Many kinds of production tubes have been used to produce scarves. Some use tricked tubes to hide the scarves like The Phantom Tube. However, the amount of scarves from this is limited and only can be increased if a switch is made.
This method doesn’t use such a switch. Clever misdirection is applied so you can produce a bunch of silks from an empty tube. To put meaning to the trick, two other effects are added to reach what I hope is a logical conclusion to this colorful trick.
Effect: Two tubes used to hold a bottle of wine sets on the table. The inner one is shown empty. To dem-onstrate that the larger one is empty, the smaller one is dropped inside of it. This larger one is also shown empty.
The large tube is placed around the smaller tube.
The magician waves his wand over the tube and produces a plethora of colorful silk scarves. From the scarves, a glass of wine is produced. Then the tubes are placed over the glass and a bottle from the same label that is on the tube is produced.
This is a great finale to your act. Music can be added to make you seem like a season veteran.
Props:
One hollowed out wine bottle Three tubes of descending sizes A bunch of different colored silks A glass of wine
A chair
Preparation: After emptying a bottle of wine, carefully cutout the bottom of it. It is best to take it to an expert who knows how to do this. A craft store can direct you on the best way to go about this. Caution; you don’t want to cut yourself, so make sure that the bottom of the bottle is well sanded with no jagged edges.
Another way to get a bottomless bottle is to use a plastic one. There are some alcoholic beverages that now come in plastic. Rum bottles come this way. You can cut the bottom then paint the inside with brown paint to look like rum. This will be very deceptive because it looks like a full bottle.
Tubes can be of any sort, but the best is one with a label that the alcohol came in. This will make it logical when you produce the bottle at the end. If you can’t find one, steam the label off of a bottle and glue it on a tube.
The smallest tube will not be seen, so it should not be decorated. Also, this small tube should be slightly shorter that the other two. This is so you can grip the middle tube while doing the routine. Figure 1 shows the three tubes and the bottle.
Place this bottle in the smallest tube as in figure 2. Around the bottle place the silks one by one as shown in figure 3.
Fig. 2 Fig. 3
Fig. 1
Use as many silk scarves as can fit. Arrange the colors in the most pleasing order possible. Reverse the order that was given on page 39 starting with the color magenta then light green and so on ending with lilac.
Put in the magenta silk and have the corner stick up. Take the light green silk and twist it around the first one as in figure 4.
Fig. 4
Tuck this in the tube until the second corner is sticking out. Twist this around the third silk like you did the first. Repeat this until you have four silks left. One of the four should be a white silk, much smaller than the rest. This will be used as comedy, so that’s why the order is important. Twist this one around the corner sticking up.
Then repeat this with the rest of the silks. Take the middle size tube
and cover it over the small tube. See figure 5. Finally, take the largest tube and cover over the other two. (See figure 6.)
Fig. 5 Fig. 6
Next thing you need to prepare is the production of the glass of wine. Pour water in the glass halfway so as not to spill the contents.
Then use a small amount of red food coloring to tint the water. This will look like wine as in figure 7. If you are using a rum bottle, don’t use the wine glass. Instead, use a regular glass and fill it halfway with ice tea.
Fig. 7
Sew buttons loops on each corner of the silk. See figure 8. Place the glass halfway on the center of the scarf. Col-lect the corners of the scarf as in figure 9.
Then hang it on the nail in back of the chair as in figure 10.
Fig. 8 Fig. 9
Fig. 10
To perform: Being that this is your finale, do it to music. The music should be anything contemporary, but it has to fit your actions. The beat of the music should coordinate with the following movements. It’s best to have music that starts off slow, then gets faster and louder. As the music gets faster, you move faster. Herb Al-bert’s Zorba the Greek is perfect for this even though it’s not contemporary.
Pick up the middle tube and show it empty. Because the inner smaller tube is shorter, this would be easy.
Push your arm through it to further prove that it is empty as in figure 11.
Slide this tube inside of the larger tube. Then pull out the large tube leaving the middle one behind.
For some reason, this gives the im-pression that the large tube is empty.
If there was something inside of the large tube, the middle tube would not be able to fit. This should have one flowing motion. Not too fast, but not too slow. Show this tube to be empty.
Put it back over the two inner tubes.
Pick up your wand and wave it over the tube, then tap it. Set the wand down. With your right hand, pull out the first silk from the tube.
Because you twisted the ends to-gether, each one will pop up like a Kleenex box. Still holding the silk in your right hand, reach in with your left hand and produce the next silk.
Put this into your right hand. Then pull out the third silk with your left hand. Repeat with the fourth one.
When you get to the fifth one, it is just a plain white hanky. The smaller size should get a laugh from the audience. Stop and look at this. You should have four large
colored silks in the right hand, and the one small white silk in left. Look confused. Put the silks that’s in your right hand over the chair so it hangs over the load as in figure 12.
Then show on your face that the white silk looks famil-iar. Pretend to blow your nose into it. Fold it up like you would a handkerchief and put it in your back pocket. Collect the scarves from behind the chair. Secretly grab the loaded one.
Make sure it’s well hidden behind the other four.
Now continue to pull out scarves from the tube with your left hand and place it in the right hand. Pick up the pace.
You can do this by pulling one out with the left hand and place it to the right. Then pull one, two with the left hand before transferring it to the right. Then one, two, three. You can even get the audience involved by having them clap every time a silk is produced. If you pick up the pace, it will get the audience
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Now to make the glass appear, slip your left hand under the load to support the glass. Then let go of the silk with your right hand so all of them will fall over your left hand revealing the glass. (In figure 13, the silks have been removed for clarity. In reality, you’ll have the produced silks on the palm of your hand). Take the glass in your right hand and take a sip if you want. Put the silks down on your table. Place the glass back on your palm as in figure 13. Finally, with your right hand, reach into the top of the tube with your fingers. Stick your middle finger into the bottle. With your thumb on the outside of the tube grip all of this together.
Cover the glass with the tube as in figure 14. Look at the label on the tube. Look at the audience, then the label again. Wave your right hand over the top. Pause. Then lift up all three tubes revealing the bottle, (see figure 15) making sure the music strikes a cord on the production. The music should be ending as you take your bow.
Fig. 15
Fig. 13 Fig. 14
7. Magic of the Mind
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Mind reading effects are always good to insert in any magic show. The impossibility of it boosts your credibility as a master mystifier. The following trick is a great way of creating that aura of mystique. You appear to do nothing more than just walk up to someone and read their mind.
Effect: The magician walks up to a spectator in the audience and asks them to choose a geometrical figure; a square, a circle, or a triangle. After they say their chose out loud, the magician shows a prediction that proves that he knew ahead of time that he can read minds.
Props:
Two 8 x 4 inch cardboard One manila envelope
Preparation: Before the show, write the words, “You will choose the square” in big bold letters on a piece of cardboard. Tape this below a spectator’s chair. Then take a manila envelope and draw three geometrical shapes; square, circle, and triangle. On the back of it print in big bold letters, “You will choose the circle.” Finally, on another cardboard a little smaller than the envelope, print the words, “You will choose the triangle.” Put this in the envelope. Make sure the blank side is towards the face and you are all set.
To perform: Pick up the envelope and make sure you do not show the back of it. Walk over to the specta-tor that is sitting at the prepared chair. “Excuse me, would you stand up? I know nothing about this person, is that correct?” If she shakes her head say, “Well, don’t look so happy about it. What’s you’re name?” After she gives it, say, “That’s absolutely correct.” This should get a laugh.
“Usually when normal people meet they ask each other silly questions like that. But as you can tell, I’m not a normal person.” Look at her, “You don’t have to agree. I am psycho. . . I mean, psychic.
“Being psychic, I am going to ask you an unusual question.” Hold envelope so they see the markings on the front, “Think of a shape. Are you thinking of a shape, or are you thinking of ways to sit down? Go ahead and name it.”
If they say square, and most people do, then say, “I knew that because I’m--” if you pause, the audience may join with you, “--psycho yeah. Thanks for reminding me. No really, if you look under your chair that you’ve been sitting on for the entire night, you will see a prediction that I placed there before the show. Go ahead and look at it.”
She turns it over. Have her take it off. Make sure you don’t touch it because you want to give the