That subject sort of says it all. I'm working on a project for a friend of mine and he needs something that looks like a business card and then

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it unfolds to the floor with a different profession on each panel. I feel like this is a classic sight-gag, and I thought it would be relatively simple to come up with, but after sitting on it a few days I'm not so sure.

My best idea, so far, is to have the cards made individually and then poke two or three tiny holes on the long edge of a card and use white thread to tie it to the next card, and so on, then use a double or triple thick card at the end to make it hang straight.

Any other ideas, or is there something that already exists that you can point me to?

I had something once that was basically an accordian folded strip of paper. It was several feet in length and the two outer sections had brass (or brass colored) pieces attached that resembled the outside of a business card case. When folded, these two pieces formed what appeared to be a closed brass business card case. You could hold onto one of these halves, and let go of the other end and it would cascade to the floor, unfolding the paper in the process. Naturally, the paper should be printed to look like business cards. You could also tape real cards together so they could be accordian folded.

... just make the front "card" heavy so it pulls the rest down with authority. Your thread hinge is probably the best idea and Michaels accordian fold is good too but for business cards you'd want them on heavy stock which would be hard to get a clean fold IMO.

Cool idea and good gag.

Sid Lorraine has this idea in his video. It was a folder sized item that unfolded to 6" x 6".

Richard

If you do the thread hinge make sure to reinforce the hole with something like the plastic discs to keep the line from cutting through the card. You could use Michael's idea with the folded paper but glue the cards to saran wrap instead of paper.

To clarify on the folded paper thing... it wasn't my idea, but just a non-magic novelty item I happened to find a few years ago. Also, it was thin note paper, and certainly not card stock. The weight of one half of the case is what caused it to pull the paper open. That wouldn't work as well with card stock without a really heavy piece to pull it down. Of course, you don't want that.

Depending on the use and proximity to the audience, it still could be made of notepaper, provided the strip were printed to resemble a string of individual business cards joined together.

For that matter, it could be made on a narrow strip of cloth (use iron on transfers) and roll the bundle, rather than fold it. It should hide easily enough behind a single card. There are photos of magicians from many decades ago using this method as a line of playing cards being pulled from a spectator's clothing, etc. (Servais Le Roy, maybe??)

If this needed to actually look good enough for close up viewing, you could probably just tape the cards in a line using a small piece of Scotch tape at each junction. It should fold and unfold nicely.

Thanks, guys.