it is possible to stay connected with the ...
Chase the Ace 02/08/2019 That trick has been around for a long time. It is a classic for the stand-up and stage performer (although I’ve seen people do it in close-up). A time-tested trick that never fails to entertain and mystify a lay audience (which is ...
Birth of an Act 01/08/2019 All ten years, I create a new act. This time it will be a manipulative act for the small stage/parlour. In my past, I already had some experience with a manipulation act. I always was fond of this branch of magic. With ...