How Do You Construct Your Set?

Luis Vega

Elite Member
Mar 19, 2008
1,838
278
38
Leon, Guanajuato Mexico
luisvega.com.mx
Hi...I do have some doubts about how you build up your sets...I read this thread about building a set..and I wanted to share mine and hear yours...

I speak about mine...so I usually get to the stage and just make a quick production of a rose...that`s my opener...then I start talking to the audience on how I learned magic and that the rose production is the trick that hook me up in the first place...so I started to learn simple tricks with everyday objects (ring thing and redline) and then I learned card magic (Sure?,ACR,Dissolution) and then obviously I learned some card cheat (Invisible Palm and Son Of A Thief)...by this point I switch to coin and bill magic, explaining that when I learned magic, money magic was one of the most exciting (Bill Switch and Prophet) then I learned coins were very versatile (One Coin Routine and Sinful)...after all this knowledge I jam with other magicians and one of them teach me a trick that was very awesome (torn and restored,Glass Thru Table and Cups and Balls) and after all the sleight of hand I learned the most difficult part of magic...Mind over matter (some levitations,metal bending) and Mind over Body (Stigmata and Control)

well...as you can see my set is structured around how I learned magic and how slowly I learned thru some phases of magic and how I became a Pro...

I wanna hear yours...well read...and if you have suggestions about my set or questions I am more than glad to read them...
 

DanielH

Elite Member
Apr 21, 2010
65
14
i feel that you shouldn't produce something like a rose unless you have something else you can do with it and im sure you can find some other rose tricks. but that might just be me for example (again) i think that if you do a four ace production and then just put the four aces back in the deck it would be cool but it would be better if you followed it up with twisting the aces. thats how i try to keep my sets structured
 

Luis Vega

Elite Member
Mar 19, 2008
1,838
278
38
Leon, Guanajuato Mexico
luisvega.com.mx
i feel that you shouldn't produce something like a rose unless you have something else you can do with it and im sure you can find some other rose tricks. but that might just be me for example (again) i think that if you do a four ace production and then just put the four aces back in the deck it would be cool but it would be better if you followed it up with twisting the aces. thats how i try to keep my sets structured

I guess you are right...but when I produce it I say that that was the first trick I saw in my life..and that why I wanted to learned magic...then I give the rose to a lovely lady!!!
 
produce the rose and hand it off to the prettyest lady there.

when i start i go up and introduce myself
then i usually do a spongeball routine, and i tell them that this is just for fun. get them in the mood.
then i go in and start to talk about magic and how alot of it is based off of fate.
i belive that everything happens for a reason and i proceded to do some card tricks that are based off of fate. like some find four of a kind. or some kind of force trick
then 4 way coincidence. etc.
then some pk stuff and rubik remembered is a great mentalism effect i do.
 
Dec 12, 2009
273
0
London Uk
My favorite set has to my table magic set, and it consists of tricks, that I do when asked to do some magic and I have a table and a deck of cards.
Starts of with a 4 ace memory test than leads to an ace to pocket,mouth,sock and under the box. It just based on the first 2 parts of Derren Brown's 3 Card Routine. And its goes really fast and it has some momentum from my part.
Then leads of to Wayne Houchins handling of Twisting the aces, but I added a final twist, where the aces turn into any four of a kind that is said my a spectator.
Then with the selected four of a kind, I do Darwin Ortiz's handling of the Push Through Failure.
Ends with a deck vanishing and appearing back with the missing aces in my pocket, so the aces that disappeared in the second trick is finally found.
I hand out the aces with my business card, bam! I have myself a gig.

I really like the routine because first trick is fast and is filled with UMPTH! and the tricks all have twists in the end. Last time I did that routine was when I hanging out at the local cafe, and 2 men and 1 woman, that lived local. Knew I was into magic, from some advertising I did for a stage show, so I decided to how them that routine. It was my first time performing that routine and I got a high paying party gig from that routine.

For me, all those tricks are like a celebration of card magic. And best of all I enjoy performing it.
I don't think I would do Stage magic any time soon, so I have no set for the stage.
 
Nov 15, 2007
1,106
2
35
Raleigh, NC
I don't have a set show yet, but I do have a few smaller sets of different tricks. I like to draw from one into another, making it both seamless without feeling forced.

One routine I've been doing recently goes something like this :
Ask for a ring and do Garrett Thomas' Ring Thing, quick and visual-and a great piece of magic.
I then do Danny Garcia's Ring and Rubber band routine (the ring jumping back and forth between bands, one band disappears...the ring disappears and then comes back).
I then go into either Jacob's Ladder or Stairway (depending on crowd size and angles) after borrowing a bill.

Starting with a ring, then introduce rubber bands to use with it, then keep the bands...give the ring back...borrow a bill and do more magic.

A quick trick to do after if everyone is digging the magic is rubber band through hand, letting them keep the rubber band.

This is just one quick routine I developed to help me take the tricks in them from practiced to mastered (I'm a firm believer you can't master anything without doing it for an audience over and over).

Another 2-trick routine (that I'm working on expanding) is doing Earl Nelson's Exploding Aces (Variations) and then following it up with Between Your Points of Depature (Also in Variations).

The first is a 4-ace production...the second uses them in an effect that transports a selected card from the spectators hands (with the aces) into the deck again.
 
Feb 22, 2010
19
0
Mosina, Poland
Last weekend I created new set ;D.

First I start talking to audience to enter then into "world of magic". Then I start with simple card magic (founding selection card etc.). Next I'm doing some tricks from psychology. After that I'm doing something from hypnosis. Then I'm doing rope magic and rubber bands magic :D. Next I produce cards again and I'm doing more difficoult illusions. At the end I like to do my favourite coins routine. When I'm going off the scene I like to do some gags :D.

The most important thing in my set is that I'm always trying to be funny, so people will almost always enyoj my show :D.
 
Mar 6, 2008
1,483
3
A Land Down Under
It's good to see Luis you have a flow to your effects, the only critism I would have is there is too much going on (when written it may be different when performed). My show is divided into two halts with the first being a demonstration of applied knowledge and the second being more a demonstration of power. Within each set I start off using manipulation and end with using reading. I feel that this works better for me.

I working on a more pure Q&A type show that hopefully will be my real show in the near furture. But now most of the stuff I do the method is real.
 

Luis Vega

Elite Member
Mar 19, 2008
1,838
278
38
Leon, Guanajuato Mexico
luisvega.com.mx
It's good to see Luis you have a flow to your effects, the only critism I would have is there is too much going on (when written it may be different when performed). My show is divided into two halts with the first being a demonstration of applied knowledge and the second being more a demonstration of power. Within each set I start off using manipulation and end with using reading. I feel that this works better for me.

I working on a more pure Q&A type show that hopefully will be my real show in the near furture. But now most of the stuff I do the method is real.

Thanks for the suggestion...as always very helpful...

well performed it´s really different, I just write it very simple for you to get the idea...If I write it as it is, maybe could be a very long post...

It had to pass some time and some bad experiences to finally get my set the way it is now...trust me, there are some very sad stories in that time...

I want to ask you...what is a Q&A show?
 
Mar 6, 2008
1,483
3
A Land Down Under
I knw what you mean Luis my show s 5-6 effects in the first half and 3-4 in the second and it is a two hour piece. As for the Q&A look at the last 20-30 minutes of Derrens Evening of Wonders and that is on of the best Q&As around. (Mine is better not really but I wish).
 
Nov 20, 2007
4,410
6
Sydney, Australia
I've been thinking about two short sets myself recently. In answer to your question Luis, I generally have an idea for a set - perhaps a moment, or an emotion, or an effect, and I decide that I want to create something out of that. In this case, the first is based off a specific effect I wanted to perform that ends in a rose revealing a prediction and then being handed out to the female volunteer. The one effect then expanded to have a lead-in, and then a warm up effect before that.

The other one was based off an idea - leaving the stage before the effect had finished. Essentially, I want to write a prediction, leave the stage, and a few moments later, have the spectator call out the prediction and make it true. From this developed a presentation that I love dearly based on the little miracles of life, something that I wanted to make beautiful. So from that idea, there came an emotion, a distinct moment I want to be experienced, and from that, an effect. And from that, I started to develop a set that led into that final moment, and am still working on it now.
 
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