Pencil tricks! For the forum!

[kittynh]

I need some help here with a forum project.

I'm going to have some forum give aways made up for Mini TAM.

Bookmarks are on the way, but I'd like forum pencils!

But, it would be really fun if we had some pencil tricks to go along with the pencils! I could have perhaps a few tricks printed up on a half sheet of paper to go with each pencil.

Problem is, even if I read a magic trick and can do it, I can't write instructions clearly.

What I need is some clearly written instructions for a few pencil tricks that anyone can do. You know even that wiggle it slowly trick.

Thanks!

[Brown]

One of my favorite pencil tricks is difficult to describe. It almost has to be shown. I performed it at TAM2 and befuddled a few folks with it.

Basically, you start with your hands palms together, thumbs pointing up. Slip the pencil in the crotch of your thumbs. That's the starting position.

The ending position has the two hands palms down (palms no longer touching, but both facing down), with the thumbs pointing down. And the pencil is still in the crotch of your thumbs.

The puzzle is: How do you get from the starting position to the ending position without letting go of the pencil? As you move from the starting position to the ending position, the thumbs maintain constant contact with each other. The hands do not come apart.

This is a great trick because you can show it to people several times, and they still will not understand how you did it, nor will they be able to do it themselves.

[Brown]

Another good pencil trick: Can you put the pencil on a table and balance it on its point?

There are a lot of ways to do this, but perhaps the most entertaining way is to attach a structure to the top of the pencil--say, by sticking it into the eraser--and having the attachment extend down below the table, curling under the table and the pencil. You can make such an attachment from a pin and a wire coat hanger. Basically, this lowers the center of gravity of the pencil/attachment system, and you can stand the pencil on point above this new center of gravity.

[Brown]

Let's not forget the many "pencil through handkerchief" tricks. They are standard fare in children's magic books.

In one version, you apparently poke the pencil through a handkerchief held over your fist.

In another version, you lay out the handkerchief diagonally on the table, put the pencil on top of the handkerchief, and then bring the lower corner of the handkerchief near the upper corner. You then roll the pencil into the handkerchief. When you pull the corners to unroll the handkerchief, however, the pencil is not on top of the handkerchief, but underneath it, having apparently passed through it. You can use this same effect to make it seem as though the pencil has vanished.

[Brown]

Oh, how could I forget? There are ways to make it seem that the pencil is magnetized to the palm of your hand. In one variation of the presentation, you can show an audience how this trick is performed, then perform it in a different way that will surprise and baffle them.

[Brown]

Just thought of another one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxmrV...elated&search=

It's an ancient trick that has gotten a lot of mileage for The Amazing Johnathan. The trick comes at 2:55.

[Kilgore Trout]

I know all of one trick (a card trick at that) so I'm certainly not very good at this, but something that does spring to mind which may be a suggestion (I make no claims on it being a good suggestion) is James Hydrick moving a pencil with his "mind". James Randi debunked him on a show hosted by Bob Barker.

[Brown]

I Googled "pencil tricks" and this thread came up... but so did a number of links to various pencil tricks. I haven't reviewed them all, but they seem to focus upon spinning of the pencil.

In Mr. Randi's "Nova" documentary, Mr. Randi says "Look what my friend Jamy Ian Swiss can do!" And Jamy does a spooky trick with a pencil and a ring. Without giving away too much of the trick, let's just say that there is a little more to the apparatus than simply pencil and ring, but this is a very easy trick to do and there are numerous variations on the theme. (In one of the variations, you don't need the ring at all, but the pencil behaves in apparent defiance of the laws of physics.)

I've seen another good pencil trick, but I doubt it could be explained on half a sheet of paper. (Richard Osterlind demonstrates it in his "Easy to Master Mental Miracles" DVDs.) Basically, there are six cards face down on a table, and the spectator is told there is a word on the face of each card. The spectator uses a pencil to select one of the six cards. The five unselected cards are turned over to reveal words on their faces like "bicycle," "Detroit," "rocket," words that are quite distinct from the prop at hand. But when the sixth card is turned over, the word on its face is "pencil."

[Brown]

Another classic, one that's all in the presentation.

It's billed as the "disappearing coin trick." A spectator holds a coin in his fist and is told the coin will disappear. The performer, under the pretense of not having a "magic wand" handy, taps the spectator's fist with the pencil. On the third tap, the pencil disappears. The performer says, "Oh, I forgot! It's not the coin that disappears, it's the PENCIL!"

There are lots of variations on this old bit as well. Larry Anderson does a version in which he holds a business card in his own hand, then says he will make it vanish on the count of three. Tapping his hand with his pencil, he counts: "One! Two! Three!" And the card is still there, but the pencil is gone. Larry then shows the audience how he made the pencil disappear, gets a laugh, and promptly performs the trick again. This time, the pencil does not disappear, but when he opens his hand, the business card is indeed gone!

[Brown]

Geez, I keep remembering more pencil tricks.

Here's one you can do at a dinner table. Wedge the point of the pencil between the tines of two oppositely oriented forks. (A picture can show the arrangement better than I can describe it.) The forks have to be fairly solidly wedged onto the pencil point. The center of gravity of the pencil-forks system is still inside the body of the pencil, but is closer to the eraser end than it was before. You can therefore easily balance the pencil horizontally on the corner of a table or on the edge of a glass in a way that looks unnatural.

[Brown]

One last classic: Although not a "trick" in the conventional sense, it is nevertheless a trick of optics, it looks strange, and it can be used as a demo to educate children.

If you put a pencil in a clear glass of water, the pencil appears to be "broken." This effect is due to the optical principle of refraction.

[Brown]

Can you arrange six pencils of equal length on a table to make four equilateral triangles of equal size? The secret is to think three-dimensionally.

[kittynh]

Brown what I need is say TWO really simple pencil tricks, even the putting a pencil in a glass of water, and say one other really really easy one that people can just DO.

No extras needed?

And I need someone to write them up. I want it to fit (with or without illustrations) on a quarter sheet of paper, and I'll print them out, and roll around each pencil and attach with a small bit of tape or small rubber band (A lot of work, but I'll do it happily).

If you can think of two easy tricks that you can clearly right up, and maybe simple diagram if needed, and send it to me, I would be very grateful and so would JREF. Plus at the TAMs and other skeptic events you will get to see everyone trying the tricks folllowing your directions! I want to give out more than just a pencil. It has to be a magic pencil!

[Brown]

Originally Posted by kittynh

Brown what I need is say TWO really simple pencil tricks, even the putting a pencil in a glass of water, and say one other really really easy one that people can just DO.

No extras needed?

And I need someone to write them up. I want it to fit (with or without illustrations) on a quarter sheet of paper, and I'll print them out, and roll around each pencil and attach with a small bit of tape or small rubber band (A lot of work, but I'll do it happily).

If you can think of two easy tricks that you can clearly right up, and maybe simple diagram if needed, and send it to me, I would be very grateful and so would JREF. Plus at the TAMs and other skeptic events you will get to see everyone trying the tricks folllowing your directions! I want to give out more than just a pencil. It has to be a magic pencil!

I'd recommend, then, (1) the "pencil magnetized to the palm of the hand" trick, which uses two simple illustrations and very little explanation, and (2) the four equilateral triangles puzzle, which is easy to describe and which has a solution easily illustrated in a single picture. The "rubber pencil" is a good one, too, and you only need one pencil to perform that one.

Let me see if I can put together a diagram or two, and send it to you.

[kittynh]

Thanks Brown!

It would be fun if people can use the JREF pencil for more than just boring old writing!

[Brown]

Originally Posted by Brown

I'd recommend, then, (1) the "pencil magnetized to the palm of the hand" trick, which uses two simple illustrations and very little explanation, and (2) the four equilateral triangles puzzle, which is easy to describe and which has a solution easily illustrated in a single picture. The "rubber pencil" is a good one, too, and you only need one pencil to perform that one.

Let me see if I can put together a diagram or two, and send it to you.

I've prepared and sent to Kittynh drawings pertaining to the "pencil magnetized to the palm of the hand" trick.