Animal Magnetism

History

This was an idea I captured in my journal several years ago. The effect is a simple idea that I’ve played around with, but I’ve never performed it. However, I think you’ll immediately see the potential. It’s based on those small “Magic Grow” animals for kids. A small capsule, kind of like a Tylenol capsule, that is dropped in water eventually becomes a small foam animal. It’s an old toy that you can find at dollar stores and craft stores. You can get a pack of 10 ish for just a couple/few bucks.

Effect

A small capsule is placed in the magician’s hand. Almost instantly, the hand is reopened displaying a small toy animal – no water needed.

Set up

These toy capsules are simply dissolve-able gel capsules. Inside of each capsule is a tightly packed foam animal. When dropped in water, the capsule dissolves, and the animal expands. In order to remove the animal from the capsule, you can simply open the capsule and pull the animal out. This allows you to save the capsule (for a bonus effect in a moment), and get the animal out.

It will be pretty scrunched up, so you’ll want to drop the freed animal into some water to rehydrate it and allow it to take its proper shape. Once it has been re-hydrated, wring it out, and you’re ready to go . . . almost. You’ll also need another capsule that has the same color as the animal you’ve removed. In our case, we’ll be using yellow. Also, you’ll note that my set is an unusual set. It’s transportation (e.g, boats, planes, cars, trains, trucks, etc.) rather than animals. However, animals are the more common version.

Method

Take your released animal (in our case, a sail boat) and scrunch it up as small as you can (which will be super small, and wedge it between the base of your middle and ring fingers. Display the whole yellow capsule in your open right hand palm. Hold your left hand up with the fingers curled so that you’re in Ramsay Subtlety position.

Next pretend to place the yellow capsule in your left hand as your close your left fingers around your right finger tips . . . at the same time, the right fingers move away secretly concealing the yellow capsule. We’ll discuss the fake put in detail momentarily.

Next, draw focus to your closed left hand. A few squeezes and wiggles to secretly get the animal out of finger palm and some dramatic facial expressions later, you’ve “produced” an animal. Open your hand to reveal.

The Fake Put

For apparently placing the capsule in your left hand, there are several possibilities. Here are some simple options.

A little bit of sticky tape on the capsule will allow it to stick to your right finger tip. When displaying it, display it on the right index finger tip. When placing it into your left hand, it’s a simple matter of tilting your right hand over the left in a gesture of dumping it into your left hand. Of course, as you move your right hand away, the capsule is stuck to your right finger tip.

If you wear a PK ring, you can place a small magnet or a needle/straight pin into the capsule thus allowing it to stick to your PK ring on your right hand as you apparently dump it into the left.

You can simply rest it at the base of your right fingers and hold it there with your right thumb as you pretend to dump it.

Optionally, you can have the freed animal balled up and finger palmed/wedged in the right hand. Then display the yellow capsule in your left open palm. With the right hand, reach over and pretend to pick it up at the finger tips as your left hand curls and captures the capsule in finger palm and drops to your side. Then reveal the transformation in your right hand instead of your left.

Though I’ve never tried this, you might be able sleeve the capsule or even somehow rig it up to a pull. Good luck with that.

Bonus Ideas

You could, of course, reverse the process. Once you’re done displaying the freed animal in your left hand (and the right hand is holding out the yellow capsule), simple pretend to place the animal in your right hand using any kind of sponge-ball-ish vanish. Then open the hand to show that you’ve caused it to go back to wear it came from. If you want to add a level of “realism” to this, before starting, have the freed animal, and the empty capsule both finger palmed in the left hand.

Then, the effect becomes an escape: you’ve magically caused the animal to get out of it’s cage. So when you open your hand for the reveal, you’re showing the animal and an empty capsule. To put the animal back in the cage, you finger palm/retain both the empty capsule and the animal as you pretend to place them in your other hand that is secretly concealing the yellow capsule.

Alternatively, you can stick with the original idea of just the animal in the left hand and the yellow capsule hidden in the right hand during the reveal (i.e., the opening of the left hand to show the animal). Then you can reach into your right pocket (keeping the yellow capsule finger palmed in your right hand) and grab the empty capsule. You can then magically put the animal into the capsule using the idea above.

Presentation

This is where it gets fun. One way to do this is to simply show the capsule and see if they know what it is. If they do, great; if they don’t, tell them. I love the idea of saying something outrageous like “There’s an animal in here.” Explain to them that moisture dissolves the capsule and the animal appears. You could even drop an extra one into a glass of water on the table (with their permission, of course) to show how it works. I would suggest, however, that you use a different colored capsule for the one you drop in the water.

Drop, say, a green one in the water, while performing everything else with a yellow one. Once you’ve explained/shown how they work, let them know that you have enough moisture in your hands to dissolve the capsule. You can play it straight like it’s just pure science, or you can go with “harnessing the elements – rain/water in this case.” The perform the effect where the animal (and no capsule) ends up in your hand.

Another idea would be to explain that you can get the animal out without water. Talk about the big illusionist who use animals. Claim that you have a caged animal in your pocket. Remove the capsule. Explain/show what it is. Then perform the version where the animal and the empty capsule appear in your hand. Your presentation could be centered around how dangerous it can be if your animal escapes, but luckily you can magically cause the animal to go back into his cage.

Finally, you could also talk about the illusionists who do metamorphosis effects with animals. In this case, the effect would be a bit different. In this case, the animal is still secretly finger palmed/scrunched in your left hand. However, you also have an empty capsule finger palmed in your right hand. The yellow capsule is then shown to the audience. Make a loose fist with your right hand as you place the capsule (with your left finger tips) into the opening of the loose fist. You actually just place the yellow capsule directly into your thumb crotch (i.e, thumb palm/clip).

Next your close your left hand into a fist, palm down. Your right hand is already in a palm down fist, just tighten it up. Give your right hand a little wiggle, then open it (still palm down) and let the empty capsule fall onto the table while secretly retaining the yellow one in the right hand’s thumb crotch. You claim that the animal has magically jumped to your left hand. Turn your left hand face up and slowly open it to reveal the animal. This allows you to ditch the the thumb palmed capsule hidden in your left hand while attention is focused on the left hand.

If, however, you’re going to cause it to go back into the cage, then you won’t want to ditch it, but rather, keep it hidden and perform the effect (suggested earlier) where the animal gets back in its cage.

Final Thoughts

Though this is simple and maybe even silly, it can make for a fun and easy give away for kids. When you’re done you can either give them the freed animal, or if you’ve put the animal back in the capsule, give them that capsule (or another one) and tell them to take it home and drop it in some water.

Also, the presentation can be fun and somewhat “legitimate” with the idea of illusionists or with the idea of having moisture in your hand to dissolve the capsule. Don’t overlook this. Play around with it, and have fun.

Lastly, a quick Google search for “Magic Grow Capsules” will turn up plenty of resources in the event that you can’t find them in your local stores. Here’s one I found on Amazon: Magic Grow Animals.