talkmagic.co.uk

Having recently had to cancel my travels due to various reasons, I have had to really watch what I spend. Basically I haven't been able to buy myself anything, including magical stuff, for about 5-6 months.
THis has been hard going, I can tell you. But during this time I have had the most preductive period of creating my own effects, or using known principles in new ways to suit my style perfectly. I have no doubt that, if i had the money to spend on effects available on the market, I would have been lazy and not had such a productive time. But due to circumstances, I have had to sit and think about what effects I would like to do, and find methods to achieve this.
I have no doubt that a soon as my cash flow problems sort themselves out, that i will be tempted by the lure of the next must have effect on the market, but for those wanting to start creating their own effects, it just might be worth your while restraining yourself from that oh so familiar urge, and start to create.

I've found in idle moments that aswell as creating new routines and new ideas it's sometimes good to revise and alter your older stuff too and make them a bit more inventive.
This way it means that you can get that extra mile out of an old trick that you started to get a bit bored with.

In my 'creative period' i managed to create two small tricks with bricks. As you can see, i lead a very sad life

But creating your own effects is very worthwhile and if done properly, can earn you loads of respect.

jokerdan wrote:But creating your own effects is very worthwhile and if done properly, can earn you loads of respect.(My Emphasis)

Do you think creating effects is about respect!? It may be a pleasant side effect (months down the line!!) but for me, creating effects is purely selfish enjoyment. I get a great sense of satisfaction out of coming up with something entirely on my own. For me, it's evidence that I have the ability to put all that information I have read/seen/learned into practise rather than just replicating it (which is part of the reason why i think it is so important to share the fuits of this process with our fraternity. However that doesn't mean hand things out for free to just about anybody). It also feels great when you go out and fine tune those effects infront of people (By the way, I don't think you get respect from the people you're performing to because for all they know, you've created all the effects you show them). I also feel quite proud when I show an effect to a fellow magician and they reply with positive feedback. However, that's nothing compared to recieving negative feedback, going away, making it better and then knocking the socks off them next time .

On the actual topic of creating effects, I find it really helpful to have a note pad in my jacket pocket all the time. Then if I'm out and around I can write any ideas down. The number I've been sitting on the train home and written down little notes and ideas. Also, for all you cardy type people out there, I always have a deck in my jacket pocket too. Again, if I have an idea, I can try it out there and then.

An important part of creating effects is having the space to do so. You need to be able to sit down at a table for a while and just go through the motions of new ideas and concepts or to read a book or watch a video. For me, actaully working an effect out and all the little peices that go with it, takes me a couple of days of sitting down and just playing around with it for an hour or so.

You also need to be able to test your creations on people. It's no good coming up with the world's best ending to and Ambitious Card routine but never seeing if it actually works. And when I say "works" I mean it gets a good response from a lay audience, seeing as that's the whole point of performance magic anyway; performance being the operative word.