Little People
This one’s a people pleaser for sure. It’s a fun presentation that I originally used to audition for Jay Sankey’s Underground Jam DVD. However, we did not release it on Underground Jam. Instead, I released it on the Stone Cold Magic DVD. I’ve also developed a different method since its release back in March 2007.
Effect:
A spectator is given a demonstration of how to palm cards even for people who super-small hands. A card is chosen, shuffled and lost in the deck. The spectator (yes the spectator) freely (yes freely) cuts the deck anywhere she likes. The magi then uses a tiny little keychain hand to reach in and palm out the card she cuts too (yes the actual card she cuts to, no switches).
The card is shown to be the selection. Then the tiny keychain hand is turned over and shown to have a tiny, tiny, tiny card stuck to the palm of the hand. It just happens to match the spectator’s chosen card.
Method:
The original method from the Stone Cold Magic DVD used a force deck with a few (10 ish) non-force cards on the bottom of the deck. I won’t spend too much time going over the exact presentation. You can watch it below. The footage below is the audition footage for the Sankey project. You’ll notice that I use an antenna attached to the hand. I don’t do that so much these days. I like the convenience of having the hand in my front pocket rather than needing an inner coat breast pocket.
However, in a set piece where I’m not strolling, I would still go with the antenna for the funny visual.
Ok, so watch the video below; then read on . . .
The version shown above used a one-way force deck. The version I’m about to explain actually uses a Svengali deck. The effect looks almost exactly the same as above. However, you get to add two extra convincers. A Svengali deck allows you to show all of the cards to be apparently different, and when the spectator cuts the deck, you can show the card above the cut-to card and the card below the cut-to card to be indifferent cards. You cannot do that with the original method I used to do.
For the unfamiliar, a Svengali deck is a deck that consists of 26 cards that are identical to one another along with 26 indifferent cards. The duplicate cards are cut a little bit shorter than the indifferent cards. This allows you to riffle the cards from the front or back of the deck and show all of the indifferent cards. The duplicate cards will be hidden.
The other little perk of this deck is that if the spectator cuts the deck by grabbing from the front and back as in the photo below; then she will automatically cut at a point where the “force” card is on top of the deck. That’s the basic workings of the effect. Let’s look at a couple of preparation items you need to do.
Preparation:
As you can see in the performance video, I use the posable gumby-like hands when I perform. However, you can use any kind of hand that is about that size . . . a doll hand, a foam sticker hand (sold at Walmart). If you decide not to order the hand from Stone Cold Magic, check craft stores and doll stores if you can find something that works for you.
Next, take a mini card that matches your force card from you Svengali deck and using a photocopier, reduce it to 25% of it’s normal size, and you’ll end up with a card about the size of your thumbnail. Stick it to the hand using magician’s wax or double stick tape or some bubble gum from the bottom of your shoe. Or if you’re really daring you can use Llama urine. It’s very sticky.
Once the hand is prepared, the next step is to prepare the Svengali deck. Whenever I use a Svengali deck, I prepare it ahead of time by marking the non-force cards. Just a small pencil dot somewhere on the back of the card will suffice. I usually put it right dead in the center of the card. The photo Below shows a very bold mark done with a sharpie. This is, of course, only for clarity. In reality you would use a light pencil dot.
The mark needs to be subtle, however, in theory you should never see the mark. When cutting pack, occasionally the cards won’t quite cooperate and you end up cutting a non-force card to the top. If those cards are marked, then you can quickly tell if you’ve cut to a “bad spot” or not. If you see the mark, that’s bad. I’ll go over how to handle it when that happens in a moment.
Set up:
Put the prepared hand and prepared Svengali deck in your pocket.
Performance:
Again, refer to the presentational video for delivery timing and patter. I will only be going over the mechanics below.
Forcing the Card:
There are many ways to force using a Svengali. I simply hold the cards in overhand (aka Biddle grip) grip and drop cards from my right hand to my left hand as you would for a Dribble Force, however it’s not a force. Wherever the spectator says “stop,” you stop. If you notice the mark on the top card in your left hand, then that means that the top card is NOT the force card. That’s fine; show her the bottom card of the packet in your right hand. It will be the force card.
If the top card is the force card, have her pick it up and look at it and return it to back on top of the left hand packet. Drop the packet from the right hand back onto the left hand packet. Next cut the pack a few times, being sure to cut from the outer narrow ends, not the sides.
Using the Mini-Hand:
As you talk about palming cards with small hands, you will display the hand from your pocket. Using the paddle move (very casually), show both sides of the hand thus hiding the palmed card. This is not something you have to do. If you like, you can just bring the hand out palm down and not show the palm at all.
Having the Spectator Cut:
Place the cards next to the card box as shown in the photo below. This is an idea from Max Maven’s Prism book which forces the spectator to cut the deck at the ends rather than the sides. Once the cards are cut, as you saw in the demo, lightly place the hand on the chosen card and slowly slide it out.
The Reveal:
Once you’ve slid the card out, you may show the card above it and below it if you’d like. You can comment that neither of those cards were hers before revealing the one she cut to. You don’t have to, however. Either way, once you’re ready, turn over the card underneath the hand to show that she did indeed cut to her card. Then turn over the hand to show the tiny palmed card. Refer to the performance above for presentational lines, etc.
Bad Cuts:
What do you do if she cuts at the wrong spot. I could write a whole book to answer that question. However, I’ll give you the short answer. It may require you to do a little homework. Are you familiar with equivoque (aka magician’s choice)? If you’re not, learn that first. Once you know that, here’s how you recover from a bad cut:
The moment she cuts the cards and you see the mark thus informing you that it’s a bad cut, ask her to cut each of the two packets in half as well. Then you are left with four packets on the table. At least one of them will have a force card on top. Then it’s a simple matter of using equivoque to have one of the appropriate packets forced. The beauty of this scenario is that not only can you show the card below the chosen card to be indifferent, but you can also show the top card of any packet that does not have the force card on top of it.
You can also show the bottom card of each packet (peak first before turning the packet over to display).
Final Words:
That’s pretty much it gang. Remember, this effect is also available (with a slightly different method and a few extra ideas) on the Stone Cold Magic DVD. I also have 6 Svengali Decks left. If you order one before they run out of stock, I’ll send you a free posable hand along with the thumbnail-sized mini card. An antenna like the one used in the demo below can be found at Radio Shack (R). The hands can be purchased in bulk. I’ve not seen them retailed anywhere. However I purchased a few of them, so they are available on my site as well, if you would like. I cannot guarantee the color of the hand that you will get. They come in blue, pink, purple, yellow and flesh.
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