There are three inter-related factors dealing with proportions which govern good design. They are:

1. The shape of an object must be proportionate to it’s size.
2. The size of an object must be proportionate to it’s function
3. The function of an object must be proportionate to its mass.

These factors are employed to camoflauge vulnerable areas, to create psychological stimulus and to produce a well balanced design. The most important thing about any design is that it should have stability. The object in question must appear to be well balanced and firmly anchored. There are few things more aggravating to the mind than an object that appears ready to topple over at any minute.

To illustrate the effect of a top-heavy design and poor structural design, look at the pagoda pictured on the right. This production stand is designed to conceal a load behind the roof. The apparatus appears awkward but the roof section cannot be reduced in size because of it’s function (see rule 2 above).

To improve the appearance we can make the base look heavier and wider and reduce the massive appearance of the roof with a relief design as shown in the second figure on the right. It is hard to believe that the size of the roof was not altered the slightest bit.

The problems of stability in design are almost always the same - that of reducing the appearance of weight at the top and adding the appearance of weight at the bottom. Most forms may be optically balanced with the aid of smooth lines, relief designs and stepped down bases. Color may also be used in stabilizing a design and I’ll talk about that in the future.

To get your creative juices flowing let me tell you a story of a magician I once knew who used a real bus (40 feet long) which came to the home were the birthday party was to be given. The kids come on board the air conditioned bus and the party is held there.

The children are invited two weeks before with a special “Bus-O-Gram” invitation, sent out by the firm from the list furnished by the mother. When the bus pulls up in front of the door, the children come on board to be greeted by girls dressed as clowns. The party is 90 minutes of fun, which includes balloons,
singing, a cartoon movie, magic, games with special prizes, horns, hats, souvenirs, and refreshments.

The slogan of the “Bus” is “The Party That Comes To You!”. This appeals to parents who don’t like to shop, entertain, and clean up after children.

For an extra fee you can include a closed circuit TV so the parents inside the house can watch the party.

Kids are in a world of their own. To succeed with them you will need to forget all the sleight of hand you learned. All those funny punch lines that worked great for adults won’t work on children. Children don’t want to see all your hocus pocus miracles, they just want to be entertained. With that in mind, here is a list of things you must do in order to have a successful children’s magic show.

1. Audience Participation Is A Must
Children love to be part of the show. Include them in almost every trick. There are two types of audience participation. Bring a child from the audience up to help with a trick, or ask the audience to stay in their seats and participate by shouting out magic words, etc.

2. Use A Magic Word
Children always love to think they are creating magic through the use of a magic word. Now you shouldn’t use just any old word. Most magicians use “Hocus pocus” or “abracadabra”. I have found better success using just some random crazy word, like “Penguin” or “I love turtles”. Most everyone is expecting a magic type of phrase, so when you blurt out a random word or phrase, it catches him or her off guard. Children love silly and it’s always good for a laugh.

I also recommend you use your sponsor’s name as the magic word. After all, they are paying your salary. Another great phrase to use as the magic word is “Happy Birthday ______”. You insert the birthday boy or girls name in the blank.

3. Forget The Adults
At many parties where I performed, there were also a lot of adults. Sometimes almost three to one. Just remember you are there to do magic tricks for kids, not the adults. So forget about them and concentrate on the children.

4. Use Lots Of Visual Gags
Children love this more than the hocus pocus. You could enter with one shoe untied. You trip over the loose shoelace. As you bend over to tie the shoelace you hear a large ripping sound and everyone thinks you ripped your pants (insert laughter here). You stand up and comically try to look at your behind (more laughter). Just doing gag after gag will keep the kids laughing. Make sure to sprinkle some magic tricks in for the kids too.

Just applying these four rules when doing magic tricks for kids, will ensure everyone has fun. That after all should be what the goal is. Time for the parents to relax and for the kids to be entertained. So don’t worry about all the fancy mumbo jumbo, get out there and just have fun.

To learn how to make your own magic props for your shows, read..
Magic Tricks Revealed – How To Design Your Own Magic Tricks

Need more tricks for your act?
Read my review of an amazing product that offers hundreds of magic tricks that you can download and learn right now.

Most people think that there are thousands of magic tricks out there. In reality there really aren’t that many. According to Dariel Fitzkee, author of The Trick Brain, there are only 19 basic effects which govern all magic tricks and illusions.

All nineteen of those basic effects rely on some form of magical apparatus. Sometimes the items are real but the majority of the time the items are tricked or faked to accomplish some magical effect.

It has been my experience that there are only three basics that govern how all 19 magical effects work. All magic tricks are made up of one or more of the following:

1. Camouflage
Every magic apparatus from the smallest to the biggest illusion makes use of camouflage. This is the most important fundamental in magic. Perhaps you want to produce a big item from a small box. You can use camouflage to make the box look smaller so as to suggest the big item doesn’t fit. Maybe a piece of apparatus has a secret pocket to make things appear and disappear, camouflage can hide the secret pocket.

2) Secret Movement
You can also make things disappear or appear or even seem to come alive with a secret movement. You see an empty box, as the magician closes the door a screen on the inside drops and when the magician opens the door again, it appears a horse, bicycle, or even an elephant has appeared. Perhaps you’ve also seen the recently popular trick, The Floating Card. The magician spins a playing card around his body, or perhaps he floats it between his hands. The power for this comes from a small and practically invisible thread and the movement of the performers body. The whole feat loses its mystery if the audience were to suspect the actual means by which the effect is produced.

3) Mechanical Transformation
The final of the three is the mechanical design to produce a visible transformation. Perhaps you’ve seen a magician take a red scarf and pass it through something and it comes out blue. Perhaps a silk that changes into a cane. Torn and Restored effects also fall into this category. Perhaps you have even seen in a comedy show a clown or other performer pull out a gun and when fired a sign comes out the end that says “BANG”. Tricks like Metamorphosis that are done under cover are usually governed by some sort of secret movement and are not transformations in the true sense.

By learning the three basic concepts of design, you’ll be able to create and make magical apparatus that is unique to your magic act.

Ready to take a break and learn a free magic trick? Read
Easy Magic Tricks Revealed – How To Turn A Person To Stone

Need more ideas for magic tricks?
Read my review of an amazing product that offers hundreds of magic tricks that you can download and learn right now.

A volunteer is invited to sit on a chair on stage. As you talk to
them, they begin to feel heavier as if they were turning to stone. You
ask them to rise from their chair but they are unable to do so.

As described, your volunteer takes a seat on stage. You walk around them chanting “Relax, relax in that comfortable chair, feel the power drain from your body. Your body gets heavier by the second, heavier and heavier as if your whole body is turning to stone”. You end your chant standing in front of your volunteer.

As you stand there you place your forefinger on the volunteer’s forehead. “When you feel the touch of my finger your whole body becomes heavier. Your arms and legs become weak. This pressure on your forehead is becoming ever greater. So great that it glues you to the chair.”

You then ask, them to try and stand. They will struggle and try but the whole time you must keep your finger pressed to the volunteer’s forehead. They will be unable to stand as long as you keep the pressure of your finger on their forehead. The pressure keeps them from being able to gain balance and to get out of the chair.

To let them get up, remove your finger from their forehead while chanting to the effect of “The pressure of my finger is releasing, as it does so the heavy weight also disappears. The strength returns to your body and you’re able to stand. Rise and stand now please.

Now that you know the secret to this wonderful, yet easy magic trick, I suggest you take it and a few other tricks that use the body (Shinkoh’s Twisting Arm, or perhaps a levitation routine) and create a thirty-minute act out of them.

Now that you know how to do a simple magic trick, lets turn that magic trick into a miracle. Read
How To Turn Simple Magic Tricks Into Miracles

Need more tricks for your act?
Read my review of an amazing product that offers hundreds of magic tricks that you can download and learn right now.

The first thing you need to do is to break a simple magic trick down into the components that make up the trick. For example, you’ve probably seen a million times the simple trick of a spectator picking a card from playing deck and the magician finding it. Simple enough. Here’s what actually makes up this trick:

1. A spectator selects a card.
2. A spectator returns the card.
3. Magician finds the card.

A beginner may just fan the deck and have a spectator pick a card. The current method most all magicians are now using is a riffle of the deck while asking the spectator to stay stop. This actually makes it appear that the card they selected is a random one.  You have probably seen magicians do this with their card tricks.

Unfortunately, we want to do miracles. So let’s take the selection component of the magic trick and turn it into a miracle. What if we picked someone from the audience? We gave them a blank sheet of paper and a pencil.  We take a deck of cards and fan it open, facing towards the spectator and away from the magician. We ask the spectator to just think of one of the cards. No touching of cards. Nothing is removed from the deck. At this point you have a 1 in 52 chance of getting the card right (of course you’ll get it right everytime).

I believe this method of selection causes a much bigger impact because the spectator is only THINKING of a card and there is no way anyone could know except a true magician

Now we move to the second component. We need a way for her to return the card so we can later announce it in component three. How about if you have her write the card she is thinking of on a large piece of paper. You have her fold the paper into fourths so it’s about the size of a paperback book. Then you have her initial the top of the folded paper. She then holds her arm high so everyone can see the paper with her initials and with her holding it (not the magician).

Now it’s time for component three. Find the card. There are many ways to accomplish this. Here is one you may be familiar with. The magician picks up a deck of cards and throws it again the wall.  While the deck falls to the ground, one card is seen stuck to the wall. Is it the selected card?

You ask the spectator if she has ever let go of that paper, of course she says no. She’s been holding it in plain sight the whole time. Without the magician touching it, she unfolds the paper to show the card she was thinking of is indeed the card stuck to the wall. 

By following the blueprint I have set out here, you should easily be able to dissect any magic trick into its components. By taking those components and finding ways to make each one seem impossible, the combined resulting effect will seem to be a miracle.

For more of my secrets on performing magic, please read:
Learn How To Perform Magic – 5 Things You Must Do To Be A Success

Need more tricks you can convert into miracles?
Read my review of an amazing product that offers hundreds of magic tricks that you can download and learn right now.

You must understand that anyone can learn magic. Just buy a magic trick, open it up, and read the instructions. Bingo, you’ve learned a magic trick. But are you a magician? Not in any sense of the word. The first time you do the magic trick you won’t fool anyone. Learning magic is more than just reading the directions.

If you are really want to learn how to perform magic that leaves the audience mystified and the money rolling in, you will need to do a lot more than just read the instructions. Here are five of my top tips. Yes there are more but these are the ones I feel are most important.

1. Practice. First and foremost you must practice before you go show anyone a magic trick you have created or learned. Should the trick require sleight of hand, make sure you practice enough that you can do it in your sleep.  I always recommend you film yourself with a camcorder or phone camera. In this manner you can see yourself as the audience sees you. You’ll be surprised at all the things you may see but you will learn what you need to do to make the trick work.

2. Be Creative. Every magic trick needs to have a presentation. All the big magicians would not be where they are now if they performed their magic exactly as it is outlined in the directions that came with the trick. Each one took a trick and created a story around it. Perhaps they added drama, suspense, or what most folks like, comedy. However you do it, you must take the ordinary and make it extraordinary.

3. Speak Clearly. If you have a great trick but the audience can’t hear you or understand you, then all those hours of practice mastering some sleight will go to waste. If you are still in school, pursue public speaking or debate classes.  If you have an accent, incorporate it into your act. Desi Arnaz did very well with his bad English. While performing as Ricky Ricardo the Cuban Band Leader, the show often made fun of his bad English. You can do the same in your show.

4. Master Misdirection. In order to perform magic you must learn to be a master of misdirection. If you need to vanish or produce something in your right hand, you must be able to subtly get your audience to look at your left hand and as far away from your right as possible. Once they look away, your right hand is free to do what needs to be done. Try this the next time you watch a Magician throw their left fist high up into the air. Look at the right hand instead. You’ll see it grabbing for all kinds of things.

5. Be Prepared. It’s the Boy Scout motto, it should be yours too. Keep a prop list so you’ll know every item you need for each trick. The last thing you want at performance time is to find you are missing a vital part of your show. I also carry a box full of supplies for repairing anything that may break or tear.

By following these five rules you’ll not only be more entertaining, you’ll also receive repeat bookings. You’ll gain respect amongst your peers and be building your reputation as a professional.

If you do kids magic, I recommend you read my post…
Magic Tricks For Kids – 4 Things You Must Do When Performing For Kids

Need more tricks for your act?
Read my review of an amazing product that offers hundreds of magic tricks that you can download and learn right now.