Stone Frixion Fire is Unstopable

The Tarot Book broke some serious records in just one week. But it still hasn’t been able to surpass the ubiquitous Stone Frixion Fire. It’s still the all time number one best seller. Check out what Dr. Lawrence Hass the Associate Dean of the McBride Magic & Mystery School had to say about it:

Jeff Stone’s Stone Frixion Fire is currently the definitive source for learning how to create magic with the new Frixion pen. It offers a careful analysis of previous tricks with the pen, essential tips for using it deceptively, and over twelve magic effects to perform with it. One of Jeff’s tricks immediately went into my professional repertoire.

The trick he’s referring to that went into his repertoire was the free trick of the month, Money To Burn, in the July 2009 issue.

You can additionally see Dr. Hass’s Review on McBride TV. Click the Link to the left and skip ahead to minute 57. After watch/hearing was Dr. Hass has to say about Stone Frixion Fire, you’ll order it today!

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I say it’s a process. Sometimes it requires a little bit of both.

Root:

Let’s remember our roots. This month’s root: Master Your Craft. To some degree, this relates with this month’s issue of No Stone Left Unturned. It’s about quality vs. quantity. In order to master your craft, you have to fine tune continuously. How does purchase vs. polish come into play? My take is that you’ll need to do both rather than settling for one over the other. There may come a time when you can finally “arrive” and no longer have to purchase, but for the most part, I think it’s a constant battle. Also, keep in mind that “purchase” in this case can be meant literally as in actually buying a new trick, but it also represents adding new tricks to your repertoire rather than polishing ones that you already do.

Here’s how I see it: as you begin to polish, you’ll discover that you no longer like certain effects being in your repertoire. At that stage of the polish, you’ll need to purge and “purchase.” Sometimes there comes a point where you’ve tried to polish an effect for years, then one day you just come to terms with the fact that just like Beavis said, “You can’t polish a turd.” You have to purge. Don’t be afraid of it. If you have the courage, ask my good friend Diamond Jim Davis about his love/hate relationship with the Drill Bit O’ Death. Do so, however, at your own risk.

As you grow in the art, you further begin to understand what’s “you” and what’s “poo.” Sorry about all the crappy metaphors. As you learn more about yourself as a performer, purge or polish. As you purge . . . you’ll begin to purchase and polish again.

Branch:

Let’s build our branches. Your challenge for the next 30 days is to practice the art of Polish, Purchase and Purge. Look at your repertoire. Decide which effects you like, and work on polishing them. Improve the script, the posture, the presentation, the patter, etc. Work on creating focus moments in the performance. As you go through your effects, be open-minded to the possibility that it may be time to put away the strolling liver production . . . it’s just not you . . . you’re more of a kidney guy. So purge it, and either decide to have one less routine in your repertoire, or decide to purchase . . . thus the cycle begins again. The cycle, of course, that will keep your magic repertoire streamlined and much more “you” than “poo.”

Now go study the classics, and go discover your true magical self.

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The all time best-selling Stone Cold Magic Product is by far . . . Stone Frixion Fire. The biggest thing people have told me they’ve liked about this book is that it got their creative juices flowing. The book is full of full blown routines as well as random untested ideas. Ideas lead to more ideas. Because of this, as mentioned in the news section this month, we’re doing a DVD on the Frixion pen, so to get everyone juiced about the upcoming DVD, I thought I give you an effect from the book.

This is one that Brad Gordon came up with. It’s one that isn’t a full routine, but gives you room for creating your own presentation. For an effect that is a fully fleshed out routine from the book, see the July 2009 Free Monthly Magic Trick, Money To Burn.

Here’s an email word-for-word from Brad. We were talking about a gig that Diamond Jim did as a Pirate Character, and here’s what Brad had to say:

Diamond Jim Davis reminded me of pirates and I personally love maps (all kinds, pirate kind especially). So you have a large map and the last clue tells you to hold the map in the sun at high noon – well it’s not noon right now and we are indoors, so let’s use a match/lighter to simulate the sun. The map is actually folded [and heated] (yep the ink will all vanish when the paper is folded into fourths). Map is unfolded to show the finale X marks the spot or something of that nature.

I just whipped up a quick drawing based on Brad’s idea. Feel free, obviously, to make yours a bit better. You get the idea and, of course, remember: RED = Frixion® Ink. BLUE = Normal Ink. Start with a drawing like the one above. Then after waiting for the ink to dry (remember the trip to Phoenix), modify it with Frixion® ink to look something like the smaller drawing below (note: the image below is showing only a portion of the image above)

With the two drawings shown, you have a final product that looks like the trail on the map passes by a large rock and leads back to where you started. However after using makeshift sunlight (lighter), the real map and “X” marking the spot is reveled.

Rather than an “X” you could reveal a previously selected card or any other prediction. The presentation could be focused on giving the spectator a treasure map because you couldn’t find the chosen card. Then as you show the treasure map, you “realize” that it just goes in circles. Then you again “realize” that a warning to “View Map in Sunlight” has been placed upon the map. Apply heat for you makeshift sunlight, and behold the treasure (a.k.a. the selection) is revealed.

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It seems that another month has passed us by and I still struggle writing 2010 instead of 2009 on things.  Weren’t we just having Y2K problems?

Regardless of my personal memory issues, I have compiled a month worth of performances and a recipe for this month’s trick, E.A.R. or Everything’s a Radio from Miracles for Mortals Vol. 2, by Geoff Williams.

First let’s get to the nuts and bolts.  The required gimmick for E.A.R. has to be constructed.  I purchased all of the parts at two places, Radio Shack and Wal-Mart.  I found in making my purchase that it was more economical to make two gimmicks for the cost and so Jeff Stone and I shared the costs.  The total cost for both gimmicks was just over $32.00.  Had I only made one, the cost would have been $22.00.

I was able to construct it easily with the tools that I had at home.  I did use a soldering iron, but I can see ways of making it with out one.  Time for construction totaled 2 hours.  I followed closely Geoff’s instructions and found that I completed the task easier than I expected.

Next, the gimmick has to be worn.  I found I wasn’t overly excited by this prospect and had some apprehension.  Honestly, it’s a pain to put on, and as a big man I was worried it would show under my clothes.  At last I gave in for you the faithful readers!  Yes you made me do it!!!  It really wasn’t as bad in the long run as I expected.  I didn’t have to wear a tie, but I do wear a vest all the time, so it concealed nicely.  If you do not want to wear a vest I would strongly suggest you wear a tie.  The cover is needed.  I wore this gimmick upwards of 8 hours a day, and performed it an average of three times per day.  I practiced using the gimmick a handful of times.  It was simple and reliable.

Now on with the fun stuff!

I performed it similar to the way Geoff does on his DVD.

The first to be victimized were co-workers at This Is The Place Heritage Park.  I got mixed reactions.  For the most part they were completely stumped.  Some of my co-workers were just astonished and others were looking for a hidden radio.

My family, which consists of 5 children ages 11, 10, 9, 8, and 3, LOVED it!  My wife saw me building the gimmick late one evening and wondered what I was doing.  However, when I finally got it set up for the kids she watched and was blown away as well.  Then later on she admitted that she remembered the night I build it and still was a bit puzzled.  My kids freaked out the first time I did it for them.  I kept trying other presentations on them.  My 3 year old keeps shaking the ketchup bottle trying futilely to get radio sound to come from the opened cap.  If we could only get the rest of the audience to have that firm of a belief!  My other kids all asked me to repeat it for their friends.

I performed it for a Boy Scout Pack and felt for a moment like David Blaine.  The kids all ran away from me screaming!  As a whole, strangers just looked completely dumb-founded.  I couldn’t decide if it was because they couldn’t believe the trick or if they just thought I was some weirdo.  I believe it was a mix of both.

What I finally decided can be summed up in a nutshell.

Used for a smaller, more intimate audience it’s worth the effort.  The effect gets lost on groups of more than 15 or so.  It was fun and for the most part was enjoyed by all.

I give it 4 out of 5 blisters.  It was a pain to wear, but fun to perform.

Next month Jeff Prace’s Orbit.  Since there was a lot of controversy over Stone’s review and a request for me to try one of the effects, we will put it to the test.  Until then try to catch a radio wave!

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New Team Members

Contest Winner

Coupon Code

Thanks again to everyone for another great year hear at Stone Cold Magic!

Enjoy the rest of this month’s issue.

Magically,

Jeff and the Stone Cold Clan.

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The post Times Are Changin’ appeared first on Stone Cold Magic Magazine.

I hope that the holiday season has been good to each of you. I hope your stocking was stuffed with great magic that will keep you busy in front of a mirror for a while. Doing what is up to you!

For a quite some time, my good friend Jeff has been asking me to pen a regular column for him. I have from time to time offered him a piece of my mind, and magic too, but was always reluctant to write a regular column. Take whatever excuse you want, but I have finally caved! (Yes the rock pun was intended!)

Jeff gave me the title for the column but stated he had no idea what it would be about. So, in sitting at my kitchen table one evening we brainstormed and came up with an idea that you will, hopefully, find entertaining and hopefully useful. So without further delay the new column will called The Diamond Mine

Ok, now you’re asking yourself, “what?!” Just hear it out.

Jeff writes a review column here every month called Gems and Rubble. In it he gives us his opinion of whatever has caught his eye or his mailbox. Sometimes, at least in my opinion, he hits it out of the park. Other times I’m not sure what rock he crawled out from under.

Thus the concept of a “mine;” you have to dig through a lot of dirt to find a true “gem”. See it’s coming to form.

What I am going to do is take one effect form something that he has reviewed the previous month and put it to the test. Call it a practical review. That way we can see if it really works. I will build it, practice it, and finally perform it. But not just once, I will focus on performing it for the entire month.

I will perform for three groups in particular, getting direct feedback from only two of them. The two that I will ask directly what they think are family, friends and co-workers (basically those closest to me) and my fellow magicians. Then there are those perfect strangers. I will get feedback from strangers, but it will not be solicited. The feedback will be just their reactions.

Then I will let you know how much it really cost, how it really played and whether or not the effort was worth the pay off. That does mean that I am going to have to try some things that are totally out of my element, but I am up for the challenge.

Finally, I am going to allow requests. Yes really, requests! However there are a few rules. Jeff has to have reviewed it the previous month (in other words, make sure your requests for February’s article come from January’s reviews). If the cost is too much I will not perform it but will happily give you a real cost and “mine” something else. Lastly I will not perform anything that I think will offend the members of my audience.

Since this is the first month I will pick the first effect to mine. I have chosen: Everything’s a Radio from Miracles for Mortals Vol. 2, by Geoff Williams. The write up will be in January 2010’s issue of The Diamond Mine. Thus starts my new magic collection of gadgets! On a side note, this is not something that I would have normally done as an 1880’s cowboy.

So in a nutshell, we will either find a gem, and I can give you a verifiable thumbs up, or we’ll just have to keep minin”!

Until then,

Diamond Jim “The Cardslinger”

Please take a moment to reply to and “like” this article and make your requests!

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Introduction

This is yet another effect that takes advantage of the new Bicycle card boxes. This is an idea that Dan just came up with off the top of his head over pizza one day. The guy is a genius.

Effect

The pasteboard prestidigitator shows gives the audience a brief lesson in the history of cameras via the use of – you guessed it – playing cards. First a blank card (representing old-school Polaroid film) is shown on both sides and placed in between a red back Joker and a blue back Joker. The three cards are then placed inside the camera (card box).

A card is chosen. The magi/photographer aims the camera card box at the selection and the box clicks (snaps a picture). The “film” is removed from the box to show that a picture of the card has developed. The blank card is no longer blank. Next the freelance photographer points out that today, we use digital cameras. He then points the card box at the three cards (two Jokers and selection) laying on the table and “shoots” a picture. The card box is then shown to have actually printed on the card box an exact copy of the cards as they lay on the table. The card box has a permanent picture of the cards that were laying on the table, and the card box is examinable.

Props

• The New Bicycle Standard Style Card Boxes
• A red backed Joker
• A blue backed Joker
• A blank backed Ten of Hearts

Note

I recognize the fact that a Blank Backed Ten of Hearts isn’t exactly the easiest thing to get a hold of. The best thing I can tell you is either order a blank back deck (they’re about 8 bucks) from your favorite magic dealer, or make one by splitting a blank facer and a Ten of Hearts, then putting them together. There are many resources for splitting cards. I teach a very basic partial splitting of a card in my Gemstones DVD, but you’re likely better off getting a Card Splitting DVD such as The Art of Card Splitting.

As for the deck of cards, below are images of what they look like. Click on an image to enlarge it.

When I published Diamond Jim’s Effect, The Standard, in the April 2009 issue, I got many emails saying that people could not find the cards anywhere. Here in Salt Lake City, Utah, I can’t find regular cards. I can only find these new ones, so if you’re having a hard time finding them in your area, you can now purchase them from my site for $9.95.

Method/Performance

The method should be pretty clear at this point. Inside the case you have the red backed Joker, the blue backed Joker and the blank backed ten of hearts between them. The case is “ten-side” down. The only thing in the box is those three cards. The deck is out of the box, and you will use it to force the Ten of Hearts. Lay the Ten face up on the table.

Remove the three cards from the box. Remove the Ten blank side up with the right hand. As you set it on the table for a brief second (so that you can display the two Jokers – one in each hand), do a false turn-over move to apparently show both sides of the blank back card as if the card is blank on both sides. If you are not familiar with the false turn-over move, then go talk to you magic buddies or go to a magic club meeting and ask someone. Get off the dang computer and interact with some humans!

With one Joker in each hand show them and claim that these Jokers represent the chemicals used in old Polaroid cameras and that the blank card on the table represents the Polaroid film. Place both Jokers face up in the left hand. Place the Ten (blank side up) in between the two Jokers.

Place the three cards back in the box. Hold the box with the long end parallel to the floor, with the back of the box toward you and out of the spectator’s line of vision. Aim the box at the forced Ten on the table and click the box just like you would if you were clicking to take a picture (a Fism flash would be a nice addition here if you’ve got one).

Open the box and remove the three cards and remove the Ten from between the Jokers to show that you actually took a picture of the card on the table. Casually toss the newly created Ten on the table face up, then seemingly casually place the red and blue Jokers on top of the face up ten so that it looks like the picture on the back of the box (see the image above).

Then as an afterthought, you mention the fact that these days, people don’t use Polaroids. Everything is digital, and you can preview the image even before you decide to print it. Then you point the box at the tabled three cards. This time you are holding the box with the short end parallel to the floor. The back is still toward you. You then pretend to snap another picture after which you reveal the back of the card box to the audience to show that you captured the picture of the cards as they lay on the table.

Extra Ideas

Idea 1:
Rather than using Jokers, you could use a red blank facer and a blue blank facer. This is a little more complex, but it gives you a really nice show of a blank card on both sides. Here’s the set up: place the two blank facers face to face. Then place the Ten face down (blank side up) on top of the two face to face cards. You can now do a block pushover double to apparently show both sides of the blank card as being blank. Once you’ve done the double turnover, you’ll be left with the Ten sandwiched face up between the two face up blank facers.

You will not, of course, reveal this. However, you will turn the entire three card packet face down and perform the glide to apparently place the bottom card on the table. However, due to the glide, you will will end up placing the Ten blank side up on the table thus leaving you with the red and blue cards face down in your left hand. From the audience’s perspective, you’ve just shown a card to be blank on both sides and placed it on the table. Next show the red and blue cards, one in each hand and proceed as in the original version.

Idea 2:
Another little tip you can do that will add a little depth to the effect is cover the back of the case to hide the picture of the Ten. To do this, when removing the cellophane wrapper from the deck, just remove the top portion and leave the bottom portion in tact. If you remove the plastic right at the pull strip, you will find that you can leave the cellophane wrapper on the bottom 3/4 of the box.

The wrapper will come right up to the bottom of the half moon on the back of the box. Next, slip the red backed Joker (or blank facer if you are using Idea 1 from above) between the cellophane and the box with the red back showing. This will make the box look like an ordinary Bicycle box.

Then place the other two cards inside the box. Now the box can be shown freely on all sides. In performance, show the box around (casually), and rattle it as you deliver your presentation. You rattle it so that the audience can hear that there is “something” inside. Hold the box close to them so they can see both sides. You might even say something like, “There is something inside. Can you hear it? It’s inside, not here on the outside and not here on the outside, but here, in the inside.”

As you say the words “not here on the outside” point to one side of the box. Then as you say those words again, turn the box over and point to the other side of the box. Later they’ll remember that they saw both sides of the box. In order to remove the card, simple open the box (moon side down), and when you pull the two cards out of the box, also make sure you grab the card on the outside of the box and  let it slide along the other two for the ride.

By the way, in order to pull this steal off effectively, you’ll need to make sure you’ve removed the half-moon sticker. So that’s it; I hope you enjoy this effect. It has a lot of presentational potential and is a good effect to really allow your performance personality to flourish.

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So there I was minding my own business in my 9th grade English class when suddenly in walks a vision of beauty, or as much of a vision of beauty as can be comprehended by a 13 year old… This thing of beauty had a name… Dana (I’ll leave out the last name in case she happens to have grown up to become a magician and a Stone Cold Magic Magazine subscriber).

Then suddenly I heard those words that will make any 13 year old boy flush with embarrassment… “Take a Picture! It’ll Last Longer.” Yes; I was staring, and she caught me. How embarrassing for me. Were I as witty then as I think I am now, I might have responded with something like, “A picture’s worth a thousand words, yet no words can describe the site I witness before me.”

Wow! I didn’t know I was so poetic and romantic all at once as a ninth-grader even. Ok… Ok… on with this month’s issue of No Stone Left Unturned.

Let me start by saying that I’m about to give you advice that it would appear I’m not following. I’ve taken some time off from performing. I’ve been focusing on my DVD projects and some web projects (not the least of which is this very site), so I’ve let my website go stagnate. I’m not actively looking for gigs right now. I still get a few phone calls here and there from repeats or referrals, but mostly I’m taking a break until the mid to late fall-ish.

With that as a point of reference, Take a Picture; It’ll Last Longer. A picture’s worth a thousand words! If you’re going to promote yourself and get gigs, take pictures. Bring a camera to every gig. If possible bring a friend who can snap a few pics of you in action. These days digital cameras are relatively inexpensive and take very good quality photos.

You should have photos of yourself on your website (yes, you should have a website) and any other advertising material. Get pictures of a happy audience, of you in the middle of an effect, of you posing with a member of the audience or the party planner, the bride and groom, etc…

So why? Why pictures? Well because they last longer and they’re worth a thousand words. Haven’t I already told you that? To the left you see an old worn out picture of me with the CEO of Blue Cross/Blue Shield. You’ll notice that I’ve cut his tie in half, and you may not notice that he’s also handcuffed.

That’s funny stuff folks. Oh yeah, and most importantly, you’ll notice that he’s actually smiling… The CEO of a major corporation is handcuffed, and some dufus just cut his tie in half and he’s smiling!

What does that tell a potential client? Well it tells them that their audience will have fun… that I’m a likable guy, and that the show will be memorable. What more does a potential client need to know. Back in the day when I had a functional website, I had a photos page that had several images of me “caught in the act” during my show.

The photo and a clever caption goes a long way. A photograph can capture the magic moment and eternalize it. It’s a simple way to show other clients what you do. A photo can be printed out for a portfolio. It can emailed, faxed, scanned, loaded onto a website or a blog, etc.

It’s just a solid way to show off your brand…You. I know this article is mostly a no-brainer, but the reason I wanted to bring it up is because often magicians think that they need to go get professional photos taken and spend a lot of money, etc…

I just wanted to go on record saying that there is no excuse for not having photos of yourself performing. Every single person reading this has access to a computer, seeing as how this is a website and all…

Every single person reading this either has a digital camera or knows somebody who does. Borrow one if you don’t have one. Next time you perform… even if it’s just a casual performance. Since you have access to a computer, upload the photos to your blog, or facebook, etc.

I’ll end this with one last thought. My good buddy Diamond Jim is a great example. He has a ton of great pictures of himself on his site. When a potential client goes to his site, they get a clear sense of who he his. So take a minute to check out his site.

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Buy one Get one Free:

Hey gang, don’t forget that you have until May 16th (that’s less than a week) to get Stone Cold Magic For Free. You buy Underground Jam for $25.00 and you get Stone Cold Magic on DVD for Free until May 16th.

However, the first 3 people to order will also get a free copy of Brad Gordon’s Clever Eight! That’s three items for only $25.00. Also included for everyone will a few special cards that’s you’ll need to perform a couple of the effects from the 2 DVDs.

Don’t worry, if you already ordered the buy one get one free deal when I first sent the offer, you already have a copy of Clever Eight on the way to you as we speak.

If you haven’t already ordered, get it now. Remember the first three orders get a second bonus gift: Clever Eight by Brad Gordon. The bonus Clever Eight is not listed on the order page and is not in the shopping cart. It will just be automatically sent to the first three orders.

Recent Giggin:
Last week I did a kid’s show. I haven’t done one of those for a while. I thought I was retiring that act, but I resurrected it. I learned a ton with that show. The short story is that the audience was TOOOOOO young… the kids were 4 years old. They were too busy pickin’ their noses to notice the magician. However, I made a mid course correction and started focusing the effects on the adults and using the parents as volunteers, and before you knew it, the parents were having a great time.

The kids didn’t notice, and they got candy at the end anyway, so everyone was happy, and I ended up walking out of there with my fee and a big fat tip! Don’t be afraid to modify things and change your course… thinking on your feet pays off.

Filming Begins:
We’re getting down to the wire. May 28th I’ll be flying to Toronto to film my next DVD project. While I’m there and not filming, I’ll be swinging by Jay Sankey’s house for a day or so. It’s been a couple years since we’ve hung out, so we’ll be doing some jamming for sure. I’ll let you know how the filming went and the Jamming with Jay went in June’s Issue.

Once the filming is done, the editing will take some time, obviously, but we’re still on schedule to release late fall. I’ll keep you posted.

Utah/Colorado Magic:
Here in the mid-west, we’ve got some great minds in the world of magic. I’ve been honored to associate with quite a few of them. I’ve been jamming with a few and some great stuff has come out of these sessions. I’ve been working with Brad Gordon from Utah, Donny Orbit from Colorado and Diamond Jim Davis from Utah. We’ve had some good jam sessions. In fact some of the stuff on the upcoming DVD project will be from the creative minds of these guys. You won’t want to miss out.

Celebracadabra:
I won’t spend a lot of time on this subject, other than to say that this show is definitely worth watching. The first episode was kind of weak, but the second one was much better. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, Celebracadabra is sort of like the reality show, Dancing with the Stars. It’s magic instead of dancing. A handful of celebrities are paired up with a magician, David Regal, Simon Lovell, Rocco, just to name a few.

The magician teaches them a trick or a prepares them to do a show and then the celebs compete. The first episode was Street Magic. The second episode was Children’s Magic. The third episode airs on Sunday May 10th, 2008 on VH1 at 10:00 PM Mountain Standard Time. I’m not sure when it airs in other time zones.

With judges like Jeff McBride and Max Maven and coaches like Regal and Rocco, you’ve got a good recipe for a decent show. The first two episodes eliminated the 2 people who were annoying me, so it’s even more fun to watch now. Check out vh1.com for more details. You can also watch the first 2 episodes while you’re there.

The best thing about this show is that I think it’s doing a great job at giving us magicians credibility. It really is portraying the fact that magic isn’t some cheesy easy to do thing for nerds and geeks. I love it, and you will too. Check it out.

Enjoy the rest of this month’s issue.

-Jeff Stone
And The Stone Cold Crew

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