The Magic Industry Changed. Did You?

1. I was just thinking abut doing magic in 2019
2. To find out how I could be a magician
3. I am retired
4. To buy the right magic tricks
5. Uncertainty and a lack of money
6. I would love a chat with somebody – over email

1-Mechanical Engineering
2-To fill my kids with wonder and curiosity, then possibly others.
3-Mechanical Engineering Manager
4-Hobby, but would like to possibly visit the local hospital and entertain sick kids.
5-work and home commitments, self confidence due to lack of time to practice
6-tips on practice techniques, practical approach to firing it into your lifestyle. More on the nuances in performing. I loved the videos on misdirection by James Brown, I felt he had a lot of very insightful points he had attained which applied on a very broad way, regardless of your magic interests.

1. Working in a brick-and-mortar magic shop; not performing.
2. Goal at the time was staying on top of current offerings from major vendors, since, at the store, I had to answer questions from customers.
3. Retired. Do some performing when I feel like it.
4. Personal goal is to work on close-up magic (no cards), especially sleights and different ways to approach old tricks/props.
5. Making the time to do it.
6. Ellusionist could, over all, follow the advice of Maskelyne and Devant and help magicians put Art into their magic. That’s for everybody, not just me. Most of us don’t need more stuff. We need to get better with the stuff we have.

1. In 2019 I had recently retired from a career as a medical researcher and trying various retirement job options. At that time I was trying to be a gourmet chef. Magic was on the radar and I was very slowly ramping up my involvement.

2. In 2019, magic was still a hobby and I was emphasizing getting up to speed in close up. I had gone to magic school (in Australia) when I was young and had been trained as a stand-stage magician. I felt my close up skills were lacking and was trying to improve them.

3. I am semi-retired with a supplemental income from magic. My background in stage magic gives me skills that many who have come up from close up don’t have, so I have a bit of an advantage.

4. My goal in magic right now is to grow my business through better marketing and emphasizing my background in stand up and stage magic.

5. The biggest obstacle I am facing is a lack of modernized stand up and stage equipment. I am building a lot myself. Most extant stand up magic is designed for those wanting to “scale up” closeup not realizing that any card tricks needing card identities lose impact past the third row for poker sized cards. Objects large enough to be seen by the whole audience of a stage show are not amenable to sleight of hand and other techniques must be used. Most stage tricks are rehashes of tricks from the 40s complete with oriental symbols that are no longer appropriate. Suppliers need to really think about design, materials, and techniques. For example, pocket watches are no longer ubiquitous, phones are. But they cannot be palmed or manipulated like watches Silk scarves are not a fashion accessory to the degree they once were in the 30s through the 60s, so what do we do instead.

6. Ellusionist is still embedded in closeup magic, a market composed equally of hobbyists, collectors and some professionals. The performance market is oversaturated with close-up magicians and hence fees and low and that market cannot afford to spend much on new effects. Moving to stand up is becoming a trend (eg grahams Stage by stage, Armstrongs how to win, etc). The market for stand up effects which necessarily involve more technology than close up lacks modern well.designed equipment that is affordable. The only.buyers of the.multi hundred dollar effects are those that have a big investment in a show already. Those that want to transition are poorly served. Ellusionist could change that.

I started learning close-up magic tricks in 2004, when I was 14. I played around with it for a couple of years, but I found it difficult to learn new tricks. So I quit magic after a couple of years. Then, suddenly, in 2017, I randomly came across a YouTube video of a guy (Chris Ramsay) where he did a magic tutorial. And I picked up my cards and coins and became interested again.
In 2019 I was 29 and I worked as a sales associate in a clothing store. It was my first job in fashion/retail.
When I first started magic, I loved the responses I got whenever I performed a trick, which was mostly before family and close friends. It has never been my intention to make a living off of it.
Right now I am 35 and a store manager, still in fashion/retail.
So, I believe that I am a big child on the inside. I have a huge imagination and I daydream a lot. I personally feel that during your schoolperiod and while growing up, you are taught that magic isn’t real and your childly imagination is being “killed” and you have to be realistic and a grown-up. Ever since I got my first reaction to my magic tricks, my family actually didn’t understand how the things I did were possible. And I felt like, with my magic, I could give people back the feeling that the impossible IS possible and that magic DOES exist. Also, I love the idea of people thinking that I can do things that are supposed to be scientifically impossible. I still only perform magic very, very occasionally because I feel like people might not want to see the magic, or they think it is a waste of time, or they think I’m a weirdo (which I am) and I mostly only show it to family or close friends. And I’m happy to say that some of my colleagues enjoy the occasional magic trick on the shop floor.
I just like the idea of bringing grown-ups back to their childhood when a lot of things were still magical. Also, I became a dad a year ago. And I can’t wait to do impossible things in front of my son’s eyes, hoping he’ll actually think that his dad is a magician!
What is standing in my way is grown-up life, not having enough money to buy all the books and magic tricks that I want, not having enough time in this lifetime to learn every sleight of hand move to perfection..
Ellusionist can help me by continuing what you are doing. I bought some of my first decks of cards and magic tricks from your website when I started magic in 2004. You guys are amazing. I understand that you are evolving with the digital age and I see a lot of tricks are starting to involve smartphones and all kinds of devices. I personally am not a big fan of those tricks, I prefer the old tricks that need countless of hours of practice and despair with just a coin or a deck of cards. And just blow people’s minds.
Thank you for reading my (long) story.