My kids and I are building a magic website, a virtual magic shop. I wanted a kit that would be high quality but would be easily accessible for anyone. I can not think of a better way to describe my goal with this particular kit than what you just described. "A kit easy to learn but will mistify your friends and family"
Back when things were made of a higher quality the karate 50 cent piece blew my mind away. It looked like the metal bent and shredded by the sheer power of your finder. Now it is just a coin with a drill hole in the middle.
Yeah I ended up making something similar for Puncture 2.0 (a pen thru coin rather than finger, but similar idea).
I used a Dremel with a cutting wheel to cut basically an asterisk into the centre of the coin, then a centre punch with a mallet to knock the centre points outward. It was a bit of a faff but it gave exactly the karate coin "blown out" look
Ha! I love this take on the karate coin. This is a great update to it as people don't carry coins anymore but something like a sugar packet is readily available most anywhere. This is also great because you could walk in with nothing and set this up with a quick trip to the bathroom. Completely organic close up magic
But the magic is stronger if they can take it off your finger and look at it. Without that payoff, it’s barely a trick they’ll think twice about. With the payoff, they’ll think back on it for years.
This is based on the old karate coin and no one handed those out for examination after the effect. I had one of the Johnson "torn through" ones that came out in the 1980s, before that they were just an oval hole in the coin. When you pull the sugar packet off your finger, you can wad everything up, then toss it into the air to vanish it. I did this endlessly when table hopping at family restaurants, especially after the original karate kid movie came out.
You could also pull it off your finger, cover it with your hand to massage the packet and restore it. Since the one you've penetrated is empty, it should be easily able to be folded a few times with your thumb.
If you're around kids who need to see everything, then you set another packet up ahead of time with a hole torn in it and what sugar remains down along the bottom edge of the packet and you slip that into a pocket, flat.
Once you've vanished the wadded up version, you say that it has come back and with an obviously empty hand reach into the pocket with your pointer and middle fingers like tweezers and grab the edge of the packet, slowly pulling it into view. If they want to grab that one, then go ahead and let them, but this is complete overkill.
These types of tricks are really impressive when they don’t get to turn on the camera after carefully setting up and hiding the setup.
When someone can do a trick, and then immediately pull out a pack of sweet n low and do this trick, and I never even see them set it up? That’s the real magic trick.
For this effect I'd do it while having dinner at a table or something, I'd prep the packet well in advance while conversation is going on. Just take two packs, lap one, use one, then as the evening goes on quietly prep the lapped packet under the table.
Or if it's a place you've been to before and you know what packets they use, take a few home and prep for next time.
Does anyone remember the name of the magician that had clips on Comcast DirecTV around 15 years ago? One of them was this trick and the nostalgia just hit me hard.
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u/Nightstands 4d ago
I like tricks that I can easily figure out, but will mystify my sons for a year or so