Need help with structure

[MagicShadow9]

Ok, so after reading Strong Magic, i have decided to reconsider the structure of all my effects. One of my favorite effects is a close-up nest of boxes routine (A coin is signed and vanished. The magician pulls out a box from his pocket sealed with a rubber band, inside is another box also with a rubber band, and then another box, and then a small bag with a rubber band, and inside the bag is the signed coin.)

The problem is, i wanna be able to show my hands clean after the vanish. Right now what i'm doing is Vanish > Pull out box. Due to the nature of the effect, i must first false transfer the coin and put it into finger palm so i can load it into the box as i take it out of my pocket. So i reconsidered the structure and i came up with this: False transfer > Pull out Box > Reveal vanish > Open box. So basically i take out the box before the coin vanishes.

So which one do you think is better? Vanish then box, for box then vanish? i know it seems like a silly thing to ask but i wanna get the most impact out of this trick as i can. Any advice will be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[cheaptrick]

introduce the box, FT, reveal vanish, then reveal in box seems like the strongest imo, but between your two choices, vanish, trying to show your hands as clean as possible then pull out the box seems better, instantly going for the box after you place it in your hand seems to fishy.

 

[mini magician]

You could essentially sleeve the coin because you can show both hands clean then drop the hand to get the box and the coin will roll out of the sleeve into palm.

 

[MagicShadow9]

introduce the box, FT, reveal vanish, then reveal in box seems like the strongest imo, but between your two choices, vanish, trying to show your hands as clean as possible then pull out the box seems better, instantly going for the box after you place it in your hand seems to fishy.

See the problem is, i have to do the FT before i take out the box, cuz i have to load it into the box as i take it out. What i was talking about is that is something i learned from Jay Sankey i think, where you go to your pocket in search of something. You have coin in your left hand, you toss it into the right hand while the you search the left pocket, then you put it into the left hand (actually a false transfer) and you search in the right pocket, where you ditch the coin and pull out the pen to use as a magic wand. So the false transfer is not used as a vanish, it's sort of a delayed vanish.

You could essentially sleeve the coin because you can show both hands clean then drop the hand to get the box and the coin will roll out of the sleeve into palm.

Yea, that's a good idea. I'm just afraid the coin might slip too far and i can't slide it out or that i fail to catch it when it comes out.

 

[Cliff|Bumgardner]

You could also Topit the coin and load it as you pull the box out of your pocket, then show the vanish.

Essentially, false transfer the coin apparently into your left hand (if you are right handed), Topit the coin, transfer the "coin" to the right hand. Left hand goes into the pocket and loads the coin as you bring the box out.

That's a very clean, fair way to go about it, however I'd really suggest introducing the box before anything is done with the coin. This is far from impossible, ton's of guys do it for coin and card routines. Just load the box as you pick it up off the table.

C

 

[Randy]

Wouldn't the reveal of all the boxes get boring and tired? I mean after you pulled out the first box they'd be like 'Don't tell me it's in there!" then after the other 2-3 they'd be like "yeah... great..>_>" It pretty much drags on.

 

[Steerpike]

Yea, that's a good idea. I'm just afraid the coin might slip too far and i can't slide it out or that i fail to catch it when it comes out.

I assure you that's not going to be a problem. I sleeve as a convincer on one of my coin routines and have never had that problem. It just takes a little practice to get used to having the coin in there.

That said, here's what I would do.

False transfer and sleeve. Use your now empty hand that sleeved the coin to gesture for a moment to show the hand empty without explicitly saying so. Let the action, convince them, not your words. If you have to make a big show of your hands being clean, you're doing it wrong.

Retrieve the coin, and load it as you retrieve the box. Have the spectator hold their hands out together, palms up. Place the box in their palms so that it rests across both.

At this point there are two ways I would do this. The first is to mime crumbling the coin up with your first held over the box and slowly parting one finger at a time as if the coin is being ground into a fine dust that falls from your fingers and passes through the box to collect and reassemble inside.

Or... instead of crumbling the coin, you blow across your hand toward the box, eyes focused ahead on it, and very slowly uncurl one finger at a time to reveal an empty hand.

Then you can go for the box.

Wouldn't the reveal of all the boxes get boring and tired? I mean after you pulled out the first box they'd be like 'Don't tell me it's in there!" then after the other 2-3 they'd be like "yeah... great..>_>" It pretty much drags on.

You can experiment with that, but remember also that the rule of three has a nice cadence to it. It's been an effective literary device for ages.

 

[MagicShadow9]

Wouldn't the reveal of all the boxes get boring and tired? I mean after you pulled out the first box they'd be like 'Don't tell me it's in there!" then after the other 2-3 they'd be like "yeah... great..>_>" It pretty much drags on.

Trust me it doesn't. The opening of the boxes is not dead time. It creates suspense. Everyone is waiting to see what's in the box, when they see another box, the suspense grows. It's much like how Harry Houdini built up suspense in his shows. His escapes would usually last 30 minutes to and hour. In reality, it would only take him like 5 minutes to get out. He would hide behind the curtain for the rest of the time. All this time, the audience is in suspense, wondering whether or not he will make it out. When Houdini felt it was long enough, he would mess up his hair. looktired, and jump out. Needless to say, this ended with a standing ovation.

 

[True2Coins]

You could backpalm the coin. Try using the Down's method to do a full backpalm of the coin in the motion of apparently picking it up off the fingers then letting go of the index finger to have it go into pinch position and let the hand drop to the side. You could also do a regular false transfer and then pick up the box with the palming hand or another object. A hand in use is an empty hand Don't get too caught up in this.

 

[MagicShadow9]

Thanks for the advice Steerpike, I guess i will practice my sleeving a bit more.

What i think many of you don't understand is that the box can't be on the table as i load it. How it works is that there's a small plastic chute clipped to my back pocket. The small bag covers the end of the chute and there's a rubberband on the bag. Then the two banded boxes are covering the chute from the outside. So if i slide the coin down the chute, it will land inside the bag, and when i pull the box out of the chute, the rubberbands snap together. It gives the impression of a sealed box.

So i can only load the coin as i go to my pocket. Once it hits the table i cannot load the coin anymore.

Sorry if this is exposure, i will edit it out later. But i just wanted to illustrate why i can't load the coin from the table.