talkmagic.co.uk

Ialways enjoyed playing cards when I was younger, that when I learned a couple of tricks it was a natural progression for me to want to learn card magic. Then I took a trip to MagicBox and got hooked on, and bought all kinds of magic. I found some more dealers and did the same there.
I then did a small show for my sons 6th Birthday, which made me realise that I enjoyed doing shows for children. After doing one elsewhere, I then knew that childrens shows weren't just about magic. I picked up a set of balloons while I was buying some other stuff and found that I enjoyed making models with them. Truth be told, I also found that the reaction to these were great. Now I'm not saying I'm any good with them. It is still a case of hit and miss, with a limited range that I can do, but children and adults seem to like them.
I am trying to get as much mix in a show as I can, the working out of how much magic, games, etc to put in seems more difficult than the performance.

I am still interested and want to learn closeup or street magic, but I feel that I want " audience friendly " magic, rather than use the terms closeup or street magic.
By this, I mean not doing so many tricks where all they do is pick a card, or maybe even get the chance to hold it.
I want to do something they can be involved with more. I know there are "do as I do" rope routines, where you can have a couple of people trying to do magic with ropes at the same time as you. There must be other routines, with or without ropes, where they are more involved.
Yes, I will still learn and want to show some of the "normal" closeup stuff, and I do want to learn sleights and routines with cards and coins.
It's just that it is more important for me to learn how to make an audience more involved and enjoy it, than to get such a big "wow" factor from doing something more skillful or amazing.

As an example, a few weeks ago, I showed people the one handed knot. It's nothing to do with magic as such, more of a skill. Last weekend was my parents Golden Wedding, knowing I hadn't had much sleep in the previous four days, I wasn't up to concentrating too much. So I took some lengths of rope and did the same there. Both adults and children spent ages doing them. The good thing for the children, was that they were happy that they could do it quicker than some of the adults. Enjoyment, not magic.

I had made up 50 heart shaped balloons, " 50 GOLDEN YEARS" in balloon letters, Doves in hearts, teddy bears kissing and as many romantic balloon models as I could think of. These were put in my parents house when they weren't in, getting an amazing reaction when they got back. My relatives didn't know I had done them, so there good reactions were all genuine.

It sounds big headed, but the point I am trying to make, is that without learnig and being interested in magic, I would never have dreamed about doing this. It made me realise just how much I wanted people to enjoy the effect, rather than being bamboozled by someone showing them something.

I will be asking for advice and opinions in parts of the forums, hoping that you can feel that I am worthy of any help you can give. I do ask for honest replies, as some ideas I come up with are pure rubbish. If you think it's a C*** idea, tell me. If I get annoyed, link me back to this post so I can apologise to you!

Thanking you for your time,

Darrel