New here and have questions

Jul 27, 2021
8
4
I started magic when I was a kid. I did a magic camp stage show. I did another show at a school I did not attend. As I got older I had less time for magic. Now I’m 38 and trying to get back in. Just went to Vegas and saw criss angel, David copper field, and Mac king. All good in their own ways.
to get back in I have bought the following

svengali deck
color Monte one of my favs from when I was a kid
tree card Monte same as above
deland automatic deck
tapered deck got it when I bought something else
ufo flying card trick
i have a Halloween trick that I watched on YouTube and created all the pieces
hot rod from when I was a kid

I have bought on ellusionist.com a few things one being their how to be a magician set. Flop 2.0, a coin trick, and an invisible deck, a few mystery decks that are supposed to be high quality decks .

In addition I subscribed to their magic stream which has a lot of cool things.

I have also subscribed to MasterClass where I just finished penn & teller course.

I have gone to vanishing inc and subscribed to their MasterClass which gives you three lessons a month and a magic show with q&a

On ellusionist I’m thinking of buying their Kickstarter kit how to read minds, I have heard good things. Have you heard of anything.

im thinking of buying poker test 2.0

shin lim’s evolushin kit
chop cup looks like a shaker with olives

i have signed up with skillshare and signed up for several card magic courses

My questions are this

What are good inexpensive cards that you can buy in bulk to make gimmicked/gaffed decks. Some card tricks you need to destroy or modify cards. I don’t want to do that with $10-15 per deck cards. What do you suggest?

Is there anywhere you can bup just card boxes? Some tricks I’m learning ask you to make a trick box.

Are you aware any sites where can perform and charge a fee for our magic shows?

what are some suggestions you have for me.
 
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Reactions: Gabriel Z.
Jan 2, 2016
1,092
881
24
California
First things first, welcome to the forums! Great to have you here!

Second thing, I'd slow down on the magic purchases a bit haha. I definitely understand that desire to learn as much as possible as soon as possible but it seems like you have a pretty solid foundation of tricks to work with right now, especially with the masterclasses, skillshare, etc.

If you do buy any other resources, I'd highly recommend Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic. It has a little bit of everything from card tricks to DIY stage illusions. I've been doing magic for 8 years and still go back to Mark Wilson's all the time.

As far as inexpensive decks go, you can't go wrong with bricks (12 decks) of standard Bicycle Cards. If you have access to a Costco, you can usually get them there for $12-$15 (for 12 decks). Plus Bicycles are readily available at most stores and are kind of the standard for gimmick making.

Most $10-$15 decks are about the same quality as standard Bicycle decks. You're usually paying for the design and the box with custom decks. Sometimes the custom decks will be on thinner paper or will have slightly better print standards so the cards won't be as off center but usually they're basically the same paper.

As far as boxes go, you used to be able to get empty Bicycle card boxes from the USPCC website but it seems like they don't offer that anymore. Honestly though, if you're going to be tearing apart cards for gimmicks, you could probably just use the boxes from those cards instead. I buy baseball card boxes from comic book stores to store my incomplete and/or boxless decks of cards. So if I ever need duplicates or want to practice a trick that requires me to fold/damage a card, I can just go to that box and get what I need. Keeps them all fairly orderly as well.

When it comes to a site where people can pay to see you perform, I'm not really sure that exists. Then again, I'm not really the person who would know that.

People do pay for virtual shows though. I haven't performed any but I have a couple friends who perform virtual shows and usually they were hired the same way that they would be for any other gig. Then they perform for the group over Skype or Facetime. My advice for that is to just get your name out there and advertise yourself the same way you would for any other show.

Before you do that, you should definitely make sure you have an act planned out, scripted, and practiced. It's very tempting to start doing performances ASAP but it's definitely worth taking your time to put together a cohesive act.

This forum is a great resource! There are tons of friendly and helpful people on here with years of experience performing different types of magic in different venues and situations. I'm sure there are tons of people who will have answers and advice for any questions you have!
 

Justin.Morris

Elite Member
Aug 31, 2007
2,793
888
Canada
www.morrismagic.ca
Welcome to the forums!
T11 is a great community, and I'm sure you will enjoy connecting here!

Many people just do magic for friends and family until someone asks if they do shows. I'm not sure about online shows to be honest. But if you are into online/camera magic, perhaps start by doing some live shows on YouTube/Facebook. Do 4-5 short 15 minute shows. Practice your routines and timing. Take it offline when you are done, but rewatch and tweak. A great tool to get better and better. Once you have those 15 minute 'sets' you can build a longer show by taking the best effects, and working them together. That can be your paid show. So if someone hires you after seeing a short clip, you have something substantial to offer.

Keep us posted if you find anything unique!
 
Jul 27, 2021
8
4
Welcome to the forums!
T11 is a great community, and I'm sure you will enjoy connecting here!

Many people just do magic for friends and family until someone asks if they do shows. I'm not sure about online shows to be honest. But if you are into online/camera magic, perhaps start by doing some live shows on YouTube/Facebook. Do 4-5 short 15 minute shows. Practice your routines and timing. Take it offline when you are done, but rewatch and tweak. A great tool to get better and better. Once you have those 15 minute 'sets' you can build a longer show by taking the best effects, and working them together. That can be your paid show. So if someone hires you after seeing a short clip, you have something substantial to offer.

Keep us posted if you find anything unique!
Thanks Justin
 
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