Conjuring As A Craft by Ian Adair

Details: The secrets of conjuring are here entertainingly explained stage by stage, so that the reader can build up a genuine skill-or else just enjoy learning how tricks are done. The presentation of tricks and illusions, close-up miracles and mind-reading feats, even sleight-of-hand magic, is described, and most of the items have a new ‘twist’ added.

The author is a well-known professional conjuror, and throughout the book introduces new and different effects which he has invented himself.

Action photographs of the conjuror’s hands at work assist where necessary in explaining the secret moves. Anyone who wishes to learn a few conjuring tricks to amuse the family or for social events will discover here how to be entertaining to an audience.

Contents:

1 Chapter 1 Introduction to Magic

15 Chapter 2 Tricks With Almost Anything
15 Red, White And Blue: three cards in a hat
18 Spooky Matches: matches move apart to reveal card selection
20 Stretching a Scarf: short scarf becomes long
22 Crazy Matchbox (Tom Sellers): matchbox tray expands to come out both ends
25 Linking Clips: paper clips link in a matchbox
27 The Magic Pencil: the “pencil writes in any color” gag with a magical ending
31 The X-Ray Machine: spooky writing card revelation
35 Bare Hand Card Catch: cards are dropped, and magician catches the selection
37 Ghostly Cards: one card penetrates the other

40 Chapter 3 More Ambitious Problems
40 Inexpensive Newspaper Silks Plus: silks produced from newspaper
42 In the Glass Appearance: All cards drop from an inverted glass except the selection
44 Pranky Papers: magician determines color of tissue paper balls behind his back, and produces coins from them at the end
47 Television Aces: a Four Ace trick in a special card panel
54 The Divining Sticks: sticks help determine which glass contains the water
58 Television Time: a sucker card (with TV picture) in envelope trick
62 Final Forecast: prediction effect
65 Travelling Transistor: vanishing radio that is playing
67 Egg and Confetti: for the platform show
70 Magical Printing: Plain cards are fanned with blank faces, but become printed

72 Chapter 4 Simple Sleight of Hand (with B&W photographs)
73 A Simple Billiard Ball Move
74 The Ball Reappears
77 Another Vanish
82 Take-Away Vanish
82 A Round-About Vanish
85 A Simple Palm
86 Producing a Thimble
90 Catching Coins In the Air
90 A Cigarette Vanish or Production
94 A Complete Routine Producing Twelve Cigarettes From the Air
101 Mysterious Paper Balls: two in the hand, one in the pocket
104 Pots of Plenty: Cups and Balls routine using flower pots, sponge seeds, and plastic carnation tops as balls
112 Marvellous Money Box: a Miser’s dream with a gimmicked tin coin box
115 Melt Through Coin: coin melts through the hand
116 Vanishing and Producing a Card: back-palm
122 Vanishing a Stack of Cards

126 Chapter 5 The Big Show: low-budget illusions
126 The Flower Girl Illusion: girl appears on top of a table in a flash
129 Hand Cremation: spectator’s arm appears to vanish in a box
132 Novelty Photograph Illusion: a real girl appears in a cut-out that was shown all sides
134 A Startling Sack Escape: lightweight bag escape
136 A Spectacular Sack Illusion: another sack escape

139 Chapter 6 Magic of the Mind
141 Paper Thought: the center tear
144 Dead and Alive Matchboxes: with five members of the audience
146 So Simple Card Prediction: with borrowed deck and a pair of dice
147 Colour Jars: variation on “color vision”
149 Crayon and Tube Mystery: magician determnes color of crayon in a tube
151 Sealed Prediction: sealed envelope is inserted into deck & prediction matches the card above the envelopre

154 Conclusion

155 Index of Tricks

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