glass trick (Read 469 times)

No idea. That's pretty cool. Nothing to do with the magic but, I thought it was interesting that the magician used so many English phrases, "Watch this","What's your name?","Do you feel the power?" Does everybody in Japan pepper their everyday conversation with English?

SPOILER ALERT!!! Magician is Cyril Takayama. The video is super cool! So, the saltshaker trick- It's actually a very cool variation of a basic trick you can get in most kids magic sets, where you push a pencil through two playing cards each covering one side of a glass pane. You'll notice the magician's left table side (the end of the table closest to the viewer) doesn't has a glass section like the right side does, and is covered by objects; this is to hide the fact that the table is A. not symmetrical, and B. that the middle panel slides to the left. The cigarettes and other objects are there to dispell that theory, but the way this visual was improved was that there are actually two panes. The top doesn't move but already has a hole; the poured salt covers up the thin line around the top glass layer that would reveal this. (If you are watching the first coin trick when they do a quick zoom on the coin you'll see the faint outline about two inches below the pack of cigarettes reflected by the camera lighting). When he places his hands over the pile he (or more likely an assistant at the end of the table) slides the lower glass panel to align a second hole move the shaker. Then it slides back as he puts the shaker down. He then quicky moves to a new trick at the other side of the table so no one tries to take a closer look. As everyone around the table is an assistant (including the one to his far left who, probably, did the glass sliding while everyone was starting at him) none of the actual audience members are close enough to see the thin remnants of the top-layer hole. On the second coin trick, it's the iron coin again, which he has inserted into the table structure (possibly before the event) that borders the glass all the way around. When the girls place their hands over top of one another, he uses his magnetic ring to slide the coin out from the border, following the girl's arm who has her hand on the top. Obviously, the table has a double sheet of glass. There are some unfortunate edits in the film, so you can't see his every move.

Thanks Abby for the explanation. I sorta suspected that the three women are assistants in the trick. I'll have to watch it again to see if I can pick out what you mentioned. My faith in glass as a structural materal has been restored.