What magic supplies should all magicians own?
We received this email from Greg:
Just bought "Open" from you, now i think you are by far the best magic shop anywhere.
Your range is excellent, your tutorials & customer care are second to none, as well as all the free advice & tips. But.. I think you need to have items that are needed for a trick linked somehow when purchasing.
Most magicians are either blue cards or red cards. Me, I'm a red cards person, that's what I mainly use & buy. It would have been helpful to know that for "Open" that iIneeded a blue or non red deck to do the trick. Now I have to order a deck and can't begin to perform the trick I've purchased until I get them!
Greg raises a very good question. When you order a magic trick, it's really important that you have everything at hand to be able to start practising. Why is it that the product descriptions of magic tricks sometimes don't tell you everything you need to be able to start performing the trick the moment you receive it?
Exposure.
It's a fine line between describing a magic trick, giving the magician a list of all the magic supplies they need to make an informed decision, and passing on too much information which would show the secrets of the magic trick. Lets say you read a description or watch the video of a banknote flying up from the table and floating over to the magician. If the product description explains that you would need to purchase invisible thread it would completely expose the secret of the magic trick. If you have a magic trick where a red deck of playing cards suddenly turns into a blue deck, and you were told that you would need to buy both a red deck and a blue deck it is sort of gives the game away. Magic trick product descriptions need to explain the effect and give enough information to allow magician to determine whether they can and should perform the trick. It's not necessarily the place of the product description to discuss the mechanics and props that will be needed. However, that raises the issue of product design.
Product design.
If a magic trick is produced it should really come already with most of the magic supplies needed to perform the trick. Unless you have specifically bought a book, general magic DVD, or download, you should really get most of the props required. Why is it not always the case?
Often it's a matter of cost. A magic DVD might feature a whole range of different magic tricks each using little magic supplies that you can find day-to-day. That could all be included in the pack but would make the product very expensive, and many magicians already have the staple magic supplies required.
There tends to be an assumption that most magicians will have a range of magic supplies needed to perform the majority of magic tricks. Let's look at the most popular items on this list:
Magic supplies every magician should already own.
- Bicycle playing cards red and blue.
- Sharpie marker pen.
- Scotch tape.
- Double sided sticky tape.
- Invisible thread.
- Magicians wax.
- Expanded coin shell.
- Small magnets.
- Scalpel.
- Scissors.
- Roughing fluid.
- Repositioning clue.
- Paperclips.
- Glue.
- Thumb Tip
- Hole punch.
- Flash paper.
- Double sided playing cards.
- Blank playing cards.
- Magician silks.
Essential magic supplies for magic practice.
There are also some useful magic supplies that every magician should own to help they practice and develop their magic:
- Close up mat
- Practice three section mirror
- Magic wand
- Video camera or smartphone
- DVD player
- Small magic table
- Full length mirror
- Metronome
- Book stand
- Magic notebook
All of these items don't tend to be included in most magic tricks. So it's worth making sure you always have these items are hand if you don't download magic tricks or learn some from books and DVDs. If a magic trick has the need for something very unusual then it should be included in the product description in such a way as to not expose the secret, or it shouldbe included with the trick.
One of the best ways to check if a magic trick need specific magic supplies is to ask the experts. Good magic shops will always have a team of magicians on hand to be able to give you expert advice and specific details about magic trick. At the Merchant of Magic you can telephone, email, live chat, or visit the team of magicians and discuss everything you need to know about not only performing a magic trick, but also if it's right for you.
