Hello...While having lunch with a clown friend, he said I should also include some pocket magic with my shows. It can be fun for children and adults and it is fun to perform. I normally face paint and create balloon animals, games, etc. I tried magic once and gave up since I was not very good at it. Can someone explain to me what pocket magic is and is it hard? Then where on the internet is a good place to go to find pocket magic? Any ideas would be appreciated. Smiles and giggles to everyone.:applause: Tillie

Pocket magic is also called close up magic. It means the props are small and easily portable. Coin, rope, handkerchief and card tricks are the perennial staples of closeup magic. There are ton of websites and books filled with such tricks.

Myself, being a clown and also not being so great at magic go big into absurd fake magic. Disappearing finger tricks are classic, but really all you have to do to absurd fake magic is take any two events, that have nothing to do with one another and say that one caused the other by magic even if the real cause is readily apparent. If you use your imagination for a bit there are a bazillion possible tricks. The real trick though is to really try and make everyone believe you are convinced that you are doing real magic. If you tell them it is absurd it falls flat. If you insist that you pried the trick from a 354 year old yogi living under a water fall in Nepal who was the last member of a secret society who held all the answers to the universe, then you'll get some laughs.

Pocket magic is typically considered tricks that fit in your pocket and can be pulled out, performed, and put back in your pocket ready to go again. It isn't really for use in a show, but would be good when interacting one-on-one before or after a show. There are a lot of tricks, some are easier than others to perform. The important thing is that the tricks all reset themselves and are ready to go again and again and again. (although, you would only perform them one time for any group of people).

One that I carry with me is the Professor nightmare. Very easy to do and it resets it self. ready to use again.

I carry a hot rod with me. A TT is another great thing to have with you at all times.

2 card monty really easy and you can carry it in a card wallet heck that one comes in a box for a buck at the dollar tree but i would spend the extra to get a bicycle brand version

a deck of cards some good gimicked decks are called a

svengali and the again can be baught at the dollar tree but better to drop the dime on a bicycle so you can switch decks now and then and no one is the wiser

invisible deck are good to go and can be made or you can spend your money

the mental photography deck

changeing red ball to square and black ball is a staple for pocket/walk-around magic

coloring book comes in a small pocket size version

dice threw mirror

the oddball

scotch and soda personal favorite of al the tricks that take no skill but really give the how did you do that i love to hear

none of these tricks take any real manipulation the talent is in how to present the tricks

and i also agree with the professors night mare but that take 2 moves i would call it hardly slieghts

and the hot rod is great too and you can get it in a stick a pen a knife a jacobs ladder called a hotflip flop i really like that one can be used in a show or fit into a pocket

hope this helps

Spongeballs! Call them spare noses. There's really only one move you need to learn and that's a false transfer. Some pretty good routines are available in Greg McMahan's book Kids Think It's Funny. The basics are best learned from a person or a video. I like Patrick Page's DVD best of the three I've seen. And it is cheapest of them, too!

Rope is simple enough. Learn to do a cut and restore and you can play it big or small. Check out Whit Haydn's Mongolian Pop Knot routine. He fills 8-10 minutes by cutting the rope three times and doing the Professor's Nightmare once. It is the showmanship that makes that routine wonderful. Actually, even something like the dissolving knot you get when you tie a bow and pull the ends through the loops can be made into a fun routine for a whole group or a pleasant interlude with one kid.

Too many kids are savvy to the TT. They don't even have to see the TT try to bust you on it. I will simply deny it or mention that the problem with those fake thumbs is that you can always spot them. But the fact that kids know about them in the first place takes some of the fun away for me.

I love thimbles and normally carry one in my pocket. But this takes some practice to learn to use. I just do vanishes and reproductions. I don't bother with multiplying thimbles.

Another favorite is a white pocket handkerchief. Quentin Reynolds does a routine where he folds it into a mouse and he ends up with a whole room going wild. Check YouTube for a clip. I am pretty sure the folds are shown in Karl Fulves' book on self-working handkerchief magic. I know they are in Martin Gardner's Encyclopedia of Impromptu Magic, but that's out of print, I understand. A handkerchief can also be used for other tricks.

I would define Pocket Magic as tricks you carry in your pocket and can do at a moment's notice, not always just close-up. My one strong caveat is to avoid packaged self-working tricks. The plastic gimmicks are fun to play with, the magic shop makes them look like wonderful mysteries, and you will keep running into kids who have that same trick at home from a toy magic set. Learn some tricks that don't take any more work than the toys but are harder to sell in a shop. Who'd buy a bundle of clothesline and a handkerchief as a magic set? But those can form the basis for 15 minutes of solid entertainment.

Above all, only do it if it fits who you are and who your clown character is. If if doesn't fit you, a puppet might be a better addition to your act.

-Patrick

Tillie, if you are gonna do pocket Magic I suggest you start off with that. Being a face painter/balloon twister yourself, it has always been my experience that once you break out the balloons, the kids lose interest and could care less about the Magic.

~Sam 8-)