What Next?

[MattyParker]

I've been doing card magic for nearly a year now and I've recently become a bit discouraged. I follow Ellusionist, T11, D&D, and The Blue Crown continuously and have learnt a good amount of sleights, routines, and flourishes. I know nearly all the basics. Card controls, shuffles, cuts, general mentalism, you name it. The only thing I haven't taken a liking to is gambling sleights, because I don't enjoy requiring a table for an effect (I lean more towards in the hands impromptu).

Now that I know the basics to intermediate, I'm having a REALLY difficult time making the jump to the next level in my magic. I purchase an effect that will enhance my abilities, but the gap that I have to cross is just too large (i.e. "Sandwiches" by Tony Chang or more recently David's Cull). I've gotten to the point where I just search for the newest deck of cards to get my hands on and then I end up doing the same thing. Cardistry is difficult and frustrating, not to mention impractical to my routines, and the magic is just so knucklebusting and unreachable. I don't want to give up, I would like to progress. Any advice you guys can offer?

(EDIT: I was looking through my previous posts, and I've asked something similar before. This question is different. That was a while ago and I had no idea how notifications worked. Apologies if you are having Deja Vu.)

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

Now you take your top three tricks and turn them into magic.

 

[RealityOne]

How long have you been studying magic? What materials (DVDs, Books, etc.) do you have? What are your favorite effects? The answers to those questions will give us a better gauge of your experience.

The answer ito your question depends on where do you want to go.

Do you want to enhance your skills? If so get Card College volumes 1 through 5 and work through them.

Do you want more up close, in your hands, fun to perform materials get the Art of Astonishment set and work through that.

Do you want some great multi-phase card routines, pick up some books by John Bannon or John Gustaferro.

Do you want to turn your tricks into magic - get some books on theory by Henning Nelms, Eugene Burger, Robert Neale, David Ortiz.

Want to learn the routines of the masters, pick up books by Dai Vernon, Larry Jennings, Brother John Hammond or Slydini. Want more modern material, pickup a book by Woody Aragon, David Acer or Eric Mead.

 

[Craig Browning]

I'll take this another direction. . .

Why are you so focused on playing cards and not learning the other aspects of magic?

Card Magic is an addiction for a number of reasons and as such it tends to limit us and our ability to learn and work with anything other than card magic . . . that is to say, most of what we demonstrate will involve cards and not other tools that are available to us.

I'm saying this for a few reasons but the biggest centers on you and your quandary; by changing your area of study you will be able to not just expand your personal repertoire, you will be able to let what you've been studying to gestate and take root without the agitation of more information to digest. This may sound strange but research has shown that when we step away from something and shift to a new focus for a while, we actually improve our ability to absorb and apply what we've learned.

What are your manipulation skills like when it comes to coins, billiard balls, thimbles?

How skilled are you in using a Thumb Tip or 6th Finger?

The other information that's been shared in this thread has tremendous value but, it likewise supports your addiction with playing cards and thwarts your advancement as a magician. This is something we all get blinded by and it doesn't always involve playing cards, I've pointed the same thing out to coin addicts and even endured my own challenge years ago, when I realized how badly addicted I was with big illusions and was neglecting the many other facets of the craft that were required if I were to deliver a well rounded Magic Show. Even now, with my focus on Mentalism & Bizarre Magick, I have to challenge myself to look at the many skill-sets resting outside that framework, so that I can be better rounded in what I can deliver (while focusing on handling and presentations that fit my persona and claim, of course).

Hope this makes some sense to you and helps you consider a stronger alternative to things.

 

[MattyParker]

Craig, you have an excellent point. I would love to move to other aspects of magic and expand my knowledge. I just wouldn't know what props or items to invest in. What separates a good thumb tip from a bad thumb tip? Which tools will get me the more versatile hard hitting effects? It just seems like a huge jump, where I'm used to going "Oh hey, nice cards, must buy". I'll definitely be doing my research.

 

[Craig Browning]

Craig, you have an excellent point. I would love to move to other aspects of magic and expand my knowledge. I just wouldn't know what props or items to invest in. What separates a good thumb tip from a bad thumb tip? Which tools will get me the more versatile hard hitting effects? It just seems like a huge jump, where I'm used to going "Oh hey, nice cards, must buy". I'll definitely be doing my research.

Thumb Tips?

Though I've had some of the more expensive rubber thumbs the two I use the most are the various Vernet plastic thumbs I have and a cheap metal one that I found in an old child's magic kit many years ago. It really doesn't matter so long as you learn how to work with the gimmick in a manner that is natural as well as comfortable to you. I'll go a step further here, I know guys that have worked with brightly painted TTs as well as Chrome plated ones during magic lectures, and even saw one guy nest over 6 TTs one onto another without ever getting caught by their fellow mage, just so they could prove a point -- if you know how to work with a gimmick and you do so in a way that is natural to you, no one will see a thing.

Billiard Balls on the other hand. . . well, I'll only use Fakini brand balls because they are the easiest to control and work with. They're a bit pricey, but worth every penny.

Because you already work with cards however, I'd suggest you look into coin work first and possibly dice (there's a lot that can be done with dice including "Stacking" routines which are somewhat rare now days). Both of these would lend themselves to a gambling type act on down the road but can be amusing by themselves.

Stop thinking about effects as being good or bad, it's up to you! I've seen Doug Henning blow magicians out of the water using a cheap coin slide out of an Adams Magic Kit (I know, I was one of them). It's up to you to turn a low end trick into a miracle, just look at Docc Hilford's routine with the Ball & Tube or what any good Mentalist can do with a slip of paper. It's up to YOU to make the effect hit hard or not, it's not up to the effect to carry you.

Peter Pit used to get onto me for "hiding behind the prop" . . . this was in my big box days . . . his point was that too many magic lovers rely on the trick to make them look good vs. their own skills and showmanship. That's why Peter was able to slay an audience by crumbling up a cracker. . . he did one trick in his 20-minute set, the Topsy Turvey Chairs (he was the only person doing these for decades). So stop worrying about the ego-trip and look at how to create magic with what you work with. Look at how Burger and others use the simplest techniques to create "neat tricks" but too, how their presentation takes something elementary and turns it on its ear.

Grab a copy of the Larry Baukin Anthology, it will give you some perspective on what I'm saying here in that Larry offers several variations to classic routines, each handling giving a completely different psychological "sense" about it. Besides that, this book will open your eyes to a whole new world of possibilities when it comes to the idea of entertaining with magic by creating a true suspension of disbelief . . . to the point of making things feel "real" and esoteric. . . when it comes to hard hitting stuff, you can't get much better than making people wee themselves.