| Incredible Closeup Magie with an Ordinary Cap and Pen Created by Jesse Feinberg Cap thru Glass Table Visual Vanishes Super Color Change And lets more, erg Recap Snapf \ ~? p Created by Jesse Feinberg Copyright 2005 First of all, thank you for purchasing Magicap. | have held this effect close to me for a long time, and | am very excited to now share it with you. The method/gaff has really come a long way since the first release of the video demo. Actually, just recently has the gaff become completely examinabie! This is all thanks to Anton James, an up and coming magician/inventor that lives right here in Boston. He totally modified the original gaff, taking the effect to the next level! | am very happy to present the new and improved Magicap. First, have a look a description for the basic handling. Then we'll check out the pen... Effect: A bic pen in introduced and shown all around. The cap is removed and held in your open L hand. Your R hand taps the cap with the pen, and the cap visually jumps back onto the pen! The cap is removed again and could even be examined... The cap is now placed in your L pants pocket. The cap travels immediately back onto your pen! This time the cap is removed with your L hand and the cap is slowly squeezed into nothing... It has vanished for good. At this point the pen can be handed out for full examination. As a simple climax, the cap can be found back in your pocket (or any other location) and of course your hands are shown empty as well. This basic handling is meant to get you comfortable with your Magicap. | have included more handlings below. The Secret: This is the exciting part! The first thing you should know is that the gaff really needs to be handled carefully. The materials used will last forever, but the adhesive is what you need to mind, On the gaff, there is a line of black electrical tape running behind the clip holding everything together. The electric tape can be replaced easily, and the same piece can usually be readjusted over and over. The clip is cut from a normal bic pen cap. The tape makes it easy to keep the clip straight. We have experimented with different ways to attach the clip. For some reason, no glues will hold any of these plastics together. The tape seems to be the best. The cap is made from a black straw that has been cut to shape. You can find more of these straws in some restaurants. | included some black straw in your package so you can construct your own custom gaff. The black straw is able to cling onto the pen while covering only 180 degrees. Apply a simple paddle move and you can show a “regular” cap, and then in a split second it is gone. The best part about the gaff being a straw is that it can be easily removed at anytime, and the pen handed out for examination. _ For the proper grip, you can cut a small groove into the pen where your thumb goes. This isn’t good if you want to hand the pen out, but for practice it is great. During performance, the writing tip side is the side you will usually cover with your grip. By obstructing the view of the writing tip, it makes the pen seem a bit longer. A normal cap doesn't go on a pen that far down, but no one will ever notice. The end of the regular bic pen has a black nub. It looks kind of like the end of a bic pen cap. You can add some sharpie or black paint to the top rim of white plastic around the nub so that no white is shown when the gaffed cap is on. This is an easy way to fill in any gaps. Hold the pen so that the cap side is showing, and have the cap end pointing down towards a spectators feet or legs. This angle will also kill any flashing of the other 180 of the pen. With lots of people around, you just need to bring the pen closer to your waist, take a step back, and maybe gather people in just a little bit. You can also work on the ground, or on a low table. | want to also recommend that a black shirt or black pants will make the perfect backdrop. A black closeup pad can also help hide any flashing when the gaffed cap is hidden under the pen. So now we should talk about incorporating the regular pen cap... The regular cap has been cut down the back with a razor about halfway, This is normal. We cut it so that the cap could be placed on the pen and over the gaff during performance. The cut cap is great for strolling, and convenient for our shipping too! If you want to hand the cap out (not necessary), then just use a regular cap for your routine. If you use a regular cap you can just scoot the gaff down a little to accommodate it. It just means that you're going to have to align the hidden gaff during performance. It’s quite easy to disguise during some patter. Either way, have this setup in your pocket ready to go. Take the pen out and remove the cap off of the nub end with your L hand. Don't let them see the gaffed cap; it should be hidden in the beginning. Gesture a little with the pen and focus their attention on the normal cap. The regular cap is now held in your open L hand, and your R hand is going to strike vanish the cap while rotating the gaffed cap on the pen into view. This takes practice to get the timing right. If you watch the demo video, you can see how this looks in the first scene. Go to Hank Lee's website to view my demo. Ok, so you should be at the point where the regular cap is now in your R hand hidden, and the pen in your R hand should be showing the gaffed cap. It looks EXACTLY like the real cap has appeared back onto the pen! The free L hand should take the pen and the R hand is now going to fake removing the cap. This is the easiest part. Your R hand is hiding the regular cap in a loose fist. The R thumb goes above the gaffed cap and the first finger extends undemeath the pen. it looks like your taking a grip on the cap. Be careful not to move the gaffed cap out of place. You are going to pull the R hand away from the pen a few inches, and open your hand to show the regular cap. The L hand is going to pull the pen towards you a couple of inches (to create the missing cap space) and rotate the gaffed cap out of sight. Make sure you check this out on the demo video. It’s a nice convincer to toss the cap in your hand lightly while you display it. | like to switch the pen back to the R hand and the cap to the L. The L hand now openly puts the cap in the L pants pocket. Take your hand out and show it empty. Snap your L fingers, and your R hand will simultaneously rotate the gaffed cap on the pen back into display. A little shaking motion of the R wrist makes it all look flawless. Now you can use your L hand to pretend to remove the cap. The only difference is that you wont have anything in your L hand. The R hand rotates the gaffed cap out of view behind the L closing flingers. The L hand vanishes the cap in a rubbing and squeezing motion. The gaffed cap on the pen can then be secretly removed and the pen immediately handed out. If you want to “find” the cap back in your L pocket,just ditch the gaff in your pocket when you take out the regular one. You are left with a normal pen and cap and two otherwise empty hands. Coincidentally, this is the perfect lead up to 2 of my other effects... Pen Thru Arm, and Cigapen. If you own either of these effects, email me for info on how to routine them all together... Pve got some great new handlings to share with Cigapen owners. It is possible to do all three of these effects with the SAME PEN!!! So now that you know what the gaff is made of, and how the basic handling is accomplished, we should taik a little about the first version of Magicap. The prototype version featured a gaff that wasn't removable. It looked exactly like a real bic pen cap, but it was totally faked. | took a black sharpie and colored in only haif of the top of pen, the same size as the straw that is cut on your Magicap. | then took some scotch tape and applied that evenly over the ink. | trimmed away any extra tape. | then krazy glued a caps clip piece that | cut out onto the pen. It looked like a real pen cap on one side, and a regular pen on the other! The sheen of the tape over the ink looks exactly like the plastic on a bic cap. The only problem was that the clip NEVER stuck well. If | were overly careful about it, then maybe it would last. But one wrong move and that clip would fall right off. Even to this day, the gaffis delicate. The electrical tape is honestly better than any glue on the market. Let me know if you find a better way to make the gaff. All of my tricks allow plenty of room for modifications. If you were an experienced metal worker, you could make a magnetic version. Make a metal cap shell and paint it black. Just house a smail earth magnet inside the shaft of the pen and hot glue it in place. | just wanted to share with you how | used to make them... Please email me if you have any questions or new ideas. | hope to discuss all of this on my new website in a secret area of the forum. " Extra Handlings Cap in PSP/PDA: First you will need to get a digital camera that does videos. | had my camera on a little tripod pointing down towards a white surface (or whatever color you think the inside of your portable screen should be). Then | marked off the edges of the camera’s screen with books. There should be a good light source above all of this. You will need to now tie a length of invisible thread to a regular matching pen cap. The cap can be dropped into frame and choreographed to move the way you need it to. Think about where you are going to "drop" the cap into the screen, and also where it’s going to slide around. You can give it a few jumps (lets say 4), by hoping the cap around a little with the thread. During performance, when you shake your hand it will look like you are shaking a cap around inside the screen! To finish, you are going to dump the cap out into your free hand, and show that the screen is blank again. To make the cap vanishfrom the video, just pull the cap out of the screen shot after the 4 jumps. This way you can count it out. The free hand just hides a cap until it is time to basically do a false transfer of the cap on screen to the cap in your hand. The screen is then shown empty. The video file should be set to stop at the end and pause. In the beginning of the video, | made a little shadow with my finger near one of the corners of the screen. | can start the video and count out the shadows until it is time to "drop the cap into the screen". Please let me know if you need any help with this. | can email you the cap video | made if you'd like. Cap Thru Glass: Find yourself a nice glass. Really it can be any kind you like. | prefer to use the shorter glasses with minimal design. Put the glass out on the table near by. You will need to start with a palmed cap in your L hand. You can secretly hold the cap in your hand by pinching the clip of the cap between your first and middle fingers. Your hand should be relaxed to your side. Your R hand should be displaying your pen with the gaffed cap showing. With your L hand, pick up the glass from above so that the hidden cap can be dropped into the glass easily. The R hand should gesture with the pen that you are going to tap undemeath the glass. On maybe the third tap, you are going to drop the hidden cap into the glass and paddle move the pen to show that cap has left the pen. This is so visually stunning! The glass and cap can be immediately tabled. The gaffed cap on the pen is secretly finger palmed off and the pen can be put in the glass to finish. Cap Thru Glass Table: This is my favorite handling. Itis easy to do, and very cool looking! A regular cap must be set up under a glass table. You can use a little bit of magicians wax to hold it in place. Also the clip of the cap can be wedged under the edge of some glass tables. The hand that is holding the cap can rest on the table covering the cap. Your other hand is going to come in and pretend to rub the cap off of the pen under the fingers. The pen is pulled away with the gaffed cap now hidden, and the fingers continue to rub the glass above the cap underneath. Slowly reveal the cap that “melted” through the glass. The pen can be pocketed and the cap can be recovered from under the glass. Some extra tips: A coaster can hide the regular cap until your ready. Make sure any wax is removed before the cap is handed out. Just experiment first... Anton’s “Pop a cap in yo’ face”: First start with your Magicap in your L and a normal cap palmed in your R. Display the gaffed cap on the pen as you bring it up to your cheek. As you line the Magicap up on your cheek slip the palmed cap into your mouth. Move your right hand to your cheek slightly under the pen as if to steady it. Now, simply allow your fingers to slide down the pen as you twist it (bringing the cap out of view) giving the illusion that the cap has just been pushed into your cheek. Now simply turn your head slightly to the left obscuring the pen from view. As soon as most of the pen is out of sight remove the gimmick from the pen as you pull the pen away from your face and table it. Move the cap around in your mouth for effect and then produce it. This is only a small fraction of what is possible with Magicap. Try making two Magicaps, and “passing” the cap back and forth. Steve Kradolfer (at Hank Lee’s) came up with a great idea. If you tap the cap that is in your pocket with your Magicap... you can make it jump through your pants and back onto the cap. It looks amazing. Thank you Steve! Oh, and for color changing caps, you can fake pulling the cap off of the pen and then just show a different color cap that you had palmed. Anton James also wanted to mention that if you glue a small earth magnet inside a regular cap, you can then do the cups and balls routine with Magicap! Basically, have fun creating new effects. | would love to hear what you have come up with! Email me any questions or comments to jessesmagic@gmail.com. My new website (jessesmagic.com) will be up soon. Thank you to Hank Lee's Magic Factory for carrying all of my effects, and to the all the guys at the shop and warehouse for there help and support.