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funsway Inner circle old things in new ways - new things in old ways 9982 Posts |
In an pre-fifties book I no longer have, I read of switching a piece of rope (cut and knotted?) for another piece (uncut with fake knot?). SOmehow, the Switch Rope was threaded through the sleeves of the coat and across the back with a short length of thread on each end. In the process of seeming to run the right hand down the length of the rope held in the left fingers the ropes are switch -- the original one having been attacked to the thread on the left side,and the end of the right thread caught on the right thumb. Apparently the left thumb catches the thread loop and pulls the new end across which pulls the old rope into the left sleeve while the new one is extracted. I think I have it right.
Has anyone ever doen something like this?
"the more one pretends at magic, the more awe and wonder will be found in real life." Arnold Furst
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magicians Inner circle Teacher and Legend 2898 Posts |
A couple of months ago, one of the magicians had a challenge (for me) to do a color change of a rope. In the process, I did a few methods. One, used a tube and did a visible change. I showed a video of it for them.
The other method was very similar to the method you describe. Except that I didn't go up the sleeve and around the body, instead, I went up the sleev and back out the same sleeve and used a dowel pulley to take up the slack required to hide the distance of the rope length. In essence, the rope that came out of the hand was the other end of the switched rope. By the time the end of the first rope went into the hand, that entire length of the rope was actually folded in half and went up the sleeve and back down the end to my wrist. I have made this and it works on a "linear piece of rope". The problem with a "knotted' rope, is that the knot has to go around the pulley, and in essence jams unless the pulley has a wide "plate". I have been working on a version that merely uses the clenched fist as the mask. The conversation: http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......&forum=9
Illusionist, Illusionist consulting, product development, stage consultant, seasoned performer for over 35 years. Specializing in original effects. Highly opinionated, usually correct, and not afraid of jealous critics. I've been a puppet, a pirate, a pawn and a King. Free lance gynecologist.
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magicians Inner circle Teacher and Legend 2898 Posts |
The other method that could be applied (or maybe it was), was the Bill Neff rope method.
Which, in essence switched the cut end for the complete rope (or half of rope). Using that method, you could show two pieces and then have an instant knot of the two cut ends "appear". Of course, that would be a real knot. Like most magic, one must ask "why" do this and to what end. There are a hundred ways to simulate cuts and restores. The "Rube Goldberg" approach to doing something simple by creating outrageous sidesteps and out of the way solutions may, in essence lose the simplicity and bliss that is "rope magic". I have, on occasion, been able to produce identical effects (to the eye), that normally require gimmicks. If the audience perception is the same and they are no less wowed or suspicious, then why go out of the way.
Illusionist, Illusionist consulting, product development, stage consultant, seasoned performer for over 35 years. Specializing in original effects. Highly opinionated, usually correct, and not afraid of jealous critics. I've been a puppet, a pirate, a pawn and a King. Free lance gynecologist.
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dedikc Veteran user France (Lyon) 340 Posts |
You can find a good swithc in Jean Merlin book, or in Mad magic. Jean Merlin switch the rope when he search for his scissor. A logical switch.
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John Long Inner circle New Jersey 2826 Posts |
I've not done any of these, but there are a number of rope switches in the Ency of Rope Tricks. Neff's Miracle Rope is on p132.
Breathtaking Magic;
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Spellbinder Inner circle The Holy City of East Orange, NJ 6438 Posts |
I built my "TIPS" jar, described in The Wizards' Journal #16 in the e-Book entitled "The Anti-Mirror Glass" specfically to switch ropes, as Wiz Kid Qua-Fiki does in his rope act.
The jar has a reason for being there... a comical reference to tips, which Qua-Fiki interprets as the rope tips left over from cutting and restoring the rope several times. It also serves as a magic word... first he tries "Tips" as the magic word, and when that doesn't work, he uses the word spelled backwards, which always gets a laugh. Finally, it switches ropes invisibly, and since it is a transparent plastic jar, all can see that it is just an empty jar when he is finished with it. He has even used it to collect a few real (cash) tips from the audience while he is performing and they can drop money into the jar and be none the wiser about how it works.
Professor Spellbinder
Professor Emeritus at the Turkey Buzzard Academy of Magik, Witchcraft and Wizardry http://www.magicnook.com Publisher of The Wizards' Journals |
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