The Art of Materialization

[Mental-State]

I need to start to look at ways to make thing appear and disappear. I need some good places to start. Book and videos please, slights and theory. I just not really sure where to look and I know you people have a wealth of knowledge.

I started out with card magic and moved to suggestion then mentalism. That the stuff I have been performing lately on stage. The show I’m writing will have me making anything disappear (from small object to me lol).

Also on a side note any kind of stage equipment where people get stretched and shrunk would be good too =]

Thanks

 

[Toby]

You may wanna look at Andrew Mayne stuff for stage. He has some streching and vanishing half of the body illusions. Not sure of the quality since I don't own them. Also look at topits and pull gimmicks (ie. Gecko), for vanishing small things from your hands.

 

[Craig Browning]

Firstly, what do you want to make appear & vanish?

In case you haven't noticed, there's a big difference between vanishing a coin and vanishing an elephant. . . I can do both, but the latter requires several thousands of dollars, a crew and place to do it at where sight lines, etc. can be controlled.

Stretching & Squishing folks.... well, sounds like you have a big bank account.... a standard Sielbit Stretching cabinet is going to cost you a minimum of $5,000.00 used. . . if you can find one -- Brand New they should be running in around $15,000.00 But for a hundred to two-hundred you can buy the Byron Wells Illusion Plan books that just happen to have the Thayer workshop plans. . . then it's just a matter of a few thousand and some carpentry & metal craft skills to build the thing.

Are you catching on to things here?

Big Magic = Big Investment. . . and there a heck of a lot more to it than buying the bleeding prop! Storage, Transport, Up-Keep, Insurance, Incidental Exposure, Loosing or Breaking vital pieces. . . the list is nice and long.

My Suggestion is that you start with the old stand-by resources and actually learn the basics of magic first;
The Mark Wilson Course in Magic
The Tarbell Course in Magic
Now You See it; Now You don't by Bill Tarr
Magic & Showmanship

. . . there's a good number of others but this is more than enough to build a full career from.

 

[redwulfe]

Since you mentioned that you are doing stage mentalist shows currently I will assume that you are not new to the rigors of stage work and that you now showmanship. I am sure these are safe assumptions. If you need to vanish or produce anything that could possibly be given to you at a random moment then I would suggest working on sleeving techniques and look into a topit. Ammar has a topit video that is decent and Rocco is the source for a good grounding in sleeving. For larger objects I would start with blackart. Andrew Mayne does have a video called IFX I think that is correct but it shows you some cheap options for black art appearances and disappearances. Booth of these options will cost allot less than what you would expect and can be used for multiple effects.

Though there are allot of magical props on the market buying a prop for each type of appearance can get overwhelming. If you design your stage correctly black art will help you and be very cheap comparatively. combine this with sleeving and topit work and there is nothing you can't make appear and disappear.

As far a shrinking goes I would look at the aforementioned illusion resource to build your own if you have the skill, if not contract someone to do it for you or buy the prop outright depending on resources.

Red

 

[Mental-State]

thanks a lot for the help everyone

Firstly, what do you want to make appear & vanish?

In case you haven't noticed, there's a big difference between vanishing a coin and vanishing an elephant. . . I can do both, but the latter requires several thousands of dollars, a crew and place to do it at where sight lines, etc. can be controlled.

the question is what can i make appear and disappear. this will not be a big stage show. so im not vanishing elephants =]
yeah nothing to that size, i would say a laptop sized stuff is the biggest. yeah it more imagine a play but instead of in movies you have CGI you use magic/mentalism. to get the kind of idea lets say a character stole something then got caught and then he frames it on someone in the audience (it is some how it their pocket)

thanks for your time