Encyclopedia of Crayon Magic

Back in the day before I had children (nearly 20 years ago), I used to keep a pack of cigarettes in the house to practice cigarette magic. I had a lot of friends who smoked, so I bought what turned out to be one of my favorite magic books, The Encyclopedia of Cigarette Tricks By Keith Clark. I don’t smoke so a lot of the effects were ones I couldn’t do because they required lighting and smoking cigarettes, but there were still tons of moves and vanishes and effects that could be done with unlit cigarettes.

I had a lot of fun messing with my friends and doing some pretty cool cig magic. Then int 1995, along comes my beautiful baby girl Courtney. No longer do I wish to have cigarettes in the home. What I did have in the home that I didn’t before having children was crayons. And it just so happens that they’re about the exact same size as cigarettes. Chalk is also another good substitute. So I started practicing cig moves at home with Crayons. Then when hanging with my friends, I would apply the moves to their cigs. It was a sweet solution.

One day, it occurred to me that I could actually apply these moves to the crayons themselves not as a means to practice for cig magic, but as a means to practice crayon magic. Suddenly, I could show my daughter some cool effects when she was old enough to appreciate them. Over the years, I’ve done “cig” magic with restaurant crayons for my friends, family, waitresses and others. I’ve done crayon magic for my old children show I used to so. I’ve done crayon magic for the young children church in their nursery and primary classes.

So what’s this month’s free trick . . . well, it’s not quite a trick, but rather a suggestion that ultimately will result in many tricks. Go pick up a copy of The Encyclopedia of Cigarette Tricks and buy yourself a box of crayons and go to town.