I ususally do street and close-up magic but will have a small room stage performance.. I'm currently thinking of using my STS as an ending and perhaps purchasing some new items such as some dlites, seance hand, and vanishing or appearing cane--- maybe vanishing cane to red hank to d'lite(if thats possible) then back to a hank and dropping it to draw attention to my untied shoes? .. and where can i get snowstorm in china?


also... any other good easy stage effects maybe even some that involve volunteers?.. this is my first time! thanks

also... I will be performing to music.. perhaps a classical techno remix.. but anyway i was also thinking of using the hank as a dancing hank... do those require any offstage hook ups ?? and is this good

flying silk
http://themagicwarehouse.com/cgi-bin/fi ... lying+Silk

or this?

ballerina hank
http://themagicwarehouse.com/cgi-bin/fi ... erina+Hank

or this

dancing hank
http://themagicwarehouse.com/cgi-bin/fi ... cing+Hanky

Ballerina hank is probably the best as it uses a different method than the other two (the other two which I believe use the same or similar method). And the Ballerina hank is also self-contained (as I believe the other two are also). You can make the Ballerina Hank float above you very easily (self-working, in fact) and stay up there. The other two would be harder and they can't stay up there for long if I recall correctly.

For an opener, you could do what you said you might do (practice to make sure you can do it smoothly).

Another opener could be a bottle to flowers. Or walk onto stage with a candle and vanish it. These two tricks are quick and flashy which 'hooks' your audience right from the get go.

What is the age of the audience you expect (all ages, primarily kids, teens, adults...?). I could recommend more tricks when I know this.

And good luck!

You want the opener to be as visual as possible. I usually think of an opener as producing something, because the audience sees nothing, then suddenly they see something appear. How visual can you get? It also symbolizes a beginning.

Here are some good ideas I think for an opener.

http://www.penguinmagic.com/specialorde ... hp?ID=3996

http://www.penguinmagic.com/product.php?ID=802
After you produce the mouth coils, you can reach in your mouth and pull out a D'lite.

Do you have a thumbtip? Do you have Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic? If so then there are multiple ways to change something to a silk using a TT and mark wilsons teaches a quick, flashy silk production. Speaking of flashy, flash paper always gets peoples attention. If you can use it correctly and safely, then you can produce something "in a flash".

Definitley get D'lites, they are very fun. Appearing cane is just a quick little thing, too quick in my opinion. However, you can buy a vanishing candle and "reverse" it under a big silk to make it look like it appeared then visually vanish it for a little routine.

What other tricks do you have to work with? I personally don't think STS is a good finalie. I think a big vanish of something is a good closer.

I do the card vomit as an opener for card tricks,very visual and funny.Say that your not feeling well today because you just had cards for breakfast.

My age group will be 15-21 and it is somewhat a small stage... Also I've deceided to incorporate dancing into my routine as I am a dancer first before a magician... hence the use of a ballerina hank or flying silk...

I have also been researching dancing canes... Are these self contained as well? seeing as how it is a small stage with now wings or side stage curtains.

So far I think I will start out with a locking dance routine where my cane, maybe a dancing cane, turns into a silk and I pretend to put it in my mouth, but really TT it. then i transition into mouth coils... after i completely finish the mouth coil I will pause then cough up the red hankerchief which, if possible, I would like to use for the ballerina hank if the setup can be that quick and done in front of the audience.


Does anyone have or know about the quality of this?
http://themagicwarehouse.com/cgi-bin/fi ... imate+Cane

The dancing cane is self contained. Some dancing hanks are not self contained, some are. You wouldnt be able to set danicng hank up in front of an audience. When that ultimate cane turns into 2 18 inch silks, they will NOT fit inside a TT. I suggest if you have that dancing cane, then you won't need a dancing silk. If you really want to include ballerina hank, you can switch one of the silks for the gimmicked one. This can be done by putting the non-gimmicked silk on a table out of view, moving on to another effect, then going to the table when finished. Grab the gimmicked hank from the table, but the audience will think it's the regular hank if they are the same color and size.

Again, I think dancing cane is better, and if you use that, I don't think dancing hank is neccessary.

Wow thanks for all the help so far everyone!!!
So... I've decided to purchase the ultimate cane(dancing cane to silks).. is there anything I can do with those two huge silks then if I can't vanish them via TT?? ALso... I plan on having the whole cane thing as an intro.. then I need another middle trick, something kind of long but very strong... I was thinking of doing something with a seance hand but im not sure yet.. and then I also need a finale trick, something visually appealing??? any ideas would be appreciated!

Kraynik is correct. You wil have to do an exchange of silks if you wanted to perform the ballerina hank.

A suggestion would be that if you have a backdrop that you can walk behind after changing a cane to silks, walk (dance) behind the backdrop and when you reappear, you're dancing around with the ballerina hank. The ballerina hank is a quick hook up, so you'll be back entertaining your crowd in just a second or two.

If you have the backdrop in the center, you can enter on the right side and reappear a couple of seconds on the left side giving the idea that you never stopped and no exchanges were done with the exception that you now only have one silk instead of two, or perhaprs, you can buy 2 ballerina hanks and reapear dancing with them.

Just a suggestion, but a dancing cane and dancing silk will create a variety in what you can dance with. Your audience wil probably like it.

A great closing could be 'bottle to flowers.' You can dance around with the bottle for a couple of seconds and in the midst of your dancing, the bottle changes to flowers.

What is the theme and style of your show? Surely you're not going to (but it sure sounds like that is what you had in mind) going to go out there and just mindlessly perform trick after trick.

Your show should have some meaning to it. Not just performing a bunch of "tricks" that have nothing to do with one-another.

Your show should have a story. A feeling. A beginning, a middle, and an end.

It should have purpose.

A number of tricks can be done with big silks. The first one that comes to mind is the "Sly Silks" trick here on P. It uses two large silks and the best part is you need a volunteer, which gives you a chance to connect with the audience like wayno was talking about. That can be a whole routine for a middle trick.

You can also make smaller silks appear and vanish inside the bigger silks using a TT.

Or, you can make them vanish using a prop.

You could steal a number of things from a jacket or armpit under cover of a silk, which will make a great production.

How about this. After you have two silks, make one vanish using whichever prop you like. Then use the other one to cover a steal. The thing you will be stealing is a " Multiplying Balls" gimmick and ball. It can be inside your jacket or in the armpit or anywhere. Produce the ball from the silk then go into a multiplying balls routine, whihc you can find on a DVD in the SOC or in the book "Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic". Afterwards you can get rid of the balls and do the thumbtip tricks I mentioned, which you can find on a DVD or maybe in the PO forum. Your closer can be the seance hands. They seem like a good ending.

So now you have many options for a beginning middle and end, all which flow into each other and can be strong with the right presentation.

Darn... Dancing can is a no go.. booo... Any ideas for a good visual opener !? preferably one that can be done while moving/dancing and/or comedic too. Maybe mouth coils but i need a way to get into it!

Thanks everyone

What is the trick where the magician has like a wet piece of paper in his hand and a girl is fanning below his hand and tons of confetti comes out of the hand?

Start out with a hat on and a coil palmed. Turn your back to the audience and bring your hands up to your head to remove your hat, and while doing so slip the coil into your mouth. Then set the hat down for maybe producing something later.

I disagree. Coils are for ending a show not starting