eject by mathieu bich

EJECT By Mathieu Bich I found the delay concept back in November 1999, by fluke, by forgetting a gimmicked card from my trick «!easy twist!» in a normal pack. The delay principle using a combination of sticky tape and a mechanical principle seems to have been published for the first time by Lubor Fiedler. The first explanations of card ejection using a rubber band were described in «! Hocus Pocus Junior!», released in London between 1620 and 1634!; it was explained how to eject a card using a hair, a string or even a spring… Lots of magicians have then on used rubber bands to eject cards, such as Hen Fetch, Karrel Fox, Ed Mishell (Elastrix) and even Alex Elmsley who used a complex gimmick (built recently by David Soloman and Gary Plants) Fin Jon, David Britland, Jeff Mc Bride and many other magicians used invisible elastic thread to animate cards placed within a deck. If you are interested by the theme, I recommend you to get hold of «!Le Grand livre des cartes montantes!» (the big book of rising cards) by Claude Klingsor, it will give you several methods and a few historical references on the subject…

Caution: the card is being ejected at high speed and could potentially hurt someone if it reaches the face or another body part. Never orient the side where the card will be ejected towards your audience.

---------------------------------------------------------Making THE gimmick: To make a gimmick, you need 4 cards, a piece of normal tape, a piece of double-sided tape, and some thin latex rings. To make the latex rings you need a tube made from thin latex (from a latex glove or better from a condom). To cut the latex rings in a smooth manner (no rough edges), use a X-Acto Knife (industrial knife). Be careful not to cut yourself! The latex you use should be the thinnest possible. The latex you’ll find in most «!pharmacy!» aisles of supermarkets is 0.07mm thick. It is often lubricated, so clean it with soap, and store it in a bag with talc powder. The rings I use with the 0.07mm thick latex are 5,5mm in width; if you can’t find the 0.07mm thick latex, play around with the width of the ring you make (5mm, 5.5mm or 6mm)

Fold a white sheet of paper and slide your latex piece inside.

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© March 2008 - Mathieu Bich

Cut the whole thing in regular bands (5.5mm of width). The folded piece of paper «!holds!» the latex while you are cutting, avoiding it to fold or stretch. It sort of traps it. You will get nice & smooth rings, with no rough edges.

Place 2 indifferent cards between the 2 cards that will constitute your gimmick (pocket).

Tape the base of these 2 cards together (with 1 or several pieces of tape)

Remove the 2 indifferent cards, open your «!pocket card!» vertically.

Place a piece of double-sided (1cm x 1cm) in the bottom left corner of the lower card of the pocket (The face down one on the table). Put your finger once or twice onto it to remove some of the stickiness.

Take scissors and cut slightly the bottom left corner of the face up card (top card of the pocket).

Close the pocket card and wrap the latex ring around its centre. The latex rings break regularly, I recommend to make a few ones each time you decide to make one.... www.mathieubich.com

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© March 2008 - Mathieu Bich

FOR LEFT HANDED PEOPLE: Even though you can adapt most of the moves used in the routines given above, I advise you to take a pair of scissors and to cut slightly the right top corner of the top card of the gimmick instead of the left one.

---------------------------------------------------------Basic ejection: A card is selected, and then placed back into the deck. The deck is put down onto the table, the magician steps back in order to be away from the deck. One card shoots out of the deck: the selected card.

Needed material:

- For the basic ejection, you will need the «!pocket card!» and a latex ring. - Before the first use, place your finger onto the double sided tape 2-3 times in order to remove some of the stickiness. Place the latex ring around the pocket card lengthwise, in the centre.

Set up: Place the pocket card face down onto the table, opening towards the audience, and place the rest of the deck on top of it.

Method: Take the deck in your hands and have a card chosen by your audience.

While your audience looks at the card, cut the deck in order to bring the gimmicked card around the middle of the pack.

Take the deck in your left hand in biddle grip, take the card off the spectator with your right hand by its top right corner.

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Riffle down the pack with your left thumb, and stop between the 2 cards forming the pocket… this is easy as the top card of the gimmick is shorter than the bottom one at the left front corner… therefore, there will be a natural stop at that point (the same as the one produced by short cards, but at the corner).

Place the spectator’s card in the opening, while maintaining the pressure with your left hand in order to prevent the card to shoot out while you are placing it in the deck.

Once the card is fully inserted, square up the pack and keep the pressure. At that point, the card is ready to shoot out, so be careful.

Take the pack in dealing grip. Then grab it with your right thumb and index fingers, at the bottom left corner.

Release the deck from your left hand while the right fingers squeeze down hard on the corner (to allow the double-sided tape to stick).

The left thumb and index grab the front of the deck,

And pivot it towards the left (the right thumb and index behind the axis around which the deck rotates)

The right hand squeezes one last time onto the tape, and then the left hand put the deck quickly down onto the table.

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After a few seconds, you will see one card move, and then shoot out.

The delay is caused by the interaction between the latex and the double-sided tape; the more the tape adheres, the longer the delay; therefore the pressure you put on the corner of the deck with your right hand fingers plays a role… to fine tune the delay, have a look at the section about it.

Note!: The length of the delay is not a problem in itself, as long as there is one, and as long as the card doesn’t shoot out as soon as you put down the deck onto the table… 2 seconds are enough. If the card doesn’t fully shoot out of the deck it isn’t a problem either; the most important is that this card stands out of the others. If the card ALWAYS stays stuck amongst the others, have a look at the end of the explanations in the appropriate section. If you are experiencing troubles, check the end of the description «USEFUL TIPS»

Variations: Lots of presentations are possible: in the spectator’s hand, in a sealed plastic bag, or even in a solid box… It is also possible to put several gimmicks in your deck to eject several cards in a row…

---------------------------------------------------------Ejection out of a ribbon spread: A card is selected, and placed back in the deck. The deck is put down on the table, the magician steps back, and the selected card shoots out on its own.

Needed material: Same as before: gimmicked card (pocket) and the latex ring

Set up: Place the pocket card face down onto the table, opening towards the audience, and place the rest of the deck on top of it. As this method uses a spread, it is described for a right-handed person. If you are left-hander, you can adapt your handling, or reverse it completely in the condition you placed the double-sided tape on the right side of the inside of the gimmick. Have a look at the section «!making the gimmick!» for more details

Method: The method is identical to the basic ejection up to the insertion of the selected card in the deck.

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Once the card is loaded in the gimmick, the left thumb and index grab the bottom left corner of the card, but keep the pressure with your right hand as well.

The left hand squeezes hard to allow the tape to stick. Then both hands move towards the left of your close up mat / table. The left hand releases the deck and the right spreads it left to right. You now just have to wait for the card to shoot out.

---------------------------------------------------------Ejection from the card box!: The selected card shoots out of the closed card box left on the table moments before.

Material needed: The basic gimmick and a card box.

Set up!: Cut the 2 small tongues on the side of the opening of the card box. To facilitate the opening of the box, you also need to round slightly the main «!tongue!» of the lid. You just need to roll it around a pen to give it a nice and smooth curve.

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Method: The principle is the same as the basic ejection; however you need to bring the gimmick at the top third of the deck instead of the middle.

When the card is loaded, place the pack in the box (make sure the back of the cards is at the bottom of the box, so the card can shoot out of the box…

Grab the box with the left thumb and index fingers at the bottom left corner (where the tape would be), and close the box with your right hand.

Show both sides of the box while squeezing hard to allow the tape to stick. Put the box down, and wait…

Note: If the card remains stuck after coming out half way, you need to place the gimmick higher in the deck (closer to the top card); do a few tries to see where you get the best results…

---------------------------------------------------------Vertical / Distance ejection!: Needed material: The basic gimmick and a card box.

Setup: Same as the basic ejection.

Method: Once the selected card is placed inside the gimmick, put the deck back into the box (as before), but DO NOT close the lid. Place the box onto the table, with its opening towards the ceiling. The card will shoot out vertically. The card ejects at great speed, so make sure that neither yours or the spectator’s faces are in its line of fire…

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Note: To avoid struggling to put the box vertically on the table, you can put a piece of double-sided tape at the bottom of the box, to help it stand up…

---------------------------------------------------------4 aces or sandwich ejection!: Material needed: In order to easily eject more than one card, it is better to modify your gimmick… To avoid too much friction at the moment you are making the gimmick, before sticking the 2 cards together, 2 other cards are inserted between the cards that will form the pocket (to give the gimmick more thickness). It allows creating more space inside the pocket. As a general rule, make your pocket by using one card more than what you want to eject. To eject 4 aces, place 5 cards between the 2 that constitute the pocket. Same for the sandwich effect (3 cards), place 4 cards in the middle of the gimmick when sticking the tape.

You have a margin of error of 2 cards, therefore it is pointless to build a gimmick for the 4 aces and one for the sandwich, but 4 aces won’t fit in the basic gimmick used for the basic ejection.

Set up and method: The set up and methods are identical to the basic ejection; it is just done with 4 aces loaded instead of 1 card… you can load them one by one or all at once in the gimmick… if you place them one by one, be careful to keep the pressure to avoid the previously loaded ace to shoot out while loading the next one…

Variations: You can do a sandwich using the same gimmick.

Set up and method fOR THE SANDWICH EFFECT: Pull out 2 jokers and have a card selected.

Load both jokers face up into the gimmick,

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And then place the selected card between the 2 jokers (if you riffle down back of the deck towards you with your left thumb, it will be easy to stop in between the 2 jokers).

------------------------------------------2 steps ejection / Spooked I wanted to try to recreate the same effect as the famous «!spooked!» by Nicolas Einhorn using that principle. To obtain a movement of the top packet before the ejection, you need to modify your gimmick.

Material needed: 2 modifications are necessary to perform this variation, but to make it easy, temporary remove the latex ring. First of all, the 2 cards should not be stuck together anymore (no more pocket); remove the tape present at the base of these 2 cards. You get 2 face down cards onto the table, the right hand one being the bottom one (a small piece of double sided tape is still on its bottom left corner), and the left the top one.

Take the right hand card and turn it face up and put a piece of double-sided tape (roughly 1cm x 1cm) on its face, but on the centre left (see picture)

Put your finger a couple of times on this piece of tape to remove some of its stickiness. Then put it face down on the other face down card.

Place back the latex ring around this double card, and place the newly made gimmick in the pack…

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Method: The method is similar to the basic ejection; just make sure to press down hard on both zones where the double sided-tape pieces are before placing the cards onto the table.

The zones where you need to press are at the bottom left corner and on the right side of the cards.

Note: The stickiness of both pieces of tape for this effect is crucial; it will take a few tries before getting the effect you want…

--------------------------------------------SOME USEFUL TIPS Facilitate the ejection: By placing some talc powder on the latex ring and on the gimmick card (inside and outside of the pocket), the ejection is made easier. Put some on the 2 zones where the latex will be in contact with the playing cards. You can also reduce the stickiness of the double-sided tape by using smaller pieces or more used pieces.

To reduce the frixion, and avoid breaking the ring, the latex must stay flat around the cards

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© March 2008 - Mathieu Bich

Fine tuning of the details: The delay is caused by the interaction of the latex and the double-sided tape: the more it sticks, the longer the delay. Identically, the weaker the tension (with a smaller band of latex), the longer the delay. The pressure your put on the cards also plays a role in the delay… The temperature of the room where you are performing has an effect on the adherence of the double-sided tape. Warmth increases the stickiness, whereas cold reduces it. Considering these factors, the delay can vary between 2 to 40s. If you want to be very precise, I advice to try your gimmick before using it in performance... In informal conditions (session for example) I play a lot with my cards before starting performing tricks, I also try my gimmick without the audience knowing it… Of course, I avoid the card to shoot out, but it gives me an idea of the delay it needs before ejecting… If the card doesn’t get out of the deck properly or too slowly, use talc powder. When the double-sided tape is getting too old, it starts to leave a deposit on the cards, and takes a long time before releasing it; that means it is time to change it.

Storage Latex doesn’t like being stretched for a long time. If you plan on not using the gimmick for several days, remove the latex ring, and place it in its talc-filled bag, otherwise it is likely to break.

Give the impression of a perfect timing: As the card generally move slightly before shooting out, if you pay attention, you can do a magic move just before it comes out; it will look even more magical. Don’t forget it is hard to time precisely the delay. The main thing is that you have enough delay so that nobody thinks you triggered something before you placed the deck down… Sometimes it takes a while, so prepare something to say to avoid uncomfortable blanks…

I would like to thank: Thanks to!Michael Weber, Sébastien Clergue, Clara Bich, Thomas Civade and Jerome Burnet

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All rights reserved - Tous droits réservés, Copyright Mathieu Bich – March 2008 No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical or digital . Photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented is prohibited without written permission.

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© March 2008 - Mathieu Bich