A Few Things to Avoid Adding to Your Card Magic Tricks

When you perform card magic tricks, are you tempted to add in additional cuts and flourishes to demonstrate your skill with playing cards?

These demonstrations of skill can delight audiences, and quickly establish you as a competent magician. However, it's important to understand that even the most advances and impressive playing card flourish could hurt the dramatic impact of a card magic trick, if it's used in the wrong place.

Dominic Reyes recorded this short video in which he talks about the time and place for flourishing within the performance of a card magic trick:

So, when is it the right time to perform flourishes with your cards? After all, these moves take considerable time and commitment to master. Dominic suggests that the best time for these demonstrations is BETWEEN your tricks, rather than when you handle the playing cards during an effect.

Anything that is unnecessary to moving the magic trick forward to it's conclusion is reducing the clarity of the effect for the spectator. The playing cards or deck of cards should be handled as little as possible, and with clear movement and minimal action. By avoiding flourishes and trick cuts as you shuffle and handle the cards, you reduce the possible 'points of method' that the spectators can jump on as the moment something sneaky took place.

Using demonstrations of card manipulation as you move from one card magic trick to another may work much better. It can help create a flow and pace to bridge between your individual tricks, keep the spectators engaged, and also appear to be magical events in their own right. By making your flourishing separate and distinct from your tricks, you avoid the flourish being mistaken for the mechanical method of the trick you are presenting.

5 Tips and Ideas to get the most out of your Phoenix Prophecy

by Dominic Reyes 2 Comments

With the release of Phoenix Prophecy, we have been asked by a lot of magicians, for additional presentation and performance ideas for this useful mind reading tool.

The Phoenix Prophecy is a great update on a classic mentalism gimmick that allows you to perform some great mind-reading and mentalism but in a very magical way. The thought of word or spectator's initials appear in burn marks on your business card, or piece of paper, even on your spectator's own bank note!

Although these routines and more ideas are explained in full on the tuition DVD, the Phoenix Prophecy really is a tool that you can use to help improve your creativity. It only took a few minutes for me to come up with a few great ideas you can use with the Phoenix Prophecy, so I thought I’d share these ideas with you now.

Phoenix Prophecy Resizing

As the Phoenix Prophecy gimmick is a bit of a ‘One Size Fits All’ gimmick, there is a tiny chance that it may be too big for you. If this is the case for you, not to worry, it is a simple fix. All you need to do is cut a piece of foam and stick it on the inside of the gimmick so that it fits snugly. You don’t have to use foam, you can also use folded card to bridge the gap. It may seem obvious once you have read this, but nonetheless I believe it is worth mentioning.

Frixion Pen Routine

The Frixion Pen is a great tool. It is a pen with ink that turns invisible when heat is applied to it. This is perfect for the Phoenix Prophecy. I am sure you are already thinking ahead of me now!

Simply take a business card and write a four digit number with the Frixion Pen, place this down as your prediction. Ask the spectator to think of a four digit number, if they think of the number you wrote (it is 9000 to 1, but it could happen!) then you have a miracle! If not (which is more likely!) then simply turn your prediction around to show it is incorrect if you perform this correctly the breakdown of tension should give you ample misdirection to freely work your Phoenix Prophecy gimmick so you can simply say, ‘every now and then my mind reading skills fail me. However, my magic is always pretty good’. You can then hold the lighter under the business card and the ink from the Frixion Pen will vanish, and the burn marks will reveal the thought of number!

Pocket Change Routine

In this routine, you predict correctly three coins that are freely chosen by your spectators, from their own pocket change.

Have a spectator sign the face of your business card and on the opposite side draw three circles. Hold this in full view with the signed face showing to the spectators. Now simply ask your spectator to remove all the change in their pocket, they are to select three coins to use and place them in a row on the table. It should be noted that you are to make it obvious that you do not have a pen in your hand as you hold the prediction. When the coins have been placed down you can recap the process and how impossible it would be if you had correctly predicted not only which coins they would choose but which order they would choose them, how would you ever have known even what coins they had in the first place! This patter will give you ample time to use the Phoenix Prophecy gimmick to full effect and set it so that the value of each coin will appear in the burn marks inside the circles.

Predict Your Friend’s Time to Win a Drink!

Next time you are out with your friends in a bar bet them that you can predict the future and propose a wager if you can predict where your friend will stop their watch then they buy you a drink, if not then you will buy them a drink!

When you write your prediction you are simply going to draw a watch without the hands on the face. Draw on your business card at the top of the card, the card must be portrait and not landscape as it will give you more space to draw the watch.

All you need to do is have your friend wind their watch around to ANY time they like and stop. Ask them to click the button in on their watch so they cannot change their mind. Emphasize that you have made your prediction, again make it clear (without saying it) that you do not have a pen in your hand. As soon as they have selected their time use the Phoenix Prophecy gimmick to have the correct hands appear when you hold the lighter underneath the prediction. Reveal the time and claim your drink!

Business Card Symmetry

In this routine, you are going to get perfectly in sync with your spectator. Hand your spectator a business card and ask them to take the business card and place a tear in the business card anywhere they like. They can tear any edge they like, ask them not to tear any part off the card, but to simply put a small tear into the business card. As they do this you will use your Phoenix Prophecy gimmick to prep that same part of your business card. Now when you hold the lighter underneath the business card a distinct mark will appear in the same place as where they tore their card.

You can of course use this idea with pieces of paper or borrowed bank notes too so it can be completely impromptu as long as you have your Phoenix Prophecy gimmick with you. And lets face it, when are you ever going to leave it at home!

So there you go, there are 5 tips and ideas to use with your Phoenix Prophecy gimmick to help inspire you! It really is a great gimmick which I intend on having with me for a very long time! Enjoy!

How to Import Magic Tricks from the US or China – Cost/Tax – Problems

by Dominic Reyes 1 Comment

Rebecca wants to know about the costs of importing magic tricks into the UK.

Rebecca asks:

'I've been looking at magic shops online and notice that many US magic shops seem a lot cheaper than UK shops. I like to buy my magic from The Merchant of Magic as the service is great, but some tricks are only available in other countries. As you order magic tricks internationally, could you give me some advice, please?'

Buying magic tricks from magic shops outside the UK can look like an amazing deal. Sometimes the items appear to be a lot cheaper, or simply are not available in UK magic shops. Let's look at the process and give you some tips for ordering magic from magic shops outside of the UK.

The ordering process.

Most websites are pretty much the same, although there are design differences which can make the shopping experience different. However, essentially, you browse the site, add items into your shopping cart and fill in a shipping section and payment section.

The main differences will be that the prices are not shown in UK Currency, and measurements may be different.

Payment.

If you purchase an item using your card outside the UK, you will be performing a transaction in the currency of the country the shop is based within. Paypal, Visa, Mastercard make this very easy, but it's important to understand that you are also performing a currency conversion when you make the transaction.

Your bank/card company will convert the payment into UK currency and change you a fee. Each bank charges a different fee for international transactions, this can be around 2-3% of the transaction, so it's wise to check with your bank to see exactly how much the international payment will cost you.

VAT.

International magic shops don't show sales tax for the UK as this is payable later. Unlike shops in the UK, you won't be shown the full cost of the order including tax. This is because the UK tax is added to the value of the order once it arrives in the UK and Customs and Excise value the order and add the UK VAT element. When looking at prices of magic tricks in magic shops outside of the UK, you need to add an additional 20% to the price as this is the current VAT charge in the UK (correct as of 2013).

Import Duty.

The UK government doesn't like its citizens sending their money to another country. That's a fair point as it weakens the UK economy and builds up the coffers of the other country. To help balance this, the government charges an import duty fee. This is added to the total of the order after the VAT is added so you pay import duty on the value of the goods, the shipping cost and the VAT. Import duty in 2013 for magic tricks is currently 2.7%.

The import duty tax rate for importing Magic tricks into United Kingdom is 2.7%, the import VAT is 20%, when classified under Toys & Games → Other Toys & Games → Playing Cards with HS commodity code 9504.40.0000

Customs Clearance fees.

When your order arrives to the UK, it passes through customs and the VAT and Import Duty tax are added. The courier that will deliver the package pays this tax in advance for you, then will either write to you or phone you, to ask you to pay the tax fees, before they can deliver the package to you. They will also charge you a fee for the customs clearance process. This ranges from £10 – £25 per shipment.

Shipping Fees.

International shipping is much more expensive than domestic shipping, so check that the shipping fees shown on the magic website are fixed and cover delivery to your country. If the dealer offers free international shipping, double check that you will be getting all the goods as some dealers will remove the packaging, DVD boxes and additional bonus items to reduce the shipping weight. Make sure you will be getting exactly the same item or items as a customer from the websites own country, and if not, that you are made fully aware of this.

Some dealers will contact you after you place the order and ask for additional shipping due to the final weight of the order, or they may tell you that the order will have to ship by a different method that can take a few days or even a few weeks longer to arrive. Make sure you check this in advance, so there are surprises

Shipping delays.

Importing internationally will result in a much longer delivery time. The items have to travel a huge distance, then pass through the customs process. Once this is done, your import fees and taxes need to be paid, so there is a delay whist you are contacted to arrange this payment. It's important to remember this when you look at projected delivery times given by international magic shops. They have no control over the time it takes to clear customs, or routing delays, so allow extra time for this process to take place.

Damage in Transit.

Your goods will be traveling a long distance, often by plane or ship. It's vital that you make sure that additional care is taken to package the goods for a rough journey. Damage in transit will be hard to address if something goes wrong. It will cost you a great deal to return items internationally if that is possible at all. Your UK consumer rights probably won't cover you for transactions outside of the UK, so you will be relying on the trust and goodwill of the magic shop you are ordering from.

Returns.

Sometimes things go wrong, DVD's arrive broken or don't play, tricks are misdescribed or not useable in the UK. You will not have the same consumer rights that you do when buying magic tricks from a UK shop. Returning goods can be expensive and often will be at your cost. Good magic shops will try to look after you, but there are no guarantees. Make sure the shop you use is an established reputable magic dealer with good customer service reviews, and check on their returns policy before you purchase. If you use a credit card, rather than a debit card you may have some limited protection, but it's worth checking with your bank first.

Card Security.

Be sure to only use established magic shops you trust. Anyone can set up a website in a few hours, and by placing an order you are giving them full access to your card details. Ensure that the site has a secure checkout, ideally run by a third party, trusted payment gateway.

Summary of costs.

Prices and import laws change all the time, but currently you should expect to pay the following costs in addition to the prices shown on international magic shop websites:

Currency Conversion Fee	2.5%
VAT	20%
Import Duty	2.7%
Customs Clearance Fee	£15

So for example, imagine you placed an order for $100 worth of magic tricks

US$100 = £65 (as of 15/8/13 google currency conversion)

Currency Conversion Fee 2.5%	£1.62
VAT 20%	£13
Import Duty 2.7% of goods and VAT	£2.10
Clearance fees	£15

Total additional import costs £31.72

Sneaking through the system.

Sometimes packages that have a small order value will get through the system without charges. However, it's your legal duty to report any import to customs and pay the duty. Failing to declare imports, and paying incorrect import duty and VAT on imports could be regarded as smuggling, and tax avoidance.

It can still be a good idea.

Ordering magic tricks from magic shops outside of the UK can still be a great idea. If a magic trick is not available in the UK, and you fully understand the extra costs and delays, you can find some amazing items and rare tricks being sold all over the world. You don't need to be scared of ordering magic tricks internationally, just make sure you find out the full costs, so you can be delighted when the package arrives rather than shocked by the hidden costs.