Monday, May 27, 2013

Sometimes the brain shuts down!

I've been wearing a costume for years. I wear a hat. And I've been producing coins from my elbow like everybody else. It took my years to realise that producing coins from the brim of my hat is much simpler, both in terms of method and visibility.

Somehow the simple shift from elbow to hat made coin magic unique. Nobody else does it (that I know of) ergo nobody has seen it.

I also wear a ring. Never seen that thing as "a hole". Yesterday I saw it. And I immediately saw the potential of the idea. Coin through table becomes more interesting to watch. Simply place the ring on the table. Drop the supposed three coin in your hand on the ring, while you other hand is under the table. Two of the coins will hit the ring and fall next to it, as they slide off the ring. It is an interesting image. And suddenly the ring becomes the focus of the presentation not an imaginary hole in the table.  It made the trick unique. Then the potential struck me. What if there was no table. What if I drop all three coins into the "hole" without a table. Shouldn't they simply come out the other side? Not if they are stuck. After all the ring is much smaller than the coins. So the coins vanished. I pushed my finger through the ring and at the same time the coins would "pop" out of the ring. And there you have a routine that you can do anywhere, anytime.

Sometimes the brain shuts down when it comes to seeing the obvious little things. And discovering the years of dumbness is one of the many moments in magic, that I love. I love it not because I was dumb, but because I see that I get better.

Waitin' for more!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Add the arch illusion and you have a killer set!