Magic for Eastbourne Bonfire Society

Yet another weekend of magic. This time we were performing all the way in Eastbourne (some 120 miles away). This was a challenging gig. We accepted it when there was no sign of work on this weekend and we were still trying to become well known on the SteamPunk Scene.

We arrived at the venue at 8 AM after leaving home at 5.30 AM with no real idea what to expect. Unlike other SteamPunk gigs we hadn't had a face to face meeting and a look at the venue. The weather was dreadful and the event was going to be outside  by the sea. The plan was for Darren to work as a compare for the stage during the day and I would perform close up magic for the families with some balloon modelling. Then in the evening we would both bring our own brand of elegant magic to the tables of the Grand Steampunk Ball in the Wintergarden theatre. Then on the next day we would again perform our duties in the day time and finish around 5 pm.

Our fears were unfounded. The weather cleared up, the bands showed up and brought the crowds. Not many at first but it soon began to really fill up. I realised I would have trouble performing with the bands still running and so switched to mainly working with balloon modelling.
Some thoughts on balloon work.

Multi Balloon models may cost more in time and materials, but look amazing.

That said my one balloon Monkey rocks.

A hand pump is tiresome but not particularly slow.

I know a surprising amount of models now but want to learn more. In particular I want a good multi balloon dog Because....

Simple models are the hardest. There's less going on to give the final impression of what you've made.

To this end I've located a good source of balloons and will spend my soon to arrive free time on learning more balloons alongside more magic.

Other events helped make the day a success. The bands were all  superb ( I mean it not a single dud in the lot of them) and were incredibly professional. Darren   performed his special magic of making material pear out of thin air for the band change overs.  Umbrella fencing (at which I truly rock) and tea duelling also wowed the crowds. We need to make  our own umbrella fencing for when "Steampunk Shenanigans" can't make an event. (and practise at it and become superb brollymen).

After a feast of chips (seaside resorts always have great fish and chip shops) we assembled at the Winter Garden Theatre for the grand ball. I changed into a less steampunk but posher looking waistcoat. I really should make more outfits for these events. The organizers laid on a great night with burlesque, bands our favourite Steampunk DJ and even a corner set up were people could have their picture taken in an actual Time Machine.

I was loaded up "Once Upon a Time" and my usual repertoire of card effects. The gig at Seven Droog Castle reawakened a passion for adding class and enchantment into my work, a touch of elegance.

My first table was a young lady sitting by herself. I introduced myself, asked her for her name and asked if I may join her for a brief moment. I asked of she enjoyed fairy tales like I did,and then proceeded to perform "Once Upon A Time". She said it felt like a truly magical experience and it was a beautiful story. That set the pace of the night. I performed "Cartomancy" with a variation and spend a lovely session performing al my mentalist routines to a psychologist.

The next day suffered from poor weather, however the crowds still came and I used up just about every balloon I had on me! I also performed more magic and finished the day using "Once Upon A Time" again to cheer up a lady who looked like she was having a bad time of things. It worked and I left feeling like a true magician. Using slight of hand and story telling to create a real feeling of magic in people.

Colchester Invasion with Tea and Sympathy

Yesterday saw two events that I was really looking forward to.
Invasion Colchester is a local charity event where people dress up in sci fi and fantasy costumes and walk a round the town collecting money (normally off people having photo's taken with them). I've performed close up street magic in previous years, however this time we had other plans. Initially I was going to run an event for kids at a galleries Garden and tea shop. Due to a change in management this fell though close to the event however I did manage to get a place to perform in a different venue. Working in a coffee shop not only saved a lot of walking but also allowed me to perform on tables and to have a place for props.

  Dan was with me again and did a fantastic job performing to tables whilst I made balloon animals for the kids. This combination worked really well and I did still get to perform magic. A young girl came in dressed as Anna from "Frozen". I felt this would be the best time to make snow appear from my hands. We went outside with her mother and poured water into my hands where she magically turned it to snow. I've been working on the method of this effect and it was worth he effort. I created a full snow storm that whipped over the both of them. Research well spent. As ever "Once upon a time" truly enchanted the kids, big and small.

Dan did a great job performing to all the different age ranges and we raised a fair bit of money. However people do tend to donate for  less for balloon models than they've paid for them when I had a fix rate for them. This is the second time this has happened so in future when doing balloon models for charity I will have a minimum donation.

After Invasion we had one hour to eat  before heading to Tea & Sympathy. I had agreed to perform a little stage set and wanted to include Dan's whip work.. Making a short notice change to plans needed all the health and safety assessments on hand which Dan managed to get. This does demonstrate how important having paperwork is. I think it's time I sit down and work out all sorts of risk assessments, print them and pop them in my case along with a sheet of what was loaded into the car so I don't leave things behind.

As well as stage we were lucky enough to perform some close up table magic. I used the opituintiy to use some of my older material with new twists. The people loved them, "do as I do" one of the original effects I learnt got massive results with a little tweeking. Once the day job finishes (in 3 weeks) I intend to go through EVERY effect I perform, one a day and spend a few hours working through each and every bit of them to see if they can be enharnsed.

Fellow performers made a point of saying how well Dan was performing. Everyone found him charming and thinks his style compliments mine and Darrens' perfectly. We both dealt with all kinds of different participants from those who wanted deep intnece powerful magic to those who were maybe not in the best of moods (and soon were in good moods and wanted more powerful rich resonant magic)

Overall the day was fantastic with a broad range of magic and participants. It showed how learning your basics thoroughly is important as we both made adjustments whilst performing which you can only do when you have a solid grounding in an art. Defiantly one of those days that makes me glad I'm a magician and wants  me to learn and study even more!

Magic at Severndroog Castle

Last night was definitely one of the stand out gigs of my career so far.
I received an E-mail about a month ago asking if I could perform for a birthday party with a steampunk theme at Severndroog Castle. I Initially assumed I got the gig because someone there had seem p me perform magic at a Steampunk event at Crossness pumping station.  One of the event organizers at Crossness now works at Sevendroog so I also thought he could have recommended me as well, Turns out I was wrong, the birthday girl had researched steampunk performers and I cropped up. This by itself felt awesome, it's nice to know I'm becoming highly regarded in the community.

  Whilst I've been fortunate to perform for birthdays and weddings I often find one or two things about each gig to make them novel. In this case as well as magic the lady requested one of my mad science demonstrations. I have never performed this to an adult audience before and I was intrigued at how it would be received. They LOVED it. much like a Tea and Sympathy event I was set up in a room and people were invited to come along and be part of a small show. I often worry about this, I used to feel like I was intruding on peoples time, that it is almost rude to ask them to actively seek me out. After many events however I must admit people love coming specifically for a small show and really feel (or should I say understand) that they are part of something special. Thanks to the interaction with people in this way I certainly feel like each show is unique and special.

  On the subject of the science show...

I need to "steampunk up" my Flying wand

I need to create an obviously  "McGyvered" electric motor robust enough to be a generator as well.

People are fascinated and shocked by the Iron extraction from Rice Crispies.

One other thing that made this event different was working with Dan. Dan is a superb juggler and staff performer who is also learning magic. He's a ridiculously fast learner and has a most charming presentation style. We have worked together before several times before. However previously we worked at events he got bookings for. This was his first time in "My World" working in a  table environment for a birthday party where most people were acquainted and from a simuler background.
Before hand he had worked in a "festival environment" with lots of walk about performing with short stand up and walk around effects. Whilst I was performing "walk about" magic to meet and greet the guests he was juggling rings for groups of people before the weather made this impractical and he switched to magic as well. We did get an amazing whip performance in (he is a qualified whip master and it shows).

  Up close I used Elastic band magic (tescoes elastic bands are rubbish, must get new ones)

  Wee Wee Mentalist followed by "do as I do" and "ambitouse Card" "here then There and some Mind reading.

 All of these went down very well and I received a lot of comments along the lines of being far better than other magicians seen else where. I also received a lot of comments stating hoe good Dan was at both juggling and magic. He has developed his own set and style that comp-liments my own very well. He's not a direct copy of me and puts his own spin on everything he does and people love it.

After the walk around intro we went into the science. After which we set up a second table and we each performed our own close up table set. I went for more "rapport" effect with groups of women, mind reading, cartomancy and other empathic effects. This then climaxed with "out of this world".
With gentlemen I slipped into my old gambling routines. I had forgotten how powerful these are! The "poker hand" trick were I ask questions to build a physiological profile of someone before arranging the cards in an order I feel they would choose resulting in them getting a full house in poker has a really powerful effect. Revealing that they had given me a Royal Flush in the process just ads to the fun. Dan  performed his own material and he was getting the full range of positive reactions from the logical "you can't just have done that, that's amazing" and complimenting his intelligence and skill to the emotional gasps comments of how he made people feel they were seeing real magic.

So in summing up. Dan's performance style and abilities  compliment mine and Darren's very well. I think he's an amazing addition to the team. He also really loved being part of "my world" and wants to perform more up close and intimate table magic.

Table magic and walk around magic are VERY different. There are the practical difference of what you can achieve with a surface to work on, but also it's the setting. The intimacy afforded by removing background noise and allowing people to focus on our little velvet covered world of secrets allows for a much stronger emotional involvement in our magic. I am very proud of the fact we can perform more or less anywhere and I have enjoyed the huge amount of festival work we have done lately, but I have missed close up table magic and it felt good to return to it.

Things learnt. Card magic can have it's own beauty and charm.

People love being taken out for their world and into our sphere of magic and the effects we produce in them will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

Dan is an amazing and charming performer in his own right and I think the three of us will be able to go on to do even greater things.

Free kids gig at the The Minories Galleries
Today was my first gig at the Minories for kids. The idea was to provide a free show and workshop to test to see if there would be a  demand for more shows and classes in the summer. The understanding being if it's a hit we will get paid for the gigs in the summer.
I have learnt a few lessons about performing kids magic, mainly being

a)  Keep an eye on the props, and make sure you can keep things that do not bare close inspection well out of reach.

b) Try to arrange things so you only need to make one trip to the car, two tops.

c) Make a lift of effects and then a check list for props, both to be packed and set up.

I made a rough running order and more or less stuck to it.
The introduction was weird, as they tend to be. With no stage to walk out onto you have to just be hanging around when people show up.
 As we waited for people to show up I performed a little elastic band magic.

I opened with the coke bottle. I wanted something with crowd interaction and kids love sweets.
Reaction, The shock end had the crowd  hyped.

I moved into diminishing milk (or red fluid in my case - reaction was amazed by some, others were moderately impressed

The mirror glass turning fluid to silk, kids found it fun, not so magical

Shrinking and transporting the silk. Spun it out for AGES using the hole in the change bag and getting kids to put their hands through the bag and acting freaked out by the monsters.
-A major high point

The crystal tube. How I WISH amber traffic likes meant "Slow Down" like in America, again a good reaction.

The colouring book - And the crowd goes wild:)  IT's funny, some kids "know that one" and one did know the method. One girl insisted she knew it before hand but she still joined in with through colours!

What I learnt.
1) Kids love my magic

2) I have enough props and material to throw on a good show.

The workshop split between Darren and I worked very well as well :)

First wedding of the year.

Yesterday saw my first Wedding gig in quite a while, was I nervous? A little, but only enough to make sure I was putting effort into my prep and planning. However while prepping I had a few thoughts.
1) Iron your outfit THE NIGHT BEFORE at the earliest.  IT's a good chance to check waistcoats for damage and make repairs.

2) I really do need some clothes that are purely for performance that are kept ironed and bagged up. I have a selection of new steampunk and non steampunk fabrics so it may be time to make some "magic only" gear.

3) One joy of regular practise is it means you know well in advance of you're running low on anything and can stock up

4) double check if you need to take kids gear with you (although it's always handy to take some ropes, a hotshot colour change effect and "once upon a time" to these things.

5) I know a fair amount of card effects. counted up to 15 and only 3 of them used gaffs of any kind. More than enough material.

At the venue I made sure the manager saw my insurance (hey if you got it flaunt it) and found a place for my case. Becuase I was doing a steampunk event I had my little leather steampunk bag as well. The case was a security blanket of sorts just incase I needed a complete reload. I had my smaller bag full of reloads, cups and balls and spare decks, the case had a few things for magic that might be a little too serous/dark depending on the crowd( such as Cartomancy)

Effects that went down well were
Wee Wee Mentalist (ofcourse)
Twilight Angels (non doctor who version)
Ambitouse Card (however I needed to use one less rise for some groups, it was too long for them)
Here then There (got a lot of people talking!
Do as I Do (totally freaked a few people out)
Mind reading and invisible deck was a huge talking about

And talking point is an interesting point! I was being dragged from table to table to show people "that thing you just did!" and i'd over hear snippets of "how did he KNOW!"

Basically the whole night was an ego boost. As is normal with these events I had a few "hardcorse fans" who kept wanting more, so I switched into gambling routines, the poker hand trick worked REALLY well for that.

one thing i should have prepped. a time scale. The bride didn't' know that it's normal for a magician to start at 8 ish and then do at least 2 hours, sometimes more. I started at 5, so come 9 the night was young but i'd been perfoming for 4 hours. By this time though I noticed everyone had settled into groups and were happily chatting. My work was done. I pointed ut to the bride that from now on i'd just be interupting people. Thanks were heaped upon me. I was told that I made the event and everyone kept telling her what an awesome idea it was to have me. I was paid, and off I went, after thanking  some of the hard core fans for their time, and thanking the staff of the venue ofcourse.
Overall, a fantastic night making me realise that magician is the right path for me!

Passport to Narnia

This weekend saw yet another fantastic Tea and Sympathy night in Colchester.  As with all their nights this one was given a strong theme, and much like Alice in wonderland it was a theme I really wanted to do for a while, Narnia! I felt like I didn't prep  enough  for Alice in regards to magic, costuming and over all research so this time I started early. I read "The magicians nephew" and "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" (a book I tend to read this time of year anyway). These helped give me a feel and mood for the night but not any ideas on effects to use. I had however visited Davenport and got "Snow Storm in China" an effect that generates a snow storm of paper and my classic snowball from TT effect. To be honest the other new thing I had  was a simple table I made form a drum stand. This made a huge difference as you will see.

The format for this night was different from any other. Instead of me being on my own in a room or going up to groups I had my new high table in a room with other entertainments such as storytelling, pole swinging and a cybernetic enharnsed apple tree. Each guest was given a  "passport to Narnia" which had to be stamped at each table. The "market" would be open for 1 hour only, thus I only really had to work for one hour instead of my normal 4 or so. Also it meant I would have an intense constant stream of people, s I would only have to do one  or two effects each.

Before the market opened I went outside of the boat and performed the 2 snow based effects where they would cayuse less mess. People liked them but I felt my snowball for TT wasn't as slick as normal. I really think it will be worth spending a while working out the right ratio of water and snow effect, That said the Snow storm in China wowed one of the ladies who supports  the event :)


I went with the classics and added the new effect "wilder" from "impromptu card magic" This effect shows 4 jokers turning into a selected card before turning into the "mates" of a different chosen card. Because I had my new table I had a surface to use "Imposible" on as well as just making the other effects run slicker. I was shocked at how strong a reaction I got from "card in hand" and "direct mind reading" I miss performing these effects.
I also had a new waistcoat for the evening. The combination of new waistcoat and new effect meant I didn't feel like I was coasting the event and actually made me feel more alive and vibrant and fresh for the evening. So I  guess the motto is the more yopu put in, the more you get out :)

Ho Ho Ho,

Tonnight I had the honour of filling in for a certain large gentleman in a red suit.
WHAT a night. The idea of a magician playing Father Christmas really makes sense when you're entertaining children from an infants AND junior school. The younger kids get to see Santa, while the older kids who may be self concious about being seen as childish can tell themselves (and parents) they are just there for the magic tricks.
I got the gig because one person on the PTA is a fellow performer, and another did an amazing job on my wedding flowers. (it pays to be outgoing and chatty it seems) The fee wasn't going to be something to retire on, and from that I had to buy props and consumables. I had a long think about what in my repertoire (and in things I wanted to learn) would work in a santa setting.

I was told I'd be playing to groups of about 12, me in a grotto formed from a gazebo and amazingly well decorated, and the children standing under an awning. I would only have 4 or 5 minutes with each group. This is a double edged sword, on one hand i wouldn't need much material, but then i also  would have less chance to use different  types of effects so there would be "something for everyone" there. Also i wouldn't have time to use my engaging personality (I hate saying that as it makes me feel arrogant, but I have to admit when I  perform close up people like me).

It felt strange being just a performer and not having to deal with the organizing and advertising, I'm not, in fact I felt quit guilty when i saw the amount of work  everyone else had put in, they did a fantastic job. The grotto was amazing and the presents for the children were all sorted and wrapped. I was very impressed by thier energy and their skill.

Watching santa films for inspiration I looked for common themes. As a child we left the big guy brandy, but apparently milk is the order of the day. Going through the lift of effects I came up with diminishing milk. IT's visual and easy to understand. The plot i used was how  Santa can magically reduce milk so he could drink the millions of glasses left out for him.


 Another magician had the amazing idea of using a change bag disguised as a Santa hat and coloured beads to show how santa chose good boys and girls. A lot of coloured or silver beads were to be put into the bag and ONE gold one, then the child would put their hand in the bag and get the gold one every time. I wanted to add my own spin on this and thought of using gold and silver bells (bells being a strong symbol in the movie "Polar Express". In the film a child is given a bell by Santa, this then go time thinking about GIVING the bells away. That would prove to expense as I was expecting 200 children. the mental path however led me to chocolate coins, our local shop supplied them in gold and silver, 50p a bag (which has 10 coins in) £10 of gold coins and a few silver coin bags and I was all set. I got a 99p santa hat with the intention of stripping off the fir and pom pom, to sew onto a red change bag, however in typical Dean luck the  hat fit perfectly over the bag and just needed a little tacking.

All the children were shown a pile of silver coins go into the hat and one  or two gold coins, they were told to take a coin out, hold it and not to look at it, then it was revealed they ALL had gold coins. Many kids looked straight away, but when i told then to take a coin and hold it over their hearts without looking at it, they all  obeys. An interesting bit of crowd handling and I need to think more about why this worked and how to use it in future. Everyone loved this effect, although one girl was tieried she'd get a silver coin :)

Over all the night went amazing well, mainly due to the effective team work in play. THe head master was thrilled and told me after wards that some of the "hard " kids decided they wanted to visit the  grotto after all :)
I  made a point of telling him how well the kids behaved and how effective his team is. THey all really were. Even the older kids took part and didn't blab of chalange santa :)
THe only thing i'd do different?  A better beard :)