I think the title of the post explains it all. Smash a concrete block apart and reveal a signed card inside.

That sounds so cool actually

Wouldn't this mean introducing a sledgehammer or jackhammer into a closeup magic act?

Karate chop the brick, with the signed card in your palm. Owww!

Nothing to it.

I used to do a card to a block of insulating foam during trade shows.

Naturally, you need to prepare a concrete block or whatever the card is going to appear in. This is not going to be easy. Make a form the size of the block you need. Mix up your concrete, and pour into the form until it is halfway full. Using an Intercessor Gimmick, prepare a card to go into the block. Fold the card in quarters, wrap it in aluminum foil, along with a small stone, and place this on top of the concrete you have already poured. Finish the pour, allow it to set overnight. And there you are.

Since you have to mix quite a bit of this at once, you might want to make a couple of forms. Mark each block subtly so you know which one contains which card.

You need the stone to keep the folded card from floating up in the concrete. Do not pour half of it and let it set. The second half of the pour will not adhere to the first part very well, unless you do some messy surface prep.

I have done a prediction encased in concrete before which used a gimmicked sledge hammer to deposit the prediction into the middle of a smashed concrete block that the spectator had been sitting on all along.
Should be able to do it with a card too. Especially if you perform a mercury fold first and make sure your concrete block has a hollow spot in the center.
We also tried placing a dummy "prediction" inside the block to start with, but you still need a hollow area. The concrete adhered too well to the prediction and you couldn't get it out without tearing it. Might be different with a card.

In 2004 I was booked to do a concrete convention. Now concrete is not all that exciting, so they asked me to come in to open a seminar on the difference between pre mix & post mix water sealant for concrete walls. Below is what I did:

I walked to the stage in front of an audience of about 700 people carrying Kevin James Bowl-a-rama. I proceeded to draw a square and wrote the word Block. I then made the square a three dimensional block and above it wrote the word Concrete. After closing the sketch pad, a concrete block fell to the ground out of the sketch pad.

This particular concrete block was a half cinder block with the sides being solid as well...it was no longer see thru on the sides, if that makes sense.


Next I talked about what it takes to make concrete walls...sand, water, aggregate and money. What?..you don't think money is an ingredient in making walls...well I challenge any of you here today to make a wall without using money. At this point I asked for a hundred dollar bill. A gentleman came to the stage with his money, signed it and handed it to me. I proceeded to do Scott Alexander's The Final Answer (bill in lemon). Going thru that routine burning his money, etc. He opens his envelope only to find a business card of one of the salesman from the company and no money.

At this point in time, the concrete block is still lying on the ground. I gave the gentleman safety glasses and a small sledge hammer. He hit it and nothing happened, he hit is a second time, it layed wide open, showing a ziplock bag with a lemon in it.

I reached into the rubble, pulled the bag out and handed it to him. I gave him a knife and instructed him to cut the lemon in half right thru the bag. He did so, revealing his signed hundred dollar bill.


Sorry for the long rant. Just wanted to show what I did with a concrete block. So it can be done...takes a fair amount of preparation for the method we used, but delivers a miracle.

If you want more info on what I did for preparation, feel free to PM me.


Kevin

Bill,

That is very interesting.
Thanks for the details.

Jameson, you can use the Intercessor for the card in concrete, and get the effect that the card has torn corner which matches exactly the one they tore off themselves.

I like your routine Kevin. I had an idea where the magician would walk out with a briefcase, open it up and pull out a parking metre which would have attached to it a piece of concrete as though it had been pulled out of the ground.

At the 05 S.A.M. Convention in Boston..a magician did a martial arts close up routine with an ending of a bill/card in a board which she broke.

Fun and creative act. Can't recall her name.(anyone remember ?)

Harris