talkmagic.co.uk

Hello all at Talk Magic.

Let me start by introducing myself to the forum. I am an 18 year old student and teaching assistant at a primary school in Manchester. My interest in magic seems to have stemmed from seeing tricks performed as a kid and just wondering 'how did he do that!?' I'm in a lucky position in a way because Manchester claims to have the country's first magic bar - Pure Magic in the Printworks - where all bar staff are professional magicians. This has reignited my passion for magic over the last 6 months and I'm now keen to develop the skills necessary to become a competent magician with a comprehensive repertoire of tricks.

Currently I've learnt mainly mathematical card tricks - finding lost aces, 3x7 tricks etc. and although these are relatively impressive down the pub, I'd ideally like to combine these with tricks using sleight of hand and misdirection but have no idea where to start. I'm hoping to have tricks suitable for kids’ shows (since I work in a school it might be nice to be able to perform some with the kids) but would also like them to be accessible for adults. I would eventually like to incorporate these card tricks with other simple visual tricks (primarily aimed at kids) to create a routine which could last up to an hour(ish) so that I could perform an end-of-term show of some kind (in the distant future probably).

At the moment I own an ordinary black Bicycle deck, a taper/stripper deck, a Svengali deck, a marked deck, a 'blank' deck, an 'electric' deck, jumbo decks, finger chopper, money maker, dizzy dice (black dice turns to white), penetration frame, zig-zag pencil and lucky envelopes. Now obviously these are very lame, easy, self-working visual tricks but with the right performance technique and patter they can be made quite entertaining (particularly for kids) and convincing.

If anybody has any useful tips for me or suggestions about what I should learn first (and where to find it!) then I would be most grateful. I'm sure the infinite knowledge, wisdom and experience of the members of this forum will be able to assist me immensely in the future as I attempt to develop my skills.

I have a million and one questions to ask so expect to see more of me over the coming months!

Thanks in advance for the help; I look forward to hearing from you all soon.

Chris.

chriscross_3 wrote: I'm sure the infinite knowledge, wisdom and experience of the members of this forum will be able to assist me immensely in the future as I attempt to develop my skills.

Hello and welcome Chris, I'm a relative newbie here myself, but the above statement couldn't be more true. If you have the right attitude people here are only to glad to help

Hello Chris from Manchester and welcome to TM.
You seem to have been hit with C.U.P.S. like so many of us.
You will fit in great!
Best greetings from Iceland!

Yep,

Another CUPS sufferer for sure! Welcome to the clinic (sorry - family)!

Look forward to watching your progress in the wonderfully time and cash consuming world of magic.

Welcome to TM. I already wrote quite a lot here at TM about the 3 x 7 trick.
This includes the fact that it also works for 3 x 8 or 3 x 9 and that the two piles (top and bottom of the "sandwich") can be collected in a very sloppy manner since the order of these cards does not matter. Even the pile that goes into the middle of the sandwich can be mixed up as long as the three cards in the middle remains the three cards in the middle (after the second collection of the cards).

Thus the 3 x 7 trick (3 x 8 or 3 x 9 trick) can be performend so the magician collect the cards in an extremely sloppy and unorganised way, turning the
3 x 7 effect (that essentially just is a mathematical puzzle) into a piece of magic.

Welcome

Thank you to everyone for the warm welcomes. And thanks for the tip Soren Riis, I'll be sure to experiment with that idea over the coming minutes/hours/days/months - a nice little variation I hadn't considered.

And yes, I'm afraid to say that I am indeed a C.U.P.S. sufferer. In all honesty I am tempted to buy just about anything. I regularly go shopping and return home with 50 clothes pegs, a new book that I've no intention of reading and something gadgety that I couldn't possibly ever find a use for - just because I liked the look of them!

So when applied to the world of magic there's just no saying how far this syndrome will take me. I'm well aware that magic costs money and I'm happy for this to be the case but I clearly have no idea where to stop. I want every prop, trick, book, DVD etc. and all of the performance technique, card sleights, etc. under my belt and I won't stop until I am considered the best magician the world has ever seen...

I think this is unlikely! But you can't question my enthusiasm!

Keep your thoughts coming guys, I really appreciate it.

Chris.

Welcome