You know the crayons in a plastic clear case, you tell the kids to catch them as you throw them, then the crayons vanish from the case? Everyone gasps, even the adults in the audience, when I do this one. It almost annoys me. To me it's just a simple little add-on to my colouring book routine, but I'm constantly amazed at how it amazes! Try it, you'll see...

The version of vanishing crayons described in Jim Gerrish's Coloring Book Revisited (from his Kid Show Magic on my site) uses a regular cardboard crayon box to hold the crayons, and the vanishing of the crayons is largely a matter of acting. If the performer has practiced actually dumping crayons into his hand from a box, and then duplicates the exact same actions when using the vanishing crayon box that Jim shows you how to construct, the effect, as you say, is pure amazement to the audience. Some swear they saw the crayons fly into the air and disappear.

In Jim's version, the crayons reappear at the end and are placed back into the empty crayon box to be given to the child who helped with the trick, along with the plain uncolored coloring book which is all that is left when the colors have vanished again. I've enjoyed watching kids take those same crayons and try throwing them into the air just to see if they can make them vanish again.

I'm with you on this one. The reaction is unbelievable. When I show the crayons I always say "I'm the only magician in the world that has these magic crayons". I haven't been called on it yet. LOL

I have also made my own using Jim Gerrish's method. I get great reactions with something so simple and the cost of the prop is only a couple of Bucks.

No I don't know about this version in a clear plastic case, where did you get it? thanks

I use the crayons in the plastic case with my color book routine, but I've never tried making them vanish that way. Sounds like fun. I'm going to try it the next time I use them.
Bob.

I never liked the trick until I heard it done this way Thank You all

I forget where I got these vanishing crayons, it was so long ago. I think crayola crayons used to be available in a see-through plastic case, and if you could find one, you could modify the crayons to do the vanish.

I agree. When I first started using this trick I didn't think it would fool anybody except small children. I was wrong. Often times the adults react strongly. If you do the coloring book you need this.

Sorry for bringing up an 11-year-old thread. But tonight I was looking to replace my cracked clear plastic case on my "vintage" Vanishing Crayons prop, and I found this thread. I've gotten 2-3 of the more recent Vanishing Crayons props and have not been happy with them because they lack the hard plastic case and seem very cheap by comparison. I still use my old one with a crack across the front rather than use the cheaper ones that are harder to use.

I've been doing the Vanishing Crayons with the older clear plastic case since the 1980s. But tonight, I just bought a vintage clear plastic crayon case off eBay. They are called Binney & Smith plastic cases. Some are for an individual box of crayons, and some are for two boxes. There were several of the latter on eBay but only a couple of the singles.

Here has been my routine. I have the child come up to help with either the The Coloring Clown (the classic Instant Art frame) in my "first string" show, or the traditional Coloring Book for my repeat shows. I tell them that in order for us to do magical coloring, we need magical crayons. I hold up the Vanishing Crayons box and say, "This is an ordinary box of crayons, but you are going to turn these into magical crayons. All you have to do is blow on them like this" (I make a gentle blowing motion with my mouth toward my hand holding the crayons). Just as the child is about to blow, I say, "Wait! . . . Do you have a cold or anything?" They normally say no, but regardless of their answer, I say, "Well, if you have a cold, and you breathe on this really hard, you could send cold germs all over the room (I motion with my hand toward the audience) and they will start sneezing tomorrow and blame us! So, to to be sure it's safe, I'll have you do a little test first." I take out a wilting flower prop. I say, "Here's the test. All you have to do is breathe on this softly, like this" (I demonstrate) "and that will tell us if it is okay for you to do this." As soon as I see the child breathe on it, I turn toward the audience (so I can no longer see the flower) and say, "So, this tells me whether or not it is safe for [child's name] to do this." While I'm saying that, seemingly unbeknownst to me, the flower wilts and the kids react. I turn and look at the flower and say the child's name with a note of surprise. I turn to the kids in the audience and say, "I don't know, what do you think? Do I give him [her] a chance anyway?" Surprisingly, most of the time the kids all yell, "yes!" I then go back to the crayons, and pick up where we left off and tell the child to blow on the crayons to make them magical crayons. Now, when the child blows on them, they disappear! I say, "I said make them magical, I didn't say make the disappear! How are we going to color without crayons?" I then say, "Ah! You are in luck, I did bring an extra box of crayons." I put the Vanishing Crayons behind my suitcase table and take out a normal box and hand it to the child and say with a loud stage whisper, "just don't breathe on these, they are my last box." This line goes over the kids' heads, but adults paying attention get a laugh (and of course, they are ones who write the checks). Then I go on with my Coloring Clown or Coloring Book routine.

Anyways, I'm glad I found this thread, and I'm delighted that I have a new clear plastic crayon box on the way! Hopefully it is good for hundreds more shows!

Dave

I never liked the way the disappearing crayons were made. One type is, or used to be, made with real crayons but they broke too easily. The plastic crayons look fake. Both types are a bit small for a medium or big size audience. So I made the same thing with markers in a marker box. It's a bit tricky to get it so it works smoothly, but it's bigger and the markers never break. I don't do the trick any more. I also invented a couple of extra ways for the markers to disappear so the box is really empty and the markers can re-appear elsewhere (as part of a full routine), but I don't want to give that away.