I need info on a cost effective way of levitating myself on stage. I think there was a book of effects published a while back dealing with different rigs and what not. Please help.

How elaborate are we talking here? A few inches, a few feet, standing, reclining, in front of a backdrop or out in the open?

A few feet, standing, back drop..

Get Touching Sky, by Andrew Mayne. It's very cheap and has several different methods in it. The one that would probably best suit you is called mid-air. You have to be sitting down, but the effect is very good.
Check is out, here's a link.

http://www.weirdthings.com/magic.htm

I second Andrew Mayne's "Touching Sky" as it's for one very affordable and has a lot of good theory and application for you. Go for it!

Try Nicholas Einhorn from the UK's "Inflight". Basically you float up out of a cardboard box. Its not cheap but it is quite effective. You can get it from http://www.nicholaseinhorn.co.uk in the UK or from http://www.hocus-pocus.com in the USA.

TM

Hi temple magic. I don't seem to find it in Hocus pocus and Einhorn's link doesn't work.

Dsilverfield,

Sorry, my fault. Einhorn's link is actually http://www.einhorn.co.uk/

As for Hocus Pocus - they advertised that they sold it when it first came out. Check with Nicholas.

Cheers,
TM

What about a seated yogi style levitation that could be done outdoors?

I have heard great things about the levitation called the Elevator at
masterofillusions.ca

Try contacting The Magic Café member DenDowhy. He knows quite a bit about the various types of levitations available and could probably give you some very helpful ideas. He gave an excellent lecture on levitations at SAM 4 in Philadelphia last year that was one of the best lectures I've ever had the pleasure of attending.

Thanks Peter, for the comment on my SAM 4 levitation illusion lecture.

The 3-in-1 would do it and it's about $1,000. Wilds Levitation would do it and it's about $45.

"BA" is another method and it can be done many ways, see the Donster.

The $100.00 elevator levitation is not a stage trick.

Suspensions are easily made, but do not move up and down.

Copperfields method is in the many thousands of dollar bracket, not cost effective and is a patented levitation.




Based on the quote, this sounds like a job for the 3-in-1, (Requires a stage hand/assistant and cannot be done without one! Well it could be done without an assistant but I won't get into that because of the complexity of modifications necessary.)

As for books on the topic, I have most on levitations and they only spark the imagination.

To do what you ask, I would resort to Fritzkee, "The Trick Brain". Chapter 24, Anti-Gravity and Page 276 Basic mathods of Levitation which he gives 13 basic methods of levitation.

You know what you want to accomplish, now pick a method and create a way to do it.

(Example:)
I wanted to remove the third sword from the sword suspension, and make it into a levitation. Well, I've created a method of doing this by combining two of Fritzkee's basic methods.

Hope this information helps. Only through studying of the exsting methods, reading as much as possible watching great levitations on VHS/DVD, one gets a broad understanding of the power of levitation effects.

One of the most powerful levitations was done by Galinda (Worlds Greatest Magic), another was done by Lance Burton on his Secrets of Magic DVD. (Amazon.com has it for $5.00 Great buy!)

Study the method, the music, the form, the presentation. As Losander has said, a levitation is only as good as you making your audience believe it to be a real levitation. (His DVDs are also an excellent understanding of floating methods.)

You've got to get yourself to believe it is really floating before you can convince your audience of that!

Where can I find the trick brain?

David's Flying is a good one, but you can't find it anywhere else because it's a secret. I know how its done, so PM me if you want to know the secret. The cost of the trick might be pricey.

Yeah, when Copperfield bought his flying illusion it was in the $100,000-$250,000 range, if my memory serves me correctly. And would be overkill for what Midnight333 wants to do (standing up and levitating only a few feet). Plus he said "cost effective." DenDowhy is one source you can take to the bank, I would trust him on this and get "The Trick Brain," or the 3-in-1...or wait a little until the 5-in-1 comes out.

Nick Fox

OK, to levitate cheaply. First you get a bunch of balloons and then a big tank of helium...No wait, get some string and and about 120 really big doves and..... No wait. Ah heck, I don't know. These other guys are gonna have to help ya.

You can try this...
http://www.magicauction.com/Mag_auc/IllusionPlans.htm

Good Look

Denny & Lee has "The Trick Brain". One word of warning, this book is not like other books. It is a book to force you to be creative.

So you want to levitate. Here is a method mentioned in "The Trick Brain:

"4.-Concealed Support." Support the assistant and conceal the support? Figure a way to do this and you have your suspension. Add a means for it to go up and down quietly and you have your levitation.

This is not exposing a secret, we all know it is impossible to levitate, it is an illusion. Some type of support is necessary. Put on your thinking Cap and develop it.

For example, If I owned a Super X, (which I do) I could have a surf board on two saw horses, like I was waxing them, Palm trees in the picture. Place a boy on the surfboard, have the assistants remove the saw horses, as I stood inbetween the board and palm trees.

The assistants would then remove the palm trees and use them to wave over and under the surfboard giving the illusion of Suspension.

Has anyone see this new effect that is out on Hocus Pocus " Cap Levitation Kit" Sounds nice but they give no clue to what the kit is??? More invisible string??? most likely, but they don’t show any video or state what is doesn’t use... If anyone knows what this effect is all about let me know. Sounds fishy to me

Now you got the wrong forum...cap levi is a close-up trick and this thread-albeit 3 years old-deals with a person levitating...