Ascanio Float­ing Double Variation

This is a little extra for an ACR, that can be used before reveal­ing that the card rose up to the top. To begin with, the ambi­tious card is on top (without the spec­tat­ors know­ing this, of course). The per­former shows the top three cards not to be the signed card. After that it appears back on top. Take a look at the video clip, which shows all the action.

After the usu­al false shuffles and cuts, the first turnover is from Gary Ouellet’s book ‘Close-up Illu­sions’ and is called ‘Not on the top, not on the bot­tom’. This is a very inter­est­ing and good book, by the way. Lots of prac­tic­al stuff in there.

After the double card is face-up in the left hand, the next card is pushed to the side and turned over with the help of the double. It is then taken right onto the double card.

The next card is turned over with the help of these two cards. Here a small ‘acci­dent’ hap­pens and the card drops onto the table. This must not be over­played. The ‘drop’ serves to motiv­ate giv­ing the two face-up cards tem­por­ar­ily onto the deck, to free the hand in order to pick up the card on the table.

This trans­fer is an ‘action in trans­it’ and the focus is on the card on the table. The two (three really) cards are placed into pos­i­tion to per­form a sort of Ascanio’s ‘float­ing double lift’: the cards rest on the middle fin­ger and when the fin­gers are slightly opened, the three cards ‘ride’ on top of the deck to the side. Mean­while the oth­er hand has picked up the card on the table and places it face-up onto the three cards on the deck, which are then all turned face down. The selec­tion is on the top.

The video clip should make all this clear. Import­ant is that the float­ing double is per­formed in the off-beat moment whilst pick­ing up the card on the table. Cas­u­al­ness is the key here. The hand­ling appears very open and no double lifts should be suspected.

Cheat­er version

Before put­ting the ambi­tious card on top of the deck face down and before the shuffle, put a bit of saliva onto the back of the top card. This will help keep­ing the double togeth­er dur­ing the ‘float­ing’.

Pass it on!