Joel Howlett led off the magic with manipulation of ping pong balls. Joel has spent a considerable chunk of his life training himself in manipulation for magic tricks, and it showed ! We just could not take our eyes off his presentation, it was so gripping.
Next, Noel Clair, the host for the evening of magic “Balls and Things”, multiplied sponge balls and also vanished them. Using a United States half dollar coin (because it is larger and easier to handle), he did the “paddle move” with it.
John Ferguson poured red liquid (water with food dye) into a plastic cup, then upended it and pulled out a (dry) silk handkerchief of the same colour – had the water solidified ?
Our President, David Whitson, started his presentation with the vanishing cane. Rolling the cane up in newspaper, he suddenly crumpled up the newspaper to show the cane had vanished. He did a routine with the Linking Rings. He showed the “Silver Sceptre” item.
David then performed Pavel’s “Knots on Rope” – a favourite of his. He displayed a rope in a cylinder, and as he pulled the rope out of the cylinder, knots formed on the rope – true knots that he had to unravel to present a plain rope !
A full magic routine was road-tested by Steve Irwin. Using a small Buddha statue, he did a prediction of a card. This produced the wrong card, but then he burnt the card to show the chosen 4D. Using flossing thread, he plucked off piece of thread, and gathered them into his hand, and then straightened them out to show they had all joined together. With a volunteer, he launched into a “Do As I Do” card routine, and despite the swap-overs they ended up on the same card. Next, with a beautiful “Aladdin Lamp”, he levitated a silk, and did colour changes as part of a story. With a small “Las Vegas” illuminated sign, he used Casino cards, and the chosen card matched the correct gambling chip. All in all, a very enjoyable collection of fascinating items.
