Table of Contents
Thread Magic :: Greg Webb
Thread Methods :: Greg Webb
Thread Prep :: Greg Webb
Stage IT :: Richard Robinson
Stage IT :: By Richard Robinson
Working With Stage Thread
The Object
The weight of the object to be animated by the line is the crucial factor in successfully
using thread on stage. The object should weigh two ounces or less, any weight greater
than that can result in the line breaking if stressed during actual performance.
With modern materials such as self-stick Mylar as well as traditional materials such as
papier mache, cardboard and balsa wood the performer is encouraged to consider the
construction of the objects to be used as the starting point for building any props to be
activated by invisible thread.
The Length Of The Line
The line should be kept as short as is practical to accomplish the effect desired. The
longer the line, the greater the strain, and the more likely it is to break if abruptly
tugged or too forcefully worked during actual performance.
Kill Factor
While stage illusionists using heavy gauge lines often resort to glitter curtains and
other full backgrounds to hide such line, with this light gauge line a different strategy
should be employed.
A few bright objects on the performer's table will often provide more than enough
'dazzle' to ensure that the line is invisible to the audience. The principle here is that by
using several small items, all of which reflect the stage light, the audience is unaware
that any 'dazzle' principle is being used.
Distance From Body
The further the thread is away from any background, the less visible it will be. If you
are using the thread in front of your body, keep your arms extended forward as far as
practical. The extra few inches gained in this manner will almost always help to make
the thread impossible to see.
Stage Lighting
Avoid overhead lighting (lighting coming directly down) with all stage thread effects.
The Hands
Dry, smooth hands are important to manipulating fine lines.
Practice
The more fluid your motions are, the less obvious thread is being used. Any effect
using thread should be practiced and rehearsed until it is second nature.
IT Work :: Greg Webb
Thread Magic
And so begins thisMagic Show series on the magical uses of thread. I have some
strong opinions about the Thread Reels so popular now, and I'll cover why I feel this
way and what some of the alternatives are for thread work.
I'll also be explaining a bit of the history of the use of various kinds of thread in magic
and some effects that have fallen into disuse because of the thread reels which are
great pieces of magic without a reel and based on other knowledge.
Carl Polaris
I'll start off by saying that Carl Polaris, the great New York club entertainer has some
great work with the reel.
In fact I helped, and he stated that my suggestions 'changed his life,' which I doubt
because Carl brings his personality to whatever effect he does and that is his real
magic. We did solve some minor problems with the reel, though.
But the reason that I am against the reel is the same reason I am against any fad in
magic. Everyone jumps on the bandwagon and wants to do what everyone else is
doing, and in a nutshell this is the problem. There are many ways to make something
float or move. What happens is that all the other ways fall by the wayside and you
have everyone doing the same version of something floating.
I think my real role is becoming the voice in the wilderness whoreminds magicians of
other good ways that give a similar effect to what's hot that if revived would seem
new again. I'll be the guy who says, "You're all in a rut here. If you all - or some of
you, switched to 'such and such' you'd be unique and not just a sheep following the
herd."
The IT Reel
So my main beef with the reel is that while an expert can make it look like 'magic,' in
the hands of a novice it seems just like it is. The audience doesn't have tosee the
thread to know it is a thread. It is given away by the kind of movement, which needs
to be disguised in ways that exist but need to be in the hands of someone with artistic
sensitivity.
Dealers push the reel on any beginner in magic who walks in. Any tourist. None of
them will be able to make it come alive. They don't have enough magic background,
yet they'll be out there doing it badly. I say, when that is the situation, be it the reel,
cig-through-quarter, the new rinkey dinkey, or whatever, switch your own method to
something else. Usually you can find a very old principle that you can revive and
make new again.
Floating
One area that I must address is the entire premise of having an object float. There may
be something inherently wrong with the whole premise. It may be the 'Too Perfect
Theory' in action. Perhaps the making of something float in midair is just too
unbelievable.
There are exceptions. Richard Robinson does an effect with a butterfly that comes
seemingly to life (although not using thread) and I have an effect with a tissue paper
moth that flutters to life (that does use thread - but not the reel) which evoke great
audience identification, but perhaps because they seem to come alive rather than defy
gravity. A bill or silk that float in midair might just hit the audience as too impossible,
therefore they begin right away to wonder, "How?". Guess what? Their first answer is
thread.
I remember discussing just this idea with the late Bob McAllister at his studio.
Perhaps, we decided, it would actually be stronger in the long run to have something
twitch, or move, or animate than completely rise in the air. The idea is, the viewers
just might be able to buythat kind of power, yet reject the floating object out of hand.
It seems we weren't the only ones thinking about this issue.
Barrie Richardson, in the terrific new book from Stephen Minch and Hermetic Press,
feels the same way, and offers numerous effects that animate but don't completely
levitate, and talks about the issue and remember the name of the book - 'Theater of the
Mind.' It's very good.
IT Work :: By Greg Webb
Thread Methods
Invisible Thread
A little history is in order now. The modern origin of work - and interest in 'Invisible
Thread' must go to the woman 'psychic' from Russia who could make a drinking glass
twitch and sometimes slide around on a table as she made 'passes' around it. She was
taken to be a genuine telekinetic until unmasked by Randi, I believe.
Then overnight, we began hearing about how to unravel British pantyhose to get a
thread that was seen to be made of a myriad threads and one of these was our original
'invisible thread.' It was a funny situation when magicians everywhere were buying
black pantyhose in lingerie shops for nefarious purposes, but not for what sales
personnel may have thought.
For those interested, the Russian woman had her invisible thread in a loop (Tying
invisible thread is not easy. Maybe she used real telekinesis to get the ends tied.) The
loop went around her thumbs and her hands could be held six or eight inches apart. As
she made her 'passes' around the glass, the taughtly stretched thread would bump the
glass and make it slide or twitch. It looked good. I saw the footage.
Floating Cork
Then there was leaked rumors about Fred Kaps' Floating Cork. Then came Wonderbar
and the Floating Match, and then a flood of ideas such as standing a credit card or bill
on its edge and other wonders until the 'thread reel' came along which caught on like
wildfire, in main part because it made invisible thread work so much easier.
There is a more ancient history of thread work that you should be aware of, if we are
to explore alternate methods to the thread reel.
Early Methods
The ancients had 'invisible thread' and you'd have to try this idea to realize that way
way back, long before British pantyhose, magicians had single strands of human hair.
They had single strands of horse tail hair. They had single strands of spider web, and
they had single strands of silk worm silk thread.
The great Japanese magician Shigeo Takagi who also worked in the Japanese
Archives, found an ancient text called 'Secrets of the Saints' and I remember some of
the tricks were with a long piece of dark human hair. If you never tried this, I must tell
you that against a dark surface it is utterly invisible.
During a bus ride I was sitting next to an Asian woman with long black hair, very
straight, and when she got off at her stop I noticed a hair on my sleeve. I wrapped it
around one of my business cards and I have it to this day. It is a reminder that ancient
magicians had invisible thread too.
Normal Thread
Then there are tricks that don't need invisible thread and the regular old black sewing
thread will suffice - such as for stage or platform work.
Working Normal Thread
So there are various types of 'thread' and this highlights my problem with the thread
reel. I guess you could simplify my position by saying that anytime anything gets into
the hands of the beginner magicians and catches on, that I immediately jump ship and
start to look for something in the same vein of effect but with a different method. I
might mention here that there are animations of objects that don't use thread of any
kind.
Also there is the idea that making something twitch or move without actually floating
free can be stronger to a layman, but we don't realize this at first because 'once a
magician - at all - never again a layman,' in our assessments of impact. Add to this
that many hobbyists only show their magic to their magic friends, and you get a style
that has no bearing on what non-magicians want to see.
Thread Effects
So let's begin with some effects using black sewing thread. If you never tried this old
trick, you must, to appreciate the impact. Attach a thread to the end of a wand, stick or
pen. Attach the other end to your belt or belt loop. The thread should be about a foot
and a half long. A note here is that in most cases the monofilament type of thread,
although clear, is not usually invisible for magic because it is shiny. This kind of
thread silver in a spotlight. Black sewing thread is way better.
The trick is to put a finger ring over the vertical wand and thread. The upper end is the
end with the thread attached. The ring will only go down as far as your left hand,
which holds the wand in the middle. Now for the magic.
By pushing away from yourself, you tighten the thread and the ring will climb up the
wand in an eerie way.
What is nice is that the wand itself can entirely hide the thread if you watch the angle
of vision and keep the wand in front of you. If the suit you wear is dark, there isn't a
problem anyway.
To make this more magical, gesture mysteriously with your free hand. Move this hand
around and under and above, seemingly proving no sort of support to the ring. The
ring should move up and down numerous times, as if to show it has some life force.
You can use it to answer questions. You can have one up-and-down move mean 'yes'
and two movements mean 'no.' For a larger stage, use a yardstick and a bracelet or
harness ring.
Thread Props
I want to mention a few good tricks of yesteryear, and yester-millennium. One can't
ignore the little 'Magic Mouse' that ran along the back of your hands, a favorite of
street pitchmen and mentioned in all the magic classics. One can't ignore Rising
Cards, the Floating Match, and of course Wonderbar, which is yet another Edward
Victor invention down to the test tube, but his used a cigarette. but changing to a
Mylar tube made it into Wonderbar.
IT Work :: By Greg Webb
Thread Prep
How To
Now, how to make invisible thread without having to be 'tied' to a magic shop. Go to
a fabric or sewing shop and get black silk decorative cord.
First you have to untwist the strings that make up the cord. Look carefully and you'll
see that each of these strings is made up of many strands twisted together. These have
to be untwisted to get a single strand.
Each of these strands is made up of many threads which you untwist to get one thread,
and each thread is made up of many pieces of invisible thread.
To get one of these you pull on a single piece, and pull all the way down the length of
the thread to straighten any buckling or tangling as you go. You should be working
with about a one yard length. Pull about an inch, then work the buckling mentioned
down the length. Then another inch, etc. and soon you have a single strand of
invisible thread free. You can see that this way you'd have a lifetime supply.
Anchors
How to attach it to something? A small oval cut from Scotch tape will attach one end
to a fingernail. For some people the frosted tape works best. You can fix one end to a
bead with a tiny bit glue, and use this end to 'animate' something by wiggling the
bead.
Another method is wax, and the best wax to get is the wax they sell in doll shops for
use in doll houses, to keep object from falling over or moving around that you don't
want to move. It comes in a small tin, and you take a dab of it and fold one end of the
invisible thread into it and then form the wax into a ball, and this is the other method
for making a bead to manipulate to make something twitch or vibrate. The other end
of the thread can have a similar wax ball on the end.
Effect And Method
To end I am going to describe what I feel is the best combination of effect and
method. This goes back, of course, to the premise I put forth at the start of this series,
that causing an object to twitch or move can be more powerful to lay audiences of
non-magicians. This ability to remain able to think like a layman and not a magician
is also important.
The effect is done by having a thread attached to a belt loop or belt with tape on the
inside of belt. The other end has a bit of the wax mentioned. This is stuck somewhere
on the belt when not in use. Introducing several pieces of paper, have a person write a
date that has meaning to them, birthday - the date of birth of their husband, wife,
child, etc. On the other slips they write a date that has no particular meaning to them.
These are 'controls' in science jargon.
In short you get the waxed end of the invisible thread into your hand and attach it to
the underneath of the special date slip and sort of mix the slips on the table.
By simply changing your posture the slip in question will move. Gestures with your
hands and arms help hide the slight movement of your hips. Its hard to believe but this
can have more meaning than a floating bill or silk. When using invisible thread, less is
more.
IT Work is (c) 2000 by Robinson Wizard, Inc. New York City. Portions (c) 2000 by
Greg Webb.
All rights are reserved. This document is for the personal use of the reader and may
not be altered, sold, reprinted, copied and/or distributed in any form without the
written permission of the copyright holder.