Learning Paper Tricks

Performing magic tricks has always been one of the most popular past times enjoyed by a lot of people from all walks of life. There are various kinds of magic tricks. One of many kinds of the usual scene-stealing tricks is a paper trick. There could be innumerable ways to deliver a paper trick. Here are a few of those paper tricks that can be easily learned by a new magic aficionado:

1. A paper-tearing trick is a clever method of tearing and bringing back the form of a sheet of paper. You can do this trick mostly on tissue papers. This could be a little different compared to other paper tricks.

You will hand out two kinds of tissue papers; it can be color white or black. You will tear both the papers and fold them into tiny squares. When he opens the paper, the two are still there, but surprisingly it is formed into a large white square and in the center, there is a black square.

You wonder why there are no torn traces on the paper. The have an idea on the trick, the restored paper is already formed by sticking a black square on each side of the large white paper. On a particular side, the black part is paste all three edges and one edge is left open.

The paper formed is then folded into a tiny square, and the outside have an opening. It is then laid on the table for about 5 seconds. You will get the restored form and place it behind his back.

The paper is divided into four pieces of squares, and the whole is bundle is again shown in the front, the tricky part on this is that you will make a little wave in his hands, making the two torn pieces together, and then slowly opening the restored torn paper. This takes a narrow chance to poke the torn pieces into the secret pocket. Ending the trick with showing both hands and they will find nothing.

2. Another trick is called the generous offer. You will need a piece of paper and hand it out to a person. Ask him to tear it into quarters. It must be torn equally, you will then get the papers and give him back a quarter of it. He then thinks that the task is easy enough, and then he may ask for a prize for doing it.

You will then applaud him and give his prize of another quarter of the paper. From there you gave the person one of the four pieces of the paper, which was supposed to be a quarter also of the sheet of paper. You can use a different way to approach this trick in using slang expressions of offering or donate “two bits”. In this approach two pieces of paper is given to him, as it presents the two bits you said.

3. The next trick you may learn is the look easy trick. Find a sheet of paper and tear it in two thirds. It is required not totally tear the end sections. It should be a little loose, and the outcome will be a slit parallel sheet of paper with three flaps.

Give it to the person and tell him to have a hold on the edge of the flaps and hide one in each hand. From the center of the paper, you will make him tear the end flaps. It seems to be a piece of cake, but it is not. When he tries to work on it, only one edge of the flap is torn. The pull is purposely even distributed.

4. The floating paper ball needs to be performed under proper situations because it requires a little experiment. You need to crumple one piece of paper into a ball and you will have to hold it using your left hand with your right hand on top of it. You will remove your left hand, and have the paper just floated in the air moving upward to your right hand.

The trick is done because of the black silk thread. The thread is placed over your right ear forming a loop in one of the ends. The other end is tied loosely to your black coat button. They do not have the idea that you squeezed it around on the loose end, before the paper ball is formed.

When you move your right hand upward, you will use your right thumb to catch the thread. You will then draw the thread tightly so that when you take off your hand, the ball automatically floats. Move your hand forward, then raise the ball. Bringing it back lowers it. On the last part, you will have to get the ball on your left hand and untying it from the thread. The right hand brushing your hair will lift the loop from your ear, and the thread just falls down on the floor, without one noticing it.

Magic Cards

Magic has been around for centuries. It has even been associated with medieval times in stories of Merlin and King Arthur, which has made religious people believe that this was evil. And people who knew it and practiced it were considered to be heretics and were burned at the stake.

Now who would ever imagine that magic has now gained a more favorable popularity? With more than a handful of famous magicians amusing innumerable audiences, magic has never been this much loved before. This popularity has made a lot of people yearn to learn some magic tricks. One of the most basic is the use of magic cards.

A deck of cards is one of the most common props used by magicians. There are many forms of magic tricks a person can do with a deck of cards. Here's what one aspiring magician has to learn in manipulating magic cards:

The first thing that a person must learn is how to shuffle. This is done using both hands and by having a certain amount of cards on each hand. Then alternately put one card over the other until all the cards are in one stack then putting them together to form a uniform pile.

After that, one can start performing certain tricks that will both fool and amaze the audience. Some well known magicians can make a cigarette go right through a deck of cards while others can make a card float in the air with no visible strings attached.

The most basic trick that anyone can master however is letting someone pick a card and after shuffling it, picking that same card the person selected moments ago. There are so many other tricks one can do with a deck of cards and all it takes is some time to get to know these tricks, practice it then show off to friends.

Other than using magic cards, there are so many other tricks, which involve other props or paraphernalia such as a coin, a hanky, or even a small ball. The use of cards in performing a trick is merely an execution of various optical illusions and manipulation, which just goes to show that the hand is quicker than the eye.

Cards can be bought at the local specialty store or ordered online. Sometimes these come with other special packages that will make tricks more fun to perform and watch.

One secret that either a newbie or an expert can benefit on while using a magic card or just about any magic props is to not reveal the secret of how the tricks are done.

Amazing Magic Tricks

Perhaps, if you are a never-heard type in the class or in a circle of friends and would like to be in the limelight and attract everybody else’s attention, magic tricks are the way to accomplish it!

There are many ways by which you can come up with your own unique magic tricks. Performing illusions, and similar exhibitions are not for a privilege few. The truth is that, it can be learned and perfected by anyone.

Magic Trick Samples

There are a handful of magic tricks around that are particularly easy to perform. One need not be a professional magician in order to accomplish the task. Magic tricks can be in the form of the following:

- Card tricks
- Optical Illusion
- Common objects like bottles, envelope, rope, sugar, water, and pepper

Tips on Becoming a Convincing Magician

Surely, if you are interested in magic and fond of entertaining people, perhaps, magic exposition is for you.

The following tips should provide you with details on how you can start becoming adept in magic either for pursuing a career as an illusionist or just for the thought of astounding your friends and acquaintances.

- Be with the Masters! - There are no better ways of learning all the tricks but to be in the business. Be with people who are adept in this craft and you’ll sure learn the basics and advanced tricks and all the chemistry and techniques behind it.

- Practice! – Practice is always deemed appropriate in any personal activity you are trying to accomplish. This will guide your way to perfection and mastery of the craft.

- Out of the Box – Do not do the same tricks over and over again. Your audience will make assumptions and lose their focus once they see you doing the same old magic techniques. This lessens the excitement and you will soon lose your clients.

- Keep it Secret – Tricks are not meant to be informed to the general public. You do tricks for the purpose of baffling and conveying a message that you are doing something extraordinary.

- Suppress! – Keep the audience from moving around. Suspecting onlookers spill the beans so you better watch out from their actions.

If possible, keep them seated while performing your tricks and allowing several instance of participation. Use objects coming from your audience in order to reduce your audience’s doubt about the authenticity of your tricks.

- Assistants – knowledgeable assistants are important in any events especially in magic shows. Assistants maybe in the form of puppet animal or a real person.

In any case, choosing the right assistant depends on the level of support you will need in accomplishing your goal as a magician.

Magic Show Tips

For magic enthusiasts, what could be more fun than being able to organize a magic show of their own, right? However, it might not be an easy task to prepare for one magic show that will bewilder your friends and other speculators. Don't fret. Here are some tips and suggestions that might help one in prepping for one fun magic show that will make all the audience spellbound:

Prepare the Stage

A magic show will not be as exciting if it is done in a place where there's no stage. One must set up a stage that could consist of either a piano bench or a small table with a blanket or table cloth.

Drapes help a lot in seeing to it that the audience don't get a glimpse of your activities before performing a trick. Have a certain spot where all your tricks can be done.

Prepare the Props

A magician will have a hard time amazing his or her audience without the help of various magic props. Gather all the paraphernalias that will make the magic show successful beforehand to avoid scrambling around at the eleventh hour.

The usual props used by magicians include playing cards, hats, animals, a handkerchief, etc.

Prepare for the Tricks

What's a magic show without magic tricks? Practicing the tricks well before the magic show will make one magician less doubtful on whether his or her magic show will be a hit or not. Here are some rules that a magician should follow when doing a magic show:

1. Don't kiss and tell a trick.

Magic is made to amaze the audience. Telling how to do a trick will spoil that purpose. A trick that is told how to do will lose its mystery.

2. Trick only once.

When a trick is done for the first time, the audience will be very amazed. Doing it twice will make the audience predict what will happen and the risk of figuring the trick out is not impossible.

3. Practice like there's no tomorrow.

When one is not that comfortable with a certain trick, it is not advisable to perform it. Practicing in front of friends or other people before the show in front of an audience will help a lot in making the magic show successful.

4. Be or look confident.

Acting nervous will make you a laughingstock. When you are going to be the man of the show, it won't help to be stammering and trembling whild performing the magic tricks. Practicing will help you in this arena.

Beginner Magic Tricks

Magic tricks and magic shows have fascinated audiences for ages. The mystery that surrounds magic tricks is the lure that draws people in. A good magician can keep an audience engrossed for hours on end. Just about every person, no matter what their age, will love a good magic show.

If you are thinking about becoming a magician it is important to start as early as you can. The younger you are, the easier it is to develop your talent. The best way to introduce yourself to magic tricks is to buy a magic kit. Learn the basics from this kit such as card tricks, coin tricks and thread tricks. Once you get the fundamentals down, you need to know how to perform in front of an audience. The best way to learn this is to watch other magicians perform. Note their mannerisms and how they interact with the audience. You have to be able to win over your audience or your magic show will fail.

The following are the top three things you should do to keep the audience entertained and to put on a great magic show.

1. Confidence is the most important thing that you can have when performing in front of an audience. Practice your magic tricks many times in front of a mirror. Then if feel that you have mastered the tricks, practice them again in front of family or friends. If you are unsure about your abilities it will show in your performance. You have to convince people that your tricks really are magical.

2. Engage your audience. A great magician does not just stand on stage and perform tricks, he will interact with the audience. Talk constantly, tell jokes, ask questions of audience members and use your hands a lot. You want full attention focused on you and not leave time for people to focus on figuring out how the trick is performed. Remember, a magic show is a performance and you must have great acting abilities to pull it off. A bored audience will quickly become indifferent and sometimes hostile!

3. Make a smooth transition from one trick to the next. Wow them with one trick and while the audience is still in amazement, move onto a better, even more amazing trick. Keep the momentum going while constantly interacting with the audience and entertaining. Use humor, music, beautiful assistants and anything that you can think of to make your show exciting.

Learn basic beginner magic tricks and advance from there. Hand movements are very important in a magic performance. Practice a lot in front of a mirror every day. Learn how to interact with an audience and keep them entertained. When you are ready, get the word out that you are available for kid's parties and small shows. Expand on your act and continue to add new tricks. With determination and a whole lot of practice, you could become a professional magician.

3 Secrets Of Magicians

Magicians have their secrets but they won’t tell. It’s a sworn oath for magicians not to tell the audience how a trick is done. There are 3 secrets though that they’ve shared all throughout the years. Here are their 3 secrets.

The first secret is that some tricks are done through sleight of hand. These are ways with which they skillfully hide an object and make it reappear on another hand. New magicians hide things up their sleeves. Those are old tricks and very few used them now.

Sleights of hand require a lot of practice to master. Beginners of magic use specially created gimmicks to create the illusion. Professional magicians make use of their impressive sleight of hand. It requires a lot of time, patience and hand coordination to fully understand and do.

Another secret is the art of misdirection. See this blank paper? And as audience looks at the blank paper, he is carefully getting another piece with his other hand. This is misdirection. Another type of misdirection is the kind that doesn’t let the audience see what’s really causing the tricks. You might have seen that a magician has a lot of assistants who also do incredible stuff, but what you didn’t know is that they are helping the magician perform the magic just with their presence.

Another kind of misdirection is the appropriate use of words. For example, a magician will tell you to look at the ‘empty’ box. We tend to look at the box as empty just because he said it. This causes our mind to wonder when the magician gets a rabbit out of it.

Misdirection takes a lot of practice and lots of time in planning. It requires body coordination (one body doing something while the other is doing another thing) and quick thinking. Misdirection is an art and magicians are proud of it.

Another secret is their patter or a magician’s constant talk. Misdirection is achieved mostly because of patter. The magician will ask you to look at his right hand and as you are looking, you won’t notice what his left hand is doing. This is a really clever way to achieve the illusion that what happens next becomes so magical with the wink of an eye.

Patter usually takes the form of a story, where a magician will tell you of something that happened to him someday. Sometimes it’s so funny that we actually forget to look at what their hands are doing or what their assistants are giving them.

Learn Magic Card Tricks

What would a magic show be without a few great card tricks? All magicians will incorporate card tricks into their shows. If you are starting out learning the ropes of magic, you should learn a few magic card tricks. Card tricks have the ability to amaze and they have a mystical feel about them.

When looking for good magic card tricks to learn, start at your local toy store or discount chain store. This may seem too elementary for you, but if you have never performed card tricks before, getting a basic child's magic kit is a great place to start. Learn the card trick in the kit and master it. Learning and mastering are two different things. To master a trick, you must be able to repeat it successfully hundreds of times with no mistakes.

Once you have the child's kit mastered, do a search online for good card magic tricks. A lot of sites will have tricks that you can learn for free. You may want to purchase some videos and books from these sites that show you the more advanced card tricks. But it is important to learn the basics first before trying the more advanced tricks.

Spend a lot of time practicing your card tricks in front of a mirror. If the tricks you use involve sleight of hand, as most card tricks do, you want your brain to actually memorize the hand movements needed to perform the trick. Repetition is the key. Once you have learned the card trick, practice, practice practice. Carefully study yourself in the mirror while performing the trick. Is there any movement that you are making that can give away the secret of the card trick?

Once you have practiced in front of a mirror and you feel that you have it right, get a video camera and tape your card trick. Have a friend run the camera and do closeups of your trick. Study this video to make sure that the card trick is being performed correctly and that you are doing the correct sleight of hand movements. Sometimes you will find that you need to animate your movements a little more to draw attention away from the cards. Study professional magicians and then study your video. Note the differences and do what you can to correct them.

Once you have mastered the card trick, work on your dialog. Maintain a running dialog while performing your card trick. This will keep people focused on what you are saying without giving them the opportunity to try to figure out the card trick. It is also more entertaining for the audience. After all, they came to your show to be entertained. Don't bore them with just a series of magic tricks. Perform your card magic tricks with flair. Put your passion into it and you will become a great magician.

Learning The Tricks: Rope Tricks

Rope tricks rely on the illusion you give to your audience that you're doing something to the ropes when you're really doing something else. You need to be deft with your hands and to practice your tricks you have mastered it. You should also try to find videos of this trick being done.

Here is one classic rope trick that never fails to amaze children and adults alike. It's called the 'cut and restored' trick. Basically what you will tell the audience is that you 'cut' a rope into two pieces, say your magic words and 'restore' it back to one piece looking as if it wasn't cut in the first place. It will sound impossible and because of that, finishing the trick efficiently will result in more applause.

You will need sharp scissors for cutting the rope. The rope should be about 2 meters in length. You might also need to practice what you will say while doing your trick. Sometimes that will help you distract the audience more than the trick itself.

Show your audience your rope. Start telling your story while passing it around. Tell a few jokes perhaps to get things started. Then double up your rope and then triple it. You will end up holding three sections of the rope. If you could come up with some story for that too, then do that.

You should do a cat-shank knot on each end. If you don't know how to do this, just put one end of the rope through the larger loop and then around itself and put it down through the small loop that resulted with what you've done. Try practicing this bit at home as it is the most important part of the trick.

Tighten the knots in place and show to the audience that you have divided the rope into three sections. Tell them your story again. Just make them laugh while preparing the most anticipated part of the trick. Now you can tell them that you will cut the rope.

Now here is where the illusion starts. Yes, you will cut the rope but what you're cutting is the small section of the rope with the knot at the end. This will result to 2 new ends. Grasp this two ends and pull the rope tightly between your two hands. The knots will stay in place if you managed to remember to tighten the knots earlier.

If you have done this correctly, your audience will just think that you've cut the rope and is eagerly waiting for your next move both because they think it's impossible to make or probably skeptical that you can do it.

Say to your audience now that you're going to repair your rope. While grasping with both of your hand, you will now cover your left hand with your right hand and slide your hand from end of the rope to the other end. You will notice here that as you slide along the rope, the knots will slide easily with your hand. The remaining trick to do is hiding the knots in an unseen way. You could do this by either pocketing it or letting it drop to the floor if you're hidden behind something, preferably a table.

Remember that part of the illusion in this trick is the story you are going to tell. Once you have your audience enchanted by your story, you will have an easier way to complete your trick. This is one of the traits of a good magician, to be able to tell a story while doing a trick.

Another tip is to research more variations of this trick. This trick has been done for a long time now that most people will find it boring. One advantage of that dilemma is that you will find out that other magicians have found different ways to do this trick. What you need to do is inject more life to the old ways to make your trick seem original in their eyes. This could also be helpful if your audience asked for you to repeat that trick in the hope of catching how you do it. You just show them a different variation and the secret of the trick remains.

Types Of Magic Tricks

Magic is one form of entertainment enjoyed by many people from all walks of life. It is something that will never cease to amaze people both young and old.

If one wishes to become a good magician, it would be a great help to know the various types of magic tricks before performing any.

Magic tricks are done in a wide variety of ways and fall into different types;

1. The first one is called close up magic. It's the type that requires the least skill and many can do it with just a little practice. It usually involves the use of simple things such as a deck of cards, some small balls or a coin. It entails making people believe in one thing but doing something else. This kind of trick proves that the hand is faster than the eye.

2. The next type is called platform magic. This is done in a much larger scale than the first. Some tricks of this type that are well-known include cutting a person that is inside a box in half or making a person who's lying down levitate in the air after the table below has been removed.

3. The third type, which is very tricky, is called stage magic. Such performances are done quite rarely but when performed, they can become one great magic extravaganza. Such type includes making the statue of liberty disappear or walking through the Great Wall of China.

Innumerable magic tricks and trick lessons make it possible for a lot of people to learn how to become one good magician. This can be accomplished by buying a magic set or reading a book. Many of these people started while at home, watching how other people do it.

Other people who have some experience have talked with others and learned a trick or two. One can start with a small audience then have a larger one later on. To those who want to do more extreme magic, one should invest more into the trade, learn from others then make a mark to be truly called a magician.

One trick of the trade is to remember that no magician, either a beginner or an expert, should ever reveal the secrets of doing a trick to his or her spectator. Also, no magician has ever become successful overnight. Practice and reinvention can help a lot in getting near that coveted status of a magician -- the famous and most loved one.

Magic: The Science Of Illusion

Magic has been connected to mystery and things that cannot be explained by science. But, during the recent years, there has been in-depth studies focused to magic. Now, magic is known to be the science of illusion. More than that, magic is also an art based on science and techniques.

In fields of sciences like psychiatry, illusion is said to be a distortion of sensory perception. But no matter how negative this may sound, magic has entertained people based on illusion. This gives the impression that something impossible has occurred. Magic tricks are based on scientific principles but people do not seem to connect magic and science.

Different illusions are being used in magic and there are seven types of them.

- Production. These are magic tricks out of thin air. Producing something out of nothing. Tricks like these include appearing acts – rabbit coming out of an empty hat, coins from an empty pocket and the magician or an assistant appearing through a puff of smoke on an empty stage.

- Vanish. Tricks from this category are those disappearing acts like coins disappearing, a dove vanishing out of thin air by a clap of hand and stuffs inside silks into the hands of the magician but when opened revealed nothing. This category is the total opposite of production. The similar tricks are used but done in reverse.

- Transformation. As the word suggest, the tricks in this category involve those which transform anything to another form – chicken to an eagle, fire into a rabbit or a broom into a woman.

- Restoration. Magic tricks using this illusion is meant to restore something to the state it was once before like a cut rope into three parts back into one or cards cut into fourths and back to one.

- Teleportation. This illusion is meant to transfer things to another place. These are the classic tricks that truly amaze people like uncovered cages with one person each and they magically exchange places in a few seconds. This is what is known as double teleportation.

- Levitation. The trick involves lifting objects, animals and even people into air by using trance.

- Penetration. Tricks in this category involve the passing through of objects through a solid wall.

One important thing in maintaining the illusion in magic tricks is the secrecy of the magician. The magician should maintain this secrecy in order to be respected and treated with credibility by other magicians. The only exception is when a magician shares the secrets of the trade with someone who is a serious student of magic.

Remember, you are “killing” the magic by telling the secrets of your tricks to others and reducing them to mere intellectual riddles and puzzles.

The Business Side Of Magic Shows: Finding Your Gigs

If you’ve got the heart to perform, the desire to entertain and the will to succeed, then the magic business might be for you. The line of work isn’t considered conventional by most people, but unless you are like most people, this shouldn’t be a problem for you.

You’ve decided to embark on a career that involves connecting with audiences by entertaining them with magic and illusions. You’ve worked on your skills, your presentation and on your show. Now you’re ready to get out there and find people who will want to see you perform.

That can get tricky because with so much competition out there, being good at your show may not be the only requirement to get bookings. And unless you’re prepared to do some more work and to wait for the fruits of that work to pay off, you might be disappointed at the lack of gigs you can get for yourself. But if you’re prepared to go the distance, learning how to find and get performance gigs will eventually pay off with results you may never have initially imagined.

First thing you should know is what kind of audience you’d want to perform for. Are you more inclined to work with children? Or is a more mature, corporate environment more your liking? Don’t be concerned now with what is more financially rewarding. The idea is to get you performing at your best because this increases your chances of referrals and repeat bookings.

Once you’ve established your target audience and you’ve created the best show you can for it, you can go out soliciting bookings for your performance. But before you do, it will do you a world of good to have a video presentation of one of your performances (preferably with the target audience of your choice). This is so that as you approach potential clients, you will be able to demonstrate your skills and how your audience responded to your performance. For a prospective client, being given this kind of information is important as it answers their concern of your effectiveness as an entertainer. Once that has been settled, it greatly increases the chances of you getting awarded the project.

After creating your demo video, you will need to look at your calendar to see what times of the year does your target audience hold most of its events that will be needing your services. If you plan to perform for corporate audiences, it will be best to take note of a company’s annual conventions or sales rallies. Also note the organizers who will be planning such events and call to inform them of your services. This initial call is meant to introduce yourself. (Your demo video will be important here.)

However, that one call should be followed up by at least 2 more over the course of a quarter. Make sure that you’re within the organizer’s radar especially a month before the events you’re targeting take place. If you call too early and not follow up, they might forget about you. But if you call too late, you might miss the opportunity and someone else would have snapped up the gig.

If you are prepared to do some pro-bono work or for a very low fee, then participating in as many events as you can will get you exposed to as many people as possible. As more and more people get to know you and your show, interest may drum up and requests for better paying gigs may come in.

Finally, if you are truly committed to the profession of magic and illusion shows, it will help for you to be a member of magic guilds and societies such as the International Brotherhood of Magicians, the Society of American Magicians, or the Society of Young Magicians. These groups can help you not only with your magic skills but also in getting you recognized in the area you are based in.

With all these information in getting your next gigs, it cannot be stressed enough that you need to be dedicated to this kind of work. It is not the easiest and the rewards may leave much to be desired especially if you’re just starting out.

But if your desire to entertain and interact with your audience is genuine, they will be able to feel that and connect with you in turn. That is by far, the most effective basis of getting asked to perform again - the rewards for which aren’t simply measured in terms of money.

5 Tips On Improving Your Tricks

A magician is an artist. Every trick is a masterpiece and every trick requires a lot of patience and time to learn. Here are some tips to help you improve your tricks.

Practice Makes Perfect

You’ve learned a new trick and have shown it to an audience and mesmerized them, should that stop there? No! A magician always practices his bag of tricks, no matter how much he has mastered them. Bungling up a trick in front of an audience is one of the most embarrassing situations a magician can ever encounter.

You should set some time to practice your magic. Two hours every day is more than enough to help you polish up skills you’ve learned. Remember that time spent in practicing is not time wasted.

Videotape Your Act

Videotaping your act will let you see how the audience perceives you. It is important that you look at your video camera as you do it and try to think of it as your audience. Watching how you perform will let you see simple mistakes you probably didn’t know you were making. It will help in your practice and in knowing if a trick is effective.

Ask for Help

Joining a group could help you improve your tricks. You could watch how they do it. You would also have the chance to show your tricks and receive feedbacks. Remember to ask for help if you think you need it and to heed advice when given.

It’s important to realize that there are better magicians than you and that others have more experience.

Utilize Your Free Time

Going away for the weekends? Perhaps you’re going on a camping trip or fishing. Why not bring your materials with you? There will be free time on your trips where you could practice your tricks or devise new ones.

The trick is to use your time wisely. Think of every free time as a chance to practice and you’ll see improvements on your tricks.

Learning another Trick

Don’t try learning another trick until you’ve mastered your current trick. You should treat it as a painting and practice your trick until it becomes your own masterpiece.

Ask for help if you need them and try your best to finish learning what you’ve started.

A magician will always find ways to learn new tricks. It is important that they realize that a trick is not something to be taken for granted. You need to practice, practice, and practice. That is one way to ensure success in this business.

Magic Trick For Free

There is a number of fun and easy-to-do magic tricks which a budding magician can learn to perform.

The key to showing off a magic trick is to practice until you have it perfected.

Here is one free magic trick for budding magicians. By trying out the basic magic tricks first, you can later move on to more
complicated tricks and stunts to make you a joy to watch.

'The Magic Bottle Trick'

This is how the trick would look to a spectator:

First, the performer would ask for a volunteer from the audience. The volunteer would look inside the bottle that the magician is holding and show it off to the rest of the audience as a typical, empty bottle.

Then, the volunteer would return the bottle to the magician and also examine the magic wand.

The magician will drop the wand into the bottle, then turn the bottle over and let go of the wand.

The trick is for the wand to remain suspended inside the bottle.

Here are the supplies needed to pull off this magic bottle trick:

1. An eraser.

2. A bottle with a large opening where the wand would fit into. The bottle should be opaque.

3. A 'magical' wand which is taller than the bottle. Once you drop the wand into the bottle, part of it should stick up through the opening.

Cut off a piece of the eraser and make it be just big enough for you to wedge the wand into the bottle opening.

The eraser is the key to make the trick work.

This is where the trick comes in:

The magician would pass the bottle to a volunteer in the audience to make sure that the container is empty.

Then, the magician will take the bottle back and give the wand to a participant in the audience.

He would then slip the eraser into the bottle in such a way that it is hidden from everyone in the audience. The wand is taken back and later dropped into the bottle.

Afterwards, the wand and the bottle are picked up very slowly, upside down.

Then, the wand is slightly pulled while the bottle is being turned over. The eraser then gets wedged into the opening, then the magician lets go of the magic wand and voila!

The wand does not fall out. Slowly turn the bottle upright again, let go of everything and the wand remains suspended in the bottle and more importantly, it does not fall back down.

The wand is slightly pushed to release the rubber, and it is slowly taken out and finally removed.

What Are Pesticides And How Do I Manage Them?

Families on camping trips apply mosquito repellent. Homeowners spend Saturday mornings spreading weed-n-feed products on their lawns. A cleaning lady bleaches and disinfects a bathroom. A mother sprinkles a few mothballs into boxes while packing away winter clothing. What activity do all of these people have in common? They are all using pesticides, though they may not recognize them as such.

What are pesticides? Put simply, pesticides are chemical compounds used to control pests of one sort or another. Examples include insecticides, which control insects; rodenticides, which control rodents; fungicides, to control the spread of fungal diseases of plants; and herbicides, which control weeds and other plants.

Pesticides control insect pests and thus prevent the diseases they spread on food and fiber crops. Some are used to control parasites on farm animals and pets. Others help maintain human health; e.g., disinfectants are used to cleanse kitchens and bathrooms of parasitical infestations, and repellents ward off ticks and other pests that carry disease. And most important for our purposes here, pesticides can help control infestations of pests in a lawn area.

Sometimes pesticides are necessary, but not in every situation. Many times, non-chemical control methods may be preferable. It is prudent to know and understand as many available options as possible in a given situation in order to reduce pesticide use whenever possible.

Pest Management

The first step in pest management is to identify the pest that might be causing the problem. Many kinds of insects and pests live in grass and lawns. Some are visible, and some are far too small to be seen. Some are annoying to lawn owners but do little or no actual damage to grass; others can obliterate a once perfectly healthy lawn. Unfortunately, many of the characteristics of a lawn damaged by insects or pests are identical to those of a lawn damaged by disease or neglect. Diagnosis can therefore be quite difficult.

A good pest management strategy incorporates some or all of the methods available to manage a given pest situation. This is called integrated pest management, or IPM. The goal should be to reduce pest populations, thus limiting the damage to your lawn to economically and aesthetically tolerable levels. Complete eradication is not always possible, practical, or even desirable. Judicious selection of pest control methods should be aimed at reducing or eliminating pesticide use whenever possible. This is extremely important because of valid concerns about our personal and environmental safety. The following methods should be considered first when developing a pest management strategy for your lawn.

Exclusion: One of the safest and most effective ways to manage pests is to deny them access. This is called exclusion, or pest proofing, and may be accomplished via one of the following two options.

1. Exclusion by Regulation: Government embargoes and quarantines are designed to prevent the introduction of pests from one country or locality into another. It's unwise to import live plots of sod from states with a different climate from your own. These sod pieces could introduce a pest to your area that has no naturally existing enemy. If there is a different strain of grass you want to introduce into your property, purchase and import seeds, not sod.

2. Mechanical Exclusion. This includes barriers such as fences to keep out rabbits and noisemakers to ward off ground squirrels. When you are seeding your lawn, you can keep birds away with scarecrows and noisemakers.

8 Types Of Lawn Pest Damage & How To Prevent Them

There are three basic categories of insects that damage grass. One is the insect that lives above ground and sucks the plant juice. The second is the kind that lives below the surface and feeds on roots. And the third is the insect that lives at the soil surface and feeds on the grass blades. The signs of symptoms of the first category is grass blades thinning out and turning brown. Whole patches of dead and dying grass in round to irregular shapes can appear. The most noticeable symptom of category two is that blades turn yellow and die in irregularly shaped patches. When a person grabs a handful of grass in these damaged areas, blades will come free and lightly out of the grass without any roots attached. Category three's symptoms are quite noticeable. Round bare areas can appear, with the grass chewed right down to root level.

LAWN INSECTS

Armyworms chew off the grass blades from below the surface and cause round, bare areas in a lawn. If there are many armyworms present, the grass will be chewed off right to the soil level. Armyworms are yellowish white and have an upside-down Y on their heads. For chemical control use acephate, diazinon, chlorpyrifos, or carbaryl.

Billbugs feed on grass roots and create small circular patterns of damaged grass that turns yellow and brown. Dead sections of grass will easily lift away from the soil. There are many different species of billbugs that attack different varieties of grass. For chemical control use diazinon.

Chiggers do not do much damage to a lawn, but they are an extreme nuisance to lawn owners. They are not insects, but are spider mites that lay their eggs in soil. After hatching,the larvae crawl onto grass blades and latch on to any passing person or animal. For chemical control use diazinon or chlorpyrifos.

Cinch Bugs damage lawns by sucking the juice directly from the leaves. Generally these insects are widespread and can be discovered upon close examination of grass blades that have turned yellow in distinct circular patches. They particularly enjoy St. Augustine grass, but Kentucky bluegrass and bent grass are also affected. For chemical control use propoxur, isophenphos, diazinon, chlorpyrifos, or NPD.

Crane Flies lay eggs that produce grubs which feed on grass blades. This causes patches of grass to disappear, usually from the edge of the lawn. Sometimes a brownish paste will cover an area with a large concentration. Crane fly grubs are brown-gray and about an inch long. For chemical control use diazinon.

Cutworms are extremely difficult to spot, not only because they live and stay far down in the root system, but because the appearance of the damage they cause is similar to that of so many other diseases and ailments. Cutworms eat the tender roots of the plant and this causes dead brown spots to form in round and irregular patches. If a person were to spill gas or use too much fertilizer in an area, the effect would be the same as the damage done by cutworms. For chemical control use acephate, carbaryl, diazinon, or chlorpyrifos.



Root-Feeding Nematodes feed on lawn roots and cause grass to grow slowly and to respond poorly to watering and fertilizing. Often the grass looks stunted and yellowed with dead and dying areas. Sometimes this problem is confused with fertilizer burn, soil deficiency, and poor aeration. The grass roots may be swollen, stunted, bushy, and dark in color or missing altogether. There are many thousands of kinds of nematodes, but only a few damage lawns. Complete diagnosis will require the assistance of a competent nematologist. Likewise, for control, only a professional should complete any kind of necessary application.

Sod Webworms live in the grass root system, but they surface to devour leaves and stems with an insatiable hunger. Dead patches from one to two inches in diameter appear among otherwise healthy, normally growing grass. Many birds feeding regularly on the lawn can indicate a high concentration of this insect. Sod worms are not as easy to spot as cinch bugs, but they can be discovered by examining a few two-inch clods of grass taken from various portions of a suspect area of lawn. For chemical control use carbaryl, chlorpyrifos, diazinon, acephate, isophenphos, propoxur, NPD,or trichlorfon.

9 Common Lawn Disorders & How To Prevent Them

Even correctly established, well maintained lawns have their bad days. Among the pests that afflict turf grasses are fungi, mosses, weeds, and critters.

Poorly established or badly maintained lawns, those with poor soil aeration or drainage, improper fertilizing, or clipping are likelier than to have diseases than those without these problems. The following are a few of the most common lawn diseases:

1. Fungi: Brown patch is a fungus disease of nearly all turf grasses, but is worst on Kentucky bluegrass, bentgrass, ryegrass, centipede grass, St. Augustine grass, and fescues in the west. It causes irregular brown spots 1" to several feet in diameter. There is a dark "smoke ring" outer edge where the fungus is active. Excessive nitrogen fertilization aggravates the disease. Control by cutting back nitrogen, minimizing shade/ irrigating deeply, and applying a recommended fungicide.

2. Dollarspot: Dollarspot is a fungus disease most severe on Kentucky blue-grass, bentgrass, ryegrass, centipede grass, and St. Augustine grass. It causes wet looking, straw-colored spots the size of a silver dollar, which often merge to form large irregular areas of damage. De-thatch, water deeply, and apply a high-nitrogen fertilizer. Fungicides can help control it.

3. Fairy ring: Fairy ring appears as growing rings of dark green grass, with or without mushrooms, which leave dead grass behind them. Aerate, apply a high-nitrogen fertilizer, and water heavily for up to five days. Fungicides don't work here.

4. Fusarium: Fusarium patch is common in the central and northeastern U.S., showing up as 2" to 12" tan spots with thin white threads in thatch or dewy grass. Reduce shade, aerate, and improve drainage if possible. Cut down high-nitrogen fertilizers and apply a fungicide in early fall.

5. Grease spot: Grease spot makes dark and matted leaves in greasy streaks across the lawn. It prefers new lawns. Minimize shade and cut down on water. Check on the best chemical control.

6. Leafspot: Leafspot causes reddish-brown to purple-black spots on Kentucky bluegrass, and may reach the crown and cause serious damage. To limit damage mow no shorter than 2 inches, fertilize well, overseed with Merion Kentucky bluegrass. Use fungicides 7 to 10 days apart.

7. Red thread: Red thread is a cool, moist weather fungus that causes small patches of dead grass snarled in bright pink threads, which spread out in 2" to 12" yellowed patches. Reduce shade and apply a high-nitrogen fertilizer in late fall.

8. Rust: Rust looks like its name and comes off as an orange smudge if you rub the grass with a white cloth. Water, apply a high-nitrogen fertilizer and the right fungicide.

9. Snow mold: Snow mold is a fungus disease common in the northern region in late fall, winter, and early spring. The fungus cause of the disease likes the cool moist conditions of melting snow. It first appears as a white cottony growth on the leaves, which will kill and turn them brown and matted. Treat by providing adequate drainage, less fall fertilizer, and raking leaves from the lawn.

When Should I Feed My Lawn?

Now that you have flowing green grass growing, knowing exactly when to feed your lawn is actually a question in two parts: (1) What time of day is best to feed and (2) What times of year you should feed. Let's start with the easy one. The best time of day to fertilize is when the grass is dry. Fertilize the lawn, then water it to knock the fertilizer off the blades of grass and activate it into the soil. Don't fertilize on wet grass - as the grass dries, the fertilizer left on the blades can actually bum the grass in the hot sun.

Next comes the tricky part - what times of year you should fertilize. You've probably heard all the theories - fertilize in spring, fertilize in the fall, fertilize in both seasons. Well, these theories are right, and they are also wrong. Fertilization times truly depend on what type of grass you're growing. How's that for a non-answer? Thankfully, you can follow one general rule of thumb when determining when to fertilize. Fertilizing will be most beneficial before the period of active growth of your grass. For cool season grasses, this is usually in the spring and fall. Warm season grasses will benefit from a feeding in the late spring through the summer.

A spring feeding for cool season grasses, such as Kentucky bluegrass and fine fescues, will help the lawn green up for the season and gives the lawn time to grow before the summer slowdown. Having said that, fertilizing too early in the spring will encourage major foliage growth when the root growth can't keep up. Fertilizing too late in the spring (especially with a fast-release fertilizer) will encourage rapid growth right before the heat of the summer. During the hot summer, the grass may not be able to withstand the frequent mowing required, never mind the water required to maintain this new growth. A fall feeding for cool season grasses is recommended to promote the growth the grass will need to sustain itself during the winter. It will encourage a longer growing season, which will help the grass store up carbohydrates for a quick green-up in the spring.

Warm season grasses grow most during the summer, so generally you'll want to fertilize in the late spring and the summer. Be careful not to fertilize too late into the summer or into the fall. Feeding during these times promotes lush growth that may make your lawn more vulnerable to winter injury when the cooler temperatures of winter arrive.

How to Feed

Fertilizing is best done with a spreader. It's very difficult to use a hand-held crank spreader to accurately fertilize, so don't even think about it unless you have only a very small area to cover. As noted earlier, invest in a good spreader. A rotary or broadcast spreader will give you an even application and help you avoid unsightly green-up.

The package of fertilizer or your spreader instructions lists application settings for spreaders. The problem is that the fertilizer bag may not have a listing for your type of spreader or you've lost the spreader instructions. So, if you can't get the information necessary to set your spreader to the correct application rate, you'll have to calibrate it. It's not a fun thing to do, but it can save you a few bucks if you don't want to buy a new spreader. With all the things that can go wrong when you overfeed your lawn, you don't want to accidentally do it because your spreader wasn't adjusted properly.

6 Fashion Tips for Gardeners

Clothes and skin cream are far removed from potting out your begonias, or digging a trench for a line of potatoes. But the clothes you wear are important for your protection in the garden. Here are six simple but effective solutions to various gardening hazards...


1. Starting from the top, you need to protect your head. Body heat escapes through the head and in the cold weather a warm hat should be worn. Knit yourself a 'gardening crazy' hat or buy a simple woollen hat on the high street.

And in the summer, even more attention should be paid to the head. The sun's rays are not only hot but they actually burn you. We all know this but how easy it is to forget when you want to soak up the sun after months of grey or cold weather. Invest in a cool sunhat. Not only will it help protect you from sunstroke, it will also protect against the drying out of your hair and skin.


2. Keep one old comfortable jacket or short coat, preferably with fairly large pockets, especially for the garden. When you're working, you won't need to worry about dirty marks. Leave them there, it's all part of the gardener's designer uniform!


3. Suitable trousers.. again keep a couple of old pairs especially for gardening. Wear heavy duty jeans for heavy duty work. A good waterproof pair are handy in damp climates. In fact, in damp climates, a whole waterproof gardening suit is invaluable. There is always planting to do in the rain, and a waterproof hat, jacket and trousers tucked in a pair of boots will keep you nice and dry!


4. Protect your hands. For light work, potting on or pinching out tomato plants, a disposable plastic pair of gloves or a pair of kitchen rubber gloves will be enough. For heavier work - pruning roses, weeding thistles and nettles, wear heavy duty gardening gloves, or your hands will suffer.


5. Watch those toes! Invest in a pair of steel toe capped boots and wear them! If you're pottering in the greenhouse or doing a little weeding, a simple pair of wellington boots will do, or even sandals if the weather allows. But as soon as you pick up a large tool, your steel toe-caps should be worn. If you're not used to them, these boots can feel heavy and cumbersome at first, but stick with it. If you're doing heavy work, you need heavy boots.


6. And last but certainly not least, you must protect your skin. Moisturise all exposed body parts whenever you are woking in the garden, rain or shine. Working outside will give you a nice healthy glow, but the wind and sun will dry your skin given half a chance.


So there we have it, not a fashion designer's dream, but these 6 garden fashion tips will make life a lot more comfortable, and safer, for the average home gardener. Happy gardening!


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Tips On How To Save Money When Shopping

Shopping is very addictive. Most of the time, the household budget is sacrificed once you go shopping. Shopping should not give you headaches as long as you know how to budget. Here are the things that you need to remember:

1. Always remember to spend your money wisely whenever you go shopping. Bring only the exact amount of money you need in buying your items. To ensure that you only buy the important things, you have to make a list of the items that you need to buy. You may then budget your money wisely and will prevent you from buying things that are not that important.

2. It is advisable that you compare prices from different stores before buying an item. Do not limit yourself to just one store. There are stores that offer the same quality but can have a lower price. A smart thing you may do is to be attentive to the prices of the items that you buy regularly when shopping. There are instances that a store has an untimely changing of prices on different items.

3. It is recommended that you do your shopping during the end of the season. Prices of many items, especially clothes, are very low and affordable during this time of the year. You may buy clothes in the months of August and September if you are looking for bargain clothes for your summer wear.

4. You may shop in dollar stores where you can find items that are on sale and where prices are low. Although the quality of some items is not the same when you buy in malls and shopping galleries but the merchandises are still new and not yet used. These stores can provide you the best prices that can cope with on your budget.

5. Another way to save money while shopping is to economize the travel you make in finding the stores you want to buy an item. You may take a stop on your daily route to check if the items you buy regularly have not changed their prices or are still in the price of your budget. You may purchase the item even before you do your shopping schedule. This can save you fuel and time.

6. Try to find discount stores that offer quality items that have discounts and can offer a very affordable price on your desired item. The prices on discount stores may vary depending on the season of the year. These stores can be located in large shopping areas like in malls and shopping galleries.

Gamers Be Aware!

By : Sandy Baker
or many years, games of all sorts have been entertaining. Many times they are even addicting. We aren't talking board games here but the world of your favorite pc games, video console games and now mobile phone games. It seems that we have a never satisfied appetite for the latest and greatest game. Its not just teens either. Everyone wants a great game to play when they have a moment to do it. But, having time to get online or to pull out the game box is just so limited.

For those who enjoy gaming, there are a number of excellent ways that you can get your hands on the games that you want whenever you want them. For example, an extraordinary way to have games at your fingertips no matter where you are is to get them on your mobile phone. Believe it or not, this exciting method of gaming is becoming quite popular. And, why shouldn't it? Players want games with graphics, sounds and action and that is just what they can get through their mobile phones now.

Taking a closer look, you will also see that games have become easier to get a hold of as well. Pay a service fee that is close to nothing and you are in. One of the passions of gamers everywhere is having the newest and greatest options available to them. That's hard to do without blowing your budget though. As a gamer, you want access to the best games, all the time and on your phone so you can play when you have time to no matter where you are. Having the ability to play on the bus, waiting for the guys to come over or at the doctor's office even doesn't have to be boring when you can download games right onto your phone to play. The good news is that time and technology has arrived.