Jim:

Good question. I usually will utilize a child age 6 and older. I can get away with an older 5 year old but I have to be more careful with that. A 6 year old has a good weight (usually) and usually works nicely to really make for a great effect. Hope this helps.

Kyle

Kyle, So do you think that a child that is 3 or 4 years old is too small or not mature enough for the chair suspension? I was questioning if their body would be tall enough to make the illusion to look real?

I think a child of 3 or 4 is not so much an issue with size as it is with the age. They t3nd to not sit still as much but the major one is that they get scared easily and beome nervous when placed on the illusion. Even after going through the proper routining, you can run the risk of the child at that age not wanting to do it, getting nervous or crying.

With this in mind,. I try and avoid performing it for this young age unless I feel confident that the child is expressing and showing signs that he or she will be fine. In moist cases I will perfom this illusion for ages around 5 and up. it just works out much better.

Kyle

Do any of you out there who perform the CS find children to be afraid to lie down on the board?

Not very often - but but every once in a while a child will sit on the board and then change his/her mind. In that case, per Kyle's post, they are "excused" and we get another volunteer. If you scope out the audience before the show, you can sometimes spot the "self assured" kids. One five year old we picked came walking up high-fiving the audience members- we knew we had picked the right guy!

Avoid 3 or 4 year olds unless you want a crying child on your hands!

Jim

Paul: They only will be if you do not go through proper steps on how to place the child on the shairs and routine properly to build trust. I go through this entirely step by step in my ebook cause it is so very important.

If you ever have to exscuse a volunteer, I always still make them feel good by being the star of the show any ways. I end up having them do the magic so it appears that THEY are causing their friend to be suspended.

Kyle

I noticed that several magicians use the chair suspension as a photo opportunity in their magic show. Do you always use the chair suspension or do you use it as an opportunity to upsell your act? (It's not part of your regular show, but for $?? you will put in it your show).

It's part of my show. I offered a less $ show, but felt it was wrong to leave it out so I did away with the "choice of shows".

Now if a customer want me to lower my price, I say "sure, however, we leave out the floating girl, and the rabbit production." That seems to stop the barter for less pitch to me.

Like Dennis, the illusion is a part of all my birthday party shows. It is just something I feel strong about and is a part of the overall show experience.

Kyle

I read Kyle's ebook and it's worth the price he sells it for. I didn't check to see if there was an official review, but in my words: It's thoughtfully considered and written by a man who obviously has worked it for a long time and carefully planned for all conditions. Or maybe his experience was trial and error

Thanks Kyle for the help and advice.

Beano

Beano: Thanks so much for the very kind words regarding my chair suspension ebook. I really appreciate it and glad that it has given you things to think about. I hope it has also helped you as you explore and start to work on your own routine for the illusion. Thanks again.

Kyle

I have a parent hold the childs head so it does not hang down. It also makes the child feel safer. But once in awhile a child still gets uncomfortable, and there are plenty of volunteers to take their place. And then you get the kids lining up asking "do me too".

I just don't do it.

It looks so good

Click here to view attached image.

There is no reason at all to ever have to have the child's head held by anyone. When you start to do this you 1) kill the illusion, 2) draw too much attention to it that the child becomes more nervous and 3) take fpcus off of the illusion taking place.

The head hanging down is a natural position for kids and they do it all the time at play. What happens is pyschology. if we as a magician draw attention to the fact that WE feel it is awkward or WE THINK it hurts the kid, then the kid starts to think this way also. However, if we do not draw attention to it at all the kid is perfectly fine and does not have any issue with it. The fact that we draw attention ot it makes the child think it hurts etc.

If you have a parent up there, then what happens is the child is so concenred about Mom or dad or wanting to see them or talk to them that it makes them MORE nervous and draws attention away from you. The focus is in the wrong place.

if you handle the illusion the way it is supposed to behandled and present it with a routine that covers the basic and primary steps for set up, you will never have an issue with it.

As you can see from Nucind"s photo, it looks great. The head is in the right position and there for gives the best look and feel for the illusion.

PS: make sure not to wrap the front cloth too tightly over the helper. You want a little bit of sag in the cloth so as to not cause a hard edge in the fabric.

Kyle

Hey, I guess if mystery isn't a goal it is a great lil' thing to do.