Make A Card
Effect: You have a spectator freely select a card from a blank faced deck, and ask him to draw any playing card on its face. You remove three other blank cards from the deck and perform a quick Ambitious Card routine, making his card hop through the packet of cards. You then rub his card against the three other blank faced cards and slowly print identical faces on them. Finally, the four duplicates change into the real playing cards.Effect: You have a spectator freely select a card from a blank faced deck, and ask him to draw any playing card on its face. You remove three other blank cards from the deck and perform a quick Ambitious Card routine, making his card hop through the packet of cards. You then rub his card against the three other blank faced cards and slowly print identical faces on them. Finally, the four duplicates change into the real playing cards.
Items: A deck must be set up in groups of four-of-a kind from Ace to King (keep them in bridge order: Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, Spades. You will also need four blank-faced cards. Place one on bottom and three on top. You will also need two magic markets with permanent ink. one red and one black.Items: A deck must be set up in groups of four-of-a kind from Ace to King (keep them in bridge order: Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, Spades. You will also need four blank-faced cards. Place one on bottom and three on top. You will also need two magic markets with permanent ink. one red and one black.
Performance: Demonstrate the way in which you desire to have a card selected by dribbling half the deck from the right hand into the left hand. When you stop, motion that this would be the selection. Before you place the deck back together, casually slip cut the top two cards from the right hand's portion to the top of the left portion, then place the portions back together, keeping a break above the blank-faced cards in the middle of the deck. The right thumb takes over the break as the right hand holds the deck from above and starts to dribble cards into the left hand. Command the spectator to say "Stop" anytime. Stop dribbling cards at the break: you must time these actions to coincide with the spectator's command to stop.Performance: Demonstrate the way in which you desire to have a card selected by dribbling half the deck from the right hand into the left hand. When you stop, motion that this would be the selection. Before you place the deck back together, casually slip cut the top two cards from the right hand's portion to the top of the left portion, then place the portions back together, keeping a break above the blank-faced cards in the middle of the deck. The right thumb takes over the break as the right hand holds the deck from above and starts to dribble cards into the left hand. Command the spectator to say "Stop" anytime. Stop dribbling cards at the break: you must time these actions to coincide with the spectator's command to stop.
With the left thumb, push off the face-down card onto the table (if the spectator were to hedge in taking this forced card, the magician has the ability to allow the next card to be taken instead. This helps show that all is fair. that the selection is indeed random. and that more than one card is blank-faced). As the spectator picks up his selection, you place the top portion of the deck onto the table. The spectator will be shocked by his card. Hand him the marking pens and proceed to show him that the entire deck is indeed blank-faced.
First turn over the card on top of the cards in the left hand. Show that it is blank, turn it face down, and get a left little finger break beneath it. Pick up the tabled cards and replace them on top of the cards in the left hand, but maintain the break. Turn over the top card to show that it is blank, and leave this card jogged to the right about an inch. Holding the cards from above with the right hand in Hamman Grip, pick up the top half of the deck from the break, and turn the right hand palm up, thereby showing that the bottom of the right hand portion is also a blank-faced card. The left hand turns palm down to disclose the face of the bottom card of its half to show yet another blank face. The left hand turns palm up again, the right hand palm down, and the left index finger peels off the bottom card of the right hand's half. This card is placed onto the table face up: the deck is genuinely squared and the top card is dealt face up onto the other blank card. The deck can now be reverse fanned towards the spectators as an additional means to convince the spectator that you are using an all blank-faced deck; however, unless your deck is in excellent fanning condition, I wouldn't try it.
While the spectator is drawing his card (say the Eight of Clubs), you fan the cards toward yourself in your left hand. If you cannot see his drawing, ask the spectator what card he is making. With the right thumb, pivot the bottom card to the center of the fan, and pull it out. From the spectator's view, if he is watching, he will assume the card came from the center of the fan. Throw this last blank-faced card onto the others on the table so that they are in a small spread.
Cut the four-of-a kind which matches the denomination of the spectator's drawing (the four Eight’s) to the top of the deck. Make sure that the real Eight of Clubs (or whichever card the spectator is drawing is fourth from the top). Maintain a break beneath these four Eight’s. Take the spectator's card, blow on it to dry the ink, place it below the three blank cards, and scoop up all the cards on the table. You are now going to perform a strange switch of four cards for three cards while secretly adding a fifth card.
To perform this switch (I think it's a combination Atfus and Braue, then again maybe it's part MarIovian), hold this packet of cards face down in the right hand in Hamman grip. The right hand approaches the deck, and adds the four Eight’s to the bottom of the packet as the left thumb pulls off the top card of the right hand's packet onto the top of the deck and allows this card (the spectator's artwork) to turn over. The right hand's cards are now used as a lever to flip over the spectator's card, and this card is, in turn, slid onto the bottom of the right hand's packet. Show the bottom of this packet to exhibit the card once again. Repeat these actions three more times, but keep a break between the spectator's drawing and the next three cards. As the last card is squared up on the bottom, they are allowed to drop face down onto the deck. The right hand's cards (five cards: the four Eight’s and the spectator's artistic creation) are placed on the table, the deck can be given a quick faro and then the right hand places the deck aside.
Now you are going to go into a brief Ambitious Card segment to show their card can magically hop through the pack. This will be made all the more convincing by the fact that you are using a card they created, thereby eliminating the possibility of duplicate cards. The right hand picks up the pack and places it into a left hand Erdnase Grip (middle finger at upper right corner). The left thumb pushes down on the top card and angles it to the left a half inch. The right hand pulls all of the cards below the top card as one out from under the top card, and allows them to turn over as one onto the top of the packet. Buckle the bottom card with the left little finger, and turn over the top four cards as one, but maintain a break between the bottom card and these four. Place the top card into the break, turn over the top three as one, show the spectator's card, turn over three as one again, and maintain break. Place the top card into the break, turn over the top two as one, show, turn over again, close break, place top card on bottom this time, turn over top card and pause.
At this point, you are going to show that all of the cards have assumed the identity of the spectator's card by using a Flushtration Count. Holding the packet from above with the right, the hand turns palm up to show the bottom card. The hand turns palm down, and the left thumb pulls the top card into the left hand. The right hand turns palm up once more, the bottom card is shown, the hand turns palm down, and another card is pulled into the left hand. This is repeated a third time, leaving a double in the right hand
You are now going to execute what I assume to be is a brand new switch which I call a Rear Palm Spin Switch. This will switch the spectator’s artwork for the real Eight of Clubs. With the double held in the right hand, four fingers in front, thumb at rear, the hand turns palm down after showing the face. The right little finger and forefinger engage the upper right corner of the bottom card and slide it a half inch to the right. Now the hand is snapped forward as if you were throwing a Frisbee, and allows the top card of the double to revolve around the first joint of the index finger and fly free onto the table The right middle finger immediately presses upwards on the card remaining in the hand, and slides it firmly into a rear palm The right fingers may be spread at this time to casually show that the hand is empty.
The right hand points to the card on the table as you comment upon the excellent artwork and how the card appears to resemble the genuine Eight of Clubs. Invite the spectator to turn the card over, and as he does so the right hand drops its card onto the left hand’s packet. These cards are then immediately back spread face down. As the spectator reveals that the tabled card has indeed changed to the real Eight of Clubs, you claim that some of the ink must have gotten on to the other cards because they also look like the other Eight’s. At this point the right hand turns palm down to show that the back spread cards have, indeed, changed into the mates of the selection. The packet is squared momentarily, then turned face up, as the left thumb pulls the Eight’s one at a time into a fan into the left hand, leaving the double on top.
Ruminations:Ruminations:
1. As an added ending, you can now spread the deck to show that they all have faces, but be careful to hide the blank faced cards.
2. I find the Rear Palm Spin Switch to be an extremely useful move and pleasing to the eye, too. I much prefer this single-handed switch to anything else in existence because the actual "move is done as the card spins away from your hand. The heat is on the spinning card, so this means that the palming action will most likely never be seen. Furthermore, the KeIly-like actions set you up perfectly for the Rear Palm. To rid yourself of the palmed card, play around with the idea of capping the tabled deck as you go to spread the cards. You may, f course, lap the palmed card if you prefer.
3. When I first showed this "Make-A-Card" principle to Eric DeCamps, he came up with a good line. Ask the spectator to name any card before you show him the blank face of the card at which he stops. Then turn over the card to reveal its blank face and say in a daring tone. "Go ahead. Draw it!" This can be very funny depending upon how you deliver it: half cackle, half sarcastic. If the spectator names a picture card, this line is especially apropos.
I hope you enjoyed this effect. I never claimed to be a technician, just an idea man, so if you found the mechanics not to your liking, please feel flee to devise your own methods for similar uses of this "Make-A-Card" principle. Remember, if everybody performed the same effects the same way, we'd all be doing the same old stuff.