Hey everyone!
If you're like me, you've become annoyed by use of the word "organic" in magic marketing. It seems to get attached to basically any magic product these days and thus for many people it has lost any meaning it once had. I still have my own definition of what I'd consider to be "organic" magic which is:
Magic using everyday items or seemingly every day items.
The distinction here between organic and impromptu magic is that organic magic can include gimmicked objects that seem like ordinary objects (something like Sticky Situation, Sweet Disposition, Peek wallets, quarter gimmicks) while impromptu means it can be done with completely ordinary objects. To me, most impromptu magic is organic but not all organic magic is impromptu.
That being said, I'm an amateur magician with very little desire to do magic professionally. Now that I've graduated and my home town is mostly opened up, I've been doing more magic for people when I'm out with friends, at bars, parties, cafes, etc.
I recently realized that card magic is a huge crutch for me. Even though I can do other tricks, it's way too easy to just stick to card stuff when doing magic for people. Thus, I've decided to temporarily stop carrying around playing cards to encourage me to use more of my repertoire. (I'd also like to note that I don't think anything is wrong with card tricks or carrying around a deck of cards. This is just a temporary challenge for myself). The problem is, I've used cards for so long that I've been getting stumped when someone asks me to do a trick and I don't have my cards with me, even when I do have other stuff I could use on me. It feels like taking away the cards removed a huge chunk of my repertoire, and it kinda did. So now I've been brushing up on my non-card stuff and I want to learn some new material to fill the card magic void.
I was wondering what recommendations you all have for "organic" magic? It could be entire books, downloads, DVDs or specific tricks from them. But I'm also completely open to gimmicks and apps.
I'd like to note that while I'm excluding card magic, coin magic is fair game. That is, long as it can be done with US quarters or smaller denominations. I have nothing against coin magic with larger coins. Most of the coin magic I do now is with Kennedy half dollars. The only reason I make this specification is that I'd like to be able to borrow or "borrow" (if it uses a gimmick) the coins. Even if I don't borrow them, I don't think most people would question me having a couple quarters in my pocket. However, a half dollar is clearly something that I've deliberately brought with me to do magic with. Therefore, it seems more like a magic prop than some loose change I happened to have on me.
I definitely want to pick up some of Greg Wilson's material like On the Spot and Coffee House Conjuring. I know Dan Harlan and Tom Mullica made some videos on impromptu magic as well. I want to get a small pen for my keychain so that I can do billet stuff at any time without having to find a pen. I was going to start carrying a TT since it's a great utility device. However, none of mine seem to fit correctly. Some are just too big and others fit fine until there's anything other than my thumb in them. So I need to find one that fits me properly. I've also been thinking about getting some sort of thumb writer since that opens up a lot of possibilities.
So tl;dr my criteria is tricks that:
- Use everyday objects or gimmicks that seem like every day objects and are easy to carry on me
- Are not card tricks
- Use US quarters or smaller if it's a coin trick
- Are not a rubber band tricks (I'm always open to learning more of these but I'm happy with where my rubber band repertoire is at the moment)
- End examinable (or can be easily switched for something that is examinable)
Thank you everyone!
If you're like me, you've become annoyed by use of the word "organic" in magic marketing. It seems to get attached to basically any magic product these days and thus for many people it has lost any meaning it once had. I still have my own definition of what I'd consider to be "organic" magic which is:
Magic using everyday items or seemingly every day items.
The distinction here between organic and impromptu magic is that organic magic can include gimmicked objects that seem like ordinary objects (something like Sticky Situation, Sweet Disposition, Peek wallets, quarter gimmicks) while impromptu means it can be done with completely ordinary objects. To me, most impromptu magic is organic but not all organic magic is impromptu.
That being said, I'm an amateur magician with very little desire to do magic professionally. Now that I've graduated and my home town is mostly opened up, I've been doing more magic for people when I'm out with friends, at bars, parties, cafes, etc.
I recently realized that card magic is a huge crutch for me. Even though I can do other tricks, it's way too easy to just stick to card stuff when doing magic for people. Thus, I've decided to temporarily stop carrying around playing cards to encourage me to use more of my repertoire. (I'd also like to note that I don't think anything is wrong with card tricks or carrying around a deck of cards. This is just a temporary challenge for myself). The problem is, I've used cards for so long that I've been getting stumped when someone asks me to do a trick and I don't have my cards with me, even when I do have other stuff I could use on me. It feels like taking away the cards removed a huge chunk of my repertoire, and it kinda did. So now I've been brushing up on my non-card stuff and I want to learn some new material to fill the card magic void.
I was wondering what recommendations you all have for "organic" magic? It could be entire books, downloads, DVDs or specific tricks from them. But I'm also completely open to gimmicks and apps.
I'd like to note that while I'm excluding card magic, coin magic is fair game. That is, long as it can be done with US quarters or smaller denominations. I have nothing against coin magic with larger coins. Most of the coin magic I do now is with Kennedy half dollars. The only reason I make this specification is that I'd like to be able to borrow or "borrow" (if it uses a gimmick) the coins. Even if I don't borrow them, I don't think most people would question me having a couple quarters in my pocket. However, a half dollar is clearly something that I've deliberately brought with me to do magic with. Therefore, it seems more like a magic prop than some loose change I happened to have on me.
I definitely want to pick up some of Greg Wilson's material like On the Spot and Coffee House Conjuring. I know Dan Harlan and Tom Mullica made some videos on impromptu magic as well. I want to get a small pen for my keychain so that I can do billet stuff at any time without having to find a pen. I was going to start carrying a TT since it's a great utility device. However, none of mine seem to fit correctly. Some are just too big and others fit fine until there's anything other than my thumb in them. So I need to find one that fits me properly. I've also been thinking about getting some sort of thumb writer since that opens up a lot of possibilities.
So tl;dr my criteria is tricks that:
- Use everyday objects or gimmicks that seem like every day objects and are easy to carry on me
- Are not card tricks
- Use US quarters or smaller if it's a coin trick
- Are not a rubber band tricks (I'm always open to learning more of these but I'm happy with where my rubber band repertoire is at the moment)
- End examinable (or can be easily switched for something that is examinable)
Thank you everyone!