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I just thought it would be interesting to find out where you people get your next "trick" from?

Do you just search the net for new tricks and buy them? Or do you go back through old books or videos you have? Or do you sometimes see something and take inspiration from that?

I'm just curious and interested really, I'm lucky enough to have a few good friends who are in my opinion very good magicians who help out a lot! So they are always a good source of information... But I'm just wondering.

Hit me.

For me I usually get an idea of what I want to do and from there it's a case of either thinking up a method or looking around for something that will let me do what I want to. Sometime I'll just browse through a site and find something that looks interesting but usually I've already got an idea of what I want before I start looking.

I agree. I *tend* to have an idea for an effect I want to create or perform first and then either buy the stuff or work out a cheap way to do it.

Most recently I'd been looking at a few different ways to achieve an effect and didn't find a really clean one. Quite by accident I found a suitable method in Corinda (for an unrelated effect), which was very rewarding.

lord knows. It springs up on me when i least expect it.
I cant control the process. If an idea comes into my head, i cant rest until ive written it down, or shared it verbaly.

As to seeing an effect and thinking that it's worth getting.. Im thinking about Rodger Lovins shaker at the moment.

Its really good, because it blends several magic themes. Coin in bottle, chop cup, and a vanish. Plus, if you get the red balls with it, it can be routined with sponge balls.


see....

http://www.kernowmagic.co.uk/product_in ... ts_id=1631

I get lots of ideas while I'm performing.

If something gets a weak reaction I try to think what would give it an extra kick.
What if I had also made their chosen card a prediction ?
What if it was the only blue-backed card ?
What if that card was the only one missing from the pack ?

and quite often someone will make a funny comment or suggestion and that gets added to the effect.

Occasionally I make up a new effect by accident. I recently did an unintentional triple lift and ad-libbed an effect with two people both apparently forgetting the same (palmed and now missing) card.

music, films, books...random things, random thoughts...most things really...

IAIN wrote:music, films, books...random things, random thoughts...most things really...

Sooo true!


Once you've been around this stuff for a while you will find your mind exploring possibilities. We had a joke during my days at the Magic Castle about walking through a store or flea market and not finding something that we didn't "see a trick in"... it's impossible! By our very nature Magicians seem able to associate most anything with an effect. Granted, it may not be the best epiphany going, but we do come up with some strange and wonderful concepts from time to time (and develop writers cramp from jotting down all those notes )

When you are already working with a theme however, you have a context or corner-stone from which to mold your ideas from, allowing you to tailor them to meet your personal needs. This could be anything from changing the theme to an established piece like OOTW to investing tens of thousands of dollars into the development of a grand illusion (and now days that's about the average).

My mentor and his contemporaries used to say that the two best Magic Stores going were a Hardware Store and the local Stationary Shop with the Five & Dime taking up the slack. There's a lot of truth in that claim

So true Craig, I'm always coming home with bags of junk just because I could do something magicy with it. Most of the time I don't do anything with it and it goes into the box in my spare room.

Lady of Mystery wrote:So true Craig, I'm always coming home with bags of junk just because I could do something magicy with it. Most of the time I don't do anything with it and it goes into the box in my spare room.

I'm such a horrid pack-rat... the worse places for me to walk into are Antique dealers or the local Dollar & Surplus stores

doey97 wrote:I just thought it would be interesting to find out where you people get your next "trick" from?
.

From my imagination.
And from discussions with friends.

I may view a video on the net and adapt it to my own design, or I may invent something when I am bored.

the Curator wrote:

doey97 wrote:I just thought it would be interesting to find out where you people get your next "trick" from?
.

From my imagination.
And from discussions with friends.

You have friends!?

I bet you've been listening to those voices in your head again, haven't you?

Craig Browning wrote:

the Curator wrote:

doey97 wrote:I just thought it would be interesting to find out where you people get your next "trick" from?
.

From my imagination.
And from discussions with friends.

You have friends!?

I bet you've been listening to those voices in your head again, haven't you?

The voices are my friends...

Have this great routine planned out that was inspired purely from the props and a routine was then built around it. I went back and forth with various routines and finally ended with this one which is a very simple mental effect with an elaborate arrangement.

Pictures because I'm really happy with it. Just a heads up, the wooden figure and cups aren't aged yet:

A serie of 13 small phrenology heads (1843/1840)



Back in their box.




The box contains a small caliper, a bottle of h2so4; crystals of magnetite, the plaster heads, a 1830/40 deck of tarot cards, a graduate rule, a syringe...
A magnifying glass and a bigger caliper are added.
Everything you need to tests Sensitives (X-Men) in 1840.
X-Mentalism in the XIXth century.