Justin Kredible: Welcome to the Turning Tricks, I am your host Justin Kredible and on this show we don't reveal secrets, we teach magic and I am going to teach you how to do the trick that I just did. On this episode, we are going to learn some crazy visual feed so I have people swearing with their eyes, while I am playing tricks on them. So grab some dental floss, some string, some hair pomade and a pair of scissors. We are going to turn some tricks.
The trick you just saw me perform is called Flossing. It's a personal favorite, it's a great trick. It's based on an old magical trick called Gypsy Thread. This version is basically using most common object, we are supposed to use this twice a day, so here's how it works. This is honestly one of my favorite tricks for the whole series. It's a great anytime magic trick and what I really wanted to do is give you guys a truly killer trick that you can practice and you really, really impress people with. This trick is not messing around, this is a real deal. So I am going to show you how to prepare it.
First off, what you need is waxed dental floss, very important that it's waxed as opposed to un-waxed and I will explain why. So at home, go grab yourself a box of dental floss, follow along with me. I am going to show you how the preparation goes. Here we go. What I am going to do first is I am going to take about a piece of say 18 inches long, like this, and we are going to do a little special preparation with it. We are going to gimmick this and this is all pre-show, you do this well before you are in front of your audience. And what's great is you can do it, shut the box as you see and you are set to go. So check this out.
We have this piece, may be 18 inches, 2 feet long. I am going to make two fingers. I am going to, kind of; loosely wrap it around these two fingers, making a nice tight little spool. Now, what we are doing here is we are making the piece that we restore at the end. This is the final restoration piece, alright. We kind of work our fingers out of that, and this is what we have. We have like a 1 inch loop of dental floss. And what's great about the wax. The wax is very, very important in this trick because it helps keep all the dental floss together, nice and neat. And when we make a switch later, the wax is the key. So we have this one into loop, I am going to twist into a figure 8 like that, kind of squish it together a little bit. The wax will help make that center of the figure 8 cling together, and once I make the figure 8, I am going to fold it back on itself. So we now have a smaller loop. And again, we make a figure 8, squeeze it tight, fold it back again, and now we are just going to have like a very small little wad of dental floss.
Alright, now what we do with that is we want to keep this tight and compact, we don't want it to unravel before it's supposed to. So I am going to take it, I am going to wrap a little bit of this around it. May be 2, 3, 4 times, just making it very tight and compact. Twist that around once. Twist it around twice, and three times. Alright, now it's pretty much going to stay exactly where you want it. We are going to take this little tail; I am going to tuck it under the little blade, like that. And check that out, now you have your little restored piece already lined up sitting in this little area. It's like the dental floss box is made for this purpose. I am going to shut the lid, and so I have this tucked there and you are set to go.
Alright that's going to stay hanging out, it's all good, you put this in your pocket, put it in your bag, put it in your purse, you are set to perform whatever you want. And if you need to watch me do that preparation over and over again, definitely rewind and really master it because the preparation and doing it well is key.
Now here is the performance. Roll up your sleeves, you are going to have the box with the back towards them, you are going to open the door up to yourself, of course, that's what you are going to see. You are going to see your prepared little restored piece of dental floss. I am going to, with my thumb and index finger, I am going to pinch that piece first, and I am going to pull out from there, alright. So I have got my restored piece right there between the tips of my fingers. Now what's great about this is the whole time your hands are wide open. I can see it, there is nothing hidden in your hands apparently. Little do they know that it's all in your finger tips.
So I am going top break off one piece that's may be 4 inches long. And we are just going to break off several pieces like this. Only using your pinch of fingers to do all the action which gives you a really good excuse to keep them tightly squeezed together, concealing that piece of floss.
Let's break up another piece. There we go, now we are just going to do this several times. I like to make may be 4, 5, 6 pieces. The idea is to have all these pieces collectively add up to approximately the length of your restored length, your restored piece of floss. It doesn't have to be exact. May be I will have it more. It's flexible, we shut the box, we put it down, we are done with the box. Now, what you need to do is you need to separate into your left hand all the normal strands, and keep in your right hand, that gimmick strand with the restored piece on it. So what I am going to do is I am going to just with my left thumb and forefinger, I am going to kind of run in along the lengths of these and tug. What's going to happen is all of them are going to nicely, easily pull out of my right hand, except for that one which is got the wad on it. It's not going to want to go which is perfect. So we just slide all of them except for that one. We keep that one there, or say we will keep this one here and then with the rest, we twist in the middle, alright, and that wax is key. That wax is now going to let us squeeze it all and roll into a little ball nice and easy. Take your time with this. It's going to take a little bit of working here. People don't know what's coming. You know your hands are totally empty. No sudden moves, you want to take it really slow because that magic moment is going to be even more effective and there is no funny business going on.
Now you will notice we have our hands in the same position. At each set of finger tips, right and left, you have got to wad of dental floss. What you are now going to do is you are going to switch the torn pieces for the restored pieces. So check this out. We will roll this into a ball. And we are going to apparently stick this ball onto the middle of this. What we are really going to do is we are going to do a little clever switch; watch this. You roll this tight, we bring our finger tips together, we squish, and what I am doing is I am just tucking the torn pieces really nicely and tightly between my left index finger and thumb and then working the restored pieces out. Again, I am taking the torn pieces, and I am apparently sticking them on, but what's really happening is I am squeezing them even tighter in my left index finger and thumb and pushing the restored pieces out into view; like that.
Alright, we are switching one wad for the other. And they look pretty much the same, you are squeezing them tight, people are not expecting it and the wax, of course, is what makes the whole squeezing onto the center of this tray unbelievable. Here we go. We squeeze it tight. And then with the left index finger and with thumb, with the torn pieces hidden now, we are going to grab one end of this floss, and with the other hand, we grab the other end. Alright, now you are done. Now it's all magic, here we go. Make it mysterious, really make it believable. Take your time with this moment because this is like a moment of true wonder, alright, there is going to be an awe at this moment so take your time. You are just going to slowly pull. And it's going to gradually unravel. Right back to where we started.
Alright let's go with the key elements of flossing. What's really important is to master the prep work. Take your time with the preparation and it will ensure a smooth performance. Another key point is to get really good at swapping the torn pieces for the restored pieces, and what I like to do is practice this in front of the mirror and there is going to come a point where you can flow yourself with it, that's when you know it's ready for an audience.
Alright, I would try a little experiment in Contortionism. This is Chris, he is going to help us out with this. And you guys at home do this along with me, and you guys right here. What I want everyone to do is just shake your arms out. Cool. Put your arms out in front of you like this. Cool. Turn your hands so your palms are out and your thumbs are down. Okay sweet, then take your right arm and cross it over the left and clasp your hands together in a tight fist, but keep your thumbs pointing down. Okay, don't let go off from this position. What I want you to do is just real quick, just wiggle your pinkies, cool, now your index fingers, and now your thumbs. Cool now without letting go, with out bending your elbows, try this.
You guys are tied up, I will give myself a round of applause for that one.
So let's walk through it, here we go, hands out, palms out, thumbs down. So the key to this trick relies on a moment of natural misdirection, and I will show you where we create that. Right hand over the left, clasp together in a tight fist, cool, you keep your thumbs pointing down. You follow that? Déjà vu right? What happened is, we stop what we are doing for a second, and we could correct somebody on something. So what I did was I stop him and I was like, "Oh yeah yeah, thumbs pointed down." And I cheated. Instead of bringing my hands back right where they were, I kept my left hand stationary, I corrected them, and I brought my right hand back under which prepares me to do that secret move. At first glance this and this are pretty similar, okay. So what you need to do is you need to kind of have them follow along with you and then naturally take them off their guard for a second, and you correct them on their thumbs or the way they are standing or something. You really want to practice this and make this moment natural so they don't suspect anything. It will go right over their heads, trust me, I mean, it works very well.
Let's go back to where we were, perfect, clasp together, keep your thumbs pointing down, I will bring it together; bring my right hand back, the opposite way. So follow along with me at home, mimic these actions, and rewind as many times as you need to, just get really good at this position. Okay, now once you have did this, you are home free, okay. They won't have expected anything different. So you want a little, let a little time pass. Wiggle your pinkies; wiggle your index fingers, wiggle your thumbs, just distractive stuff okay and then the big moment. Without letting go, without bending your elbows, make a little grunt, a little effort, exactly, make it sound a little painful. And people are going to ask you to do this trick again right away. Resist the temptation because it's one of those things that if they are with it, they might catch that little moment. So just make it special, do it once, tell them it's kind of painful to do it again. May be your wrist cant take it. It's one of my favorites, Double Jointed, have fun with it.
Alright here is a couple of things you should not forget when performing Double Jointed, it's very important to make that moment of relaxed misdirection seem natural and not part of the trick. And most importantly, only do this trick once. Resist the temptation to do it twice.
Check this out; this is a simple little mystery, using a piece of string and a pair of scissors. We are just going to cut it so we have two pieces about the same length and this is, kind of, a science experiment. I am going to demonstrate the healing properties of human saliva, here watch. Alright here we go; I am just going to let the saliva work in into the string. Now what it's doing is it's reconstituting the molecules. Alright, packed, wow.
Strung Out, kind of similar theme to the flossing trick, totally different methods. So I would like to arm you with as many magical principles and methods as possible so you can really pick and choose and build a repertoire of your own. So to do this trick, there is a couple of things you need, you need a piece of string, a totally ordinary string; twine, you can get this from the drug store. It, kind of, comes like this. We are going to need a piece, may be I would say, that long, may be arm's length, 3 feet or so. Alright cut that off. Perfect, and a pair of scissors and then, I am going to teach you something really clever about string and the other thing you are going to need is some wax. Like these wax, you can also use hair pomade, magic stores, if you live near one, also sell stuff called Magician's Wax. But it all does the same stuff. So I will show you exactly what this is for. Here is the basic principle of this trick; the string is not made of one string. It actually is made up of several little pieces of string, and if we find approximately the center of the string, and I am just going to untwist it. You will notice that you see all these little separate strands. In this case this string has five separate strands. What I am going to do is I am going to untwist it, just in the middle, and I am going to take two strands in one hand and three strands in the other, and separate it. Alright, we are just going to pull it apart like that. So may be we have like 2 or 3 inches on each side and then I am going to let go. And you will notice what naturally happens is that strings start to twist back upon itself. So I am going to help it out in doing what it wants to do which is twist itself and you will see that that starts to look like an end of string and this starts to look like it's the end of a string, but in reality it's just the middle. Check this out. That's what we have got, okay, very sneaky. This is where eventually it's going to go into your mouth and when you pull on this, if I were to pull on this right now, I will show you what happens is; it just becomes one piece of string again. And then regains its natural twist. And restores itself apparently.
The two parts, we want to separate that string, and create what appeared to be two ends, like so. Pull it. We let that kind of -- we twist it back in that place, like that and like that. Okay. Now when you present the trick; you are going to hold the string at this point. Alright, so they don't see that it's not what you say it is. I will separate that, cool. Now what we need to do is somehow make this one piece of string. So that it looks like one continuous piece that you cut. In order to do that, that's where the wax comes in. So we are going to take this two ends of string right here; and I am going to take a little piece of wax, it's pretty gluey. We will start with about that much. And on the ends, I am just going to take one end of the string and kind of get it a little waxed. You don't even need all that. So I am going to get a little wax here like that and then we are going to take the other end of string and smush them together and twist it. What will happen is, at first glance, especially because it's twine, it's uneven as it is, look at that. Well, looks like it's one piece. One continuous loop, alright if you pulled on it, it will come apart. So don't pull on it. We are going to hold it like this. Maybe you can whip this out of your bag, or if it's in a case, or you can just pull out of your pocket; like so. So I am displaying this as one piece of string, alright. It's a pretty sweet illusion. That's what it looks like.
I am going to take a pair of scissors, I am just going to cut it down here, doesn't matter exactly where you cut it. You don't want it right in the middle of those pieces; wax is going to hold off together. So I am just going to cut it right there. Cool. So we have two pieces of string; apparently, of course, it's really just one. And then I am going to talk about may be the healing, the healing power of human saliva, it's really cool doing it in your mouth, it is a kind a novel little approach, it's a little gross and I like to do that sometimes. Check this out, I am going to put these ends into my mouth, shove it all in there. Basically now hiding the secret part, now it's just a little bit of theatrics and I am just working around. Now gradually what I am going to do is I am going to pull up each end. What happens is the thread will go from having two apparent ends to back together again. And that restores itself. Pretty sweet. Love this trick, it's a very simple, it's a very clever, it's called Strung Out.
A couple of important things to remember with Strung Out. Again, the key is the preparation, take your time separating the string in the middle, creating those false ends, and the wax on the tips okay. You are going to create a killer optical illusion and that's what it's all about.
So let's go over the tricks you have learned on this episode of Turning Tricks. The first was Flossing. One of my personal favorites, a visual masterpiece and it's worth every ounce of practice you put into it. The second was Double Jointed; remember when you do that; to master that natural moment of misdirection and lastly Strung Out. Rope Magic is a great addition to any repertoire so this is a great one to get you started. And what's most important is as you learn these tricks really at home; do as I do, watch along with me, mimic my actions. And don't be afraid to hit pause and rewind and just watching over and over again until you master the moves because it's complex. But I am sure you will be doing magic in no time. What I love about this episode is that all the tricks are very visual. The Magic really speaks for itself which means you don't even have to talk. I mean some of these tricks are excellent pieces, that can be just done to music and they are beautiful. And I have got a trick that I do in my show, that's very visual, I love doing it to music. I am going to show it to you right now as an example of something you can aspire to.
So this is one of my favorites, what I have done is I have combined the art of Balloon Sculpture with the art of Sword Swallowing. So Balloon Sculpture you know, doggie, okay and then Sword Swallowing, so when I do this I am going to need a drum roll at one point and kind of get this all going, so we can do the drum roll on the table. And I will do one of these. And then the drum roll.
Alright here we go, well mental preparation, I will loosen this up here. Here we go. Go ahead and give me the drum roll, keep me in the mood, keep it going. Alright, the balloon miracle.
The Balloon miracle, I love you very much. And listen, you guys wait 21/2 hours, I will make a puddle like you won't believe. I swear. Always remember three important principles, never reveal the secret, never repeat a trick, and practice, practice, practice. I am Justin Kredible. I have turned my secrets over to you, now it's up to you to start turning tricks.
The more episodes of Turning Tricks you watch, the more magic you will learn, and the more magic you will learn and the more magic you will learn, the more entertaining you will be. And the more entertaining you are, the more people like you; which is nice.
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