TOOLBOX
FAVORITE THINGS
As chosen by John Lovick of Magic magazine
Holonzki Wall Lamp by Ingo Maurer
ingo-maurer.com
This is really cool. I first saw it in the home of David Copperfield’s
executive producer, Chris Kenner. Here’s how it works: there’s
an empty socket with a pull chain. You pull the chain, and a 3D
holographic image of a light bulb appears and it illuminates — the
hologram light bulb generates light just like a real light bulb. Well,
not really, but that’s the illusion that’s created. There’s sometimes
a very fine line between science and magic.
SkyRoll Garment Bags skyroll.com
Any good magician knows that when you step onstage you gotta look
your best. The hassles of travel have never been worse, and anything
that can help you avoid having to check your bags is a godsend.
This unusual carry-on garment bag can hold a couple of suits, some
shirts, several ties, a pair of shoes, a shaving kit, and more.
Creative Whack Pack creativewhack.com
Magicians of necessity must look at things (objects as well as
people) in unusual ways. This illustrated deck of 64 creative-thinking
strategies is based on the book A Whack on the Side of the Head:
How to Be More Creative, by Roger von Oech. The strategies are
designed to whack you out of habitual thought patterns and enable
you to look at life in a fresh way. With this pack, you can practice your
sleight of hand and stimulate your creativity at the same time.
Peanut Butter in Plastic Squeeze
Tubes peanutbutter.com/squeezeproducts.asp
Why did it take 100 years to put peanut butter in a squeeze tube?
Let’s not be bitter about it, just be glad they finally did.
“The Ex” Voodoo Knife Holder
thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/gear/86dd
Teller (of Penn & Teller fame), one of magic’s creative geniuses and
a man who delights in all things macabre, has one of these in his
kitchen. Do you need to know any more than that?
The Expert at the Card Table
by S.W. Erdnase erdnase.com
Dai Vernon (the Stanislavski of close-up magic) described this book,
first published in 1902, as the “bible” of card handling, both for magicians and for cheaters. Bill Kalush and the Conjuring Arts Research
Center have produced this handy new pocket-sized edition of the
book that — purely coincidentally — looks like a small New Testament.
You can buy them individually or in 12-packs. Let us now open our
hymnals to “the diagonal palm-shift.”
John Lovick is the author of two critically acclaimed books on the performance of sleight of hand, and an associate editor at
Magic magazine, the world’s premier periodical for magicians. Handsome Jack, his secret alter ego, is a regular performer
at the world-famous Magic Castle in Hollywood.
196 Make: Volume 13
