Hello everyone. I’m hoping I’m in the right place here. I’ve had a rather large passion for magic for quite some time now, ever since watching Paul Harris perform in Vegas in the early 2000’s. Unfortunately, I’m getting a late start on things, as I wrapped up my career first, before deciding to pursue this passion.
I prefer acts of cardistry, simply because of their mobility and ability to be performed in a more wide variety of places (I am sure other acts can as well, but I just prefer card or small object manipulaton).
I have purchased several different box sets for practice, and I have been able to perform several of these acts with a rather short learning curve, simply from having very flexible and quick hands from a combination of gaming apm and sports. Also, from my background in engineering, I have tried (and mostly failed to this point), in creating some contraptions and gadgets to assist in illusion, mostly not due to functionality (most of them work), but because the devices are obvious, or cannot be amply concealed.
My questions are really this:
I prefer acts of cardistry, simply because of their mobility and ability to be performed in a more wide variety of places (I am sure other acts can as well, but I just prefer card or small object manipulaton).
I have purchased several different box sets for practice, and I have been able to perform several of these acts with a rather short learning curve, simply from having very flexible and quick hands from a combination of gaming apm and sports. Also, from my background in engineering, I have tried (and mostly failed to this point), in creating some contraptions and gadgets to assist in illusion, mostly not due to functionality (most of them work), but because the devices are obvious, or cannot be amply concealed.
My questions are really this:
- With little to no background, but a generally long budget, where should I start, in terms of actually being able to practice and perform tricks in a setting that will test my ability to do so?
- Are there any methods in terms of designing gadgets or anyone here that can impart some advice on how one comes to the balance between adding functionality vs concealment? Are there places I can go to actually learn this art?
- Are there limits as to what can be done in terms of acceptable use of gadgets within illusion? Are there any kinds of boundaries that would be considered off limits? An example of this would be, perhaps, using a magnetized strip on a card to manipulate placement of medium current circuits to cause a card to hover, or move on its own accord out of a pile/deck of cards, but which might say, attract a pre 1943 penny as well, or perhaps some foreign coins. Due to needing to use a neodymium magnet to create enough force, this could cause such coins to be moving with enough velocity to cause a minor injury.