Tricks while using gloves

[AliceMattoso]

Hello!

I'm new here and I have been practicing magic for about a month now and I just fell in love with this culture. I already made a buy list after reading some threads here and I intend to dive in it and learn everything I can ASAP.

Anyway, I'm a cosplayer for 13 years now and I would LOVE to join both things on a stage. With that said, the few tricks I know are done without using gloves, while the costume I have in mind do use gloves. Also, the skit can't be longer than 1min30sec. Do you have any recommendantion on what should I work on?

Also, i'm brazilian, so I'm sorry for my broken english.
Thanks a lot, really! <3

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

It really is just a matter of practicing with gloves on. Look at Cardini - he did advanced card manipulations with gloves on.

The routines you do should ideally be related to whatever you are cosplaying. Hard to give a suggestion without knowing that part.

 

[AliceMattoso]

Well, the character is Trucy Wright from Ace Attorney series (my avatar). Since she is a magician, i think most routines would fit her. The only routines i know right now are card tricks, let's see if i can do that with gloves on.

Thanks for the tip!

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

With the environment you're talking about I'd advise working on card manipulations if you wanted to card stuff. Simply because you're not going to want to be slowed down by having to have volunteers do something.

You may also want to look into linking rings. Messado Rings are my personal favorite, they are easy to transport, it's a flashy/fun routine, and you could end by ditching the rings into a toppit and throwing out some black stage streamers for a big effect. It'll take practice but it would be worth it I think.

 

[AliceMattoso]

LINKING RINGS! I would love to work on that! I think it would fit a cosplay skit way better than card tricks. I'll look into these! Really, thanks a lot!

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

If your costume is black like in the avatar, you might want to look into "Ninja" rings, which are the smaller silver ones. You can do the same routine Messado teaches in his Messado Rings DVD with those rings, it will just require a slight adjustment in techniques. But that will stand out more against your costume.

 

[Josh Burch]

Silk magic could work. I'm thinking 20th Century Silks specifically. A handkerchief teleports between two knotted silks. It's a great trick and looks like something your avatar would do.

There is also the appearing and vanishing canes. Very easy to do and tons of fun! Related to that, and suitable for stage especially, is the dancing cane. This is a levitating cane effect that is very classy.

 

[AliceMattoso]

I'm writing down your suggestions and I'll see what works best for my skit.

Thanks for your quick responses and attention to this very enthusiastic noob! =)

 

[Maaz Hasan]

Well I don't want to sound like a douche....

But mentalism works lol
You could probably put together a very good mentalism routine that requires no intense slieght of hand.

Some people can do their entire card manipulation routine with gloves on, but since no one wears regular gloves on a regular basis, it's kinda dying out (this is after years and years of practice).

I like Christopher's Idea of Linking Rings.
Here are those Messado rings he was talking about. They are a joy to watch.

You could probably also do a Chop Cup Routine, or a Cups and Balls Routine (with some practice of course).

Self Working Tricks are super powerful if you put a story around them. Plus, no sleights.

Will this be stage, or close up?

Just a little tip though: You could probably work around the gloves by gimmicking them. Just make these then switch them in before you perform). Here are a couple of ideas you may (or may not) wanna test out:

A) Take some white wax (from a candle, or whatever) and just apply little bits of it to the places where you would generally use your hand in your tricks (so for a deck of cards, you would apply some to the finger pads, the base of the fingers, and quite a bit around your palm). It'll apply a bit of tackiness to the gloves, and probably allow you to do whatever you need to do.

B) Paint your hands completely white. Then, take some white sports tape or gauze and wrap it loosely around your wrists a few times. Hot glue or tape a wrist band/rubber band to the inside. Now, it appears as though you have gloves on, and there's that little "cuff" thing to make it look even more realistic.

C) Same thing as B, but wear those gloves that have holes where the fingers go, and cut out a hole for your palm. Then attach it to the cuff thing.

D) Get some latex gloves and cut out little holes for the fingers and wherever else you need them. Paint them white. Or just use regular gloves I guess.

 

[AliceMattoso]

Will this be stage, or close up?

It's on a stage. This kind of stage. That's me BTW, I think this show how cosplay skits are done here in Brazil, I know it's pretty different in the USA.

Anyway, I really loved the Messado Rings and I'm already adding it to my to buy list. For cosplay, flashier is better, it was stupid of me to think card tricks would work for this, but I can still do it out of my skit, offstage, so I guess I should practice with gloves on anyway, probably with wax on or something like you suggested. I'll try things out and see what works. It also would be great if I managed to use bigger rings for this trick since it would be visible from a great distance.

The linking rings are a good option too because it, pun intended, links well with the script I have in mind for the skit, so it's probably going to be something like this. Thanks a lot!

 

[Maaz Hasan]

It's on a stage. This kind of stage. That's me BTW, I think this show how cosplay skits are done here in Brazil, I know it's pretty different in the USA.

Anyway, I really loved the Messado Rings and I'm already adding it to my to buy list. For cosplay, flashier is better, it was stupid of me to think card tricks would work for this, but I can still do it out of my skit, offstage, so I guess I should practice with gloves on anyway, probably with wax on or something like you suggested. I'll try things out and see what works. It also would be great if I managed to use bigger rings for this trick since it would be visible from a great distance.

The linking rings are a good option too because it, pun intended, links well with the script I have in mind for the skit, so it's probably going to be something like this. Thanks a lot!

A Chop Cup would be a really nice edition, though it takes a long time to get down fluently. How long do you have? Also, maybe you want to look into stage illusions.

 

[AliceMattoso]

Oh, I have about a year between working, getting money for the costume, actually making the costume and... well, now buying and learning new illusions. But I like to plan ahead of time, so let's see what I can get done until the con =)

Edit: Also, I just realized I can't edit older posts. Well, where i said "The linking rings are a good option too", I meant "the linking rings are also a good option because". Must work my English skills as well.

 

[Maaz Hasan]

Oh, I have about a year between working, getting money for the costume, actually making the costume and... well, now buying and learning new illusions. But I like to plan ahead of time, so let's see what I can get done until the con =)

Edit: Also, I just realized I can't edit older posts. Well, where i said "The linking rings are a good option too", I meant "the linking rings are also a good option because". Must work my English skills as well.

You might want to pick up Mark Wilson's Complete Course to Magic. It's a great book, and features a lot of stuff you can use. The Card Tricks are ok (I've see better books for cards), but it really does have a lot of info. It covers pretty much everything major (sponge balls, money, cards, Illusions, bets, cups and balls, etc. I'm assuming the character you are dressing up for is a stereotypical/ "standard" old school magician? Almost everything in that book can be taken straight onto that type of character. And if not, just rewrite the performance!

 

[RealityOne]

OK, based on your character (anyone else will have to do some research on your character for this to make sense) check out "Silk to Panties" and "20th Century Panties." The gimmick for the Silk to Panties will have to be painted white or you will have to use a different gimmick (like the pull in Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic) if you are using gloves.

Along that theme there are a lot of sponge objects that can be produced from anywhere (including a pair of panties) such as carrots, bananas, hamburgers, hot dogs, etc.

If the costume has a hat and a cape, you have the ability to use those to your advantage for productions and vanishes.

Linking rings would be a good routine. For the smaller rings, Messado has a good routine as does Shoot Ogawa. For the larger rings, you may want to consider Day Vernon's Symphony of the Rings routine which I think is available as a PDF from library.com. For the stage you are using, I would go with larger rings - 10 to 12 inches for stage. The thickness of the rings also is important for stage. The thicker, the more visible. Let me know your budget and I can recommend sets of rings. You may want to start with a less expensive set ($50 range) If you get a set of rings, I'd be glad to help you come up with a routine.

Mark Wilson's book is great. It will give you a sense of how magic is done. I'd recommend reading that BEFORE buying anything else. It will give you the background to understand the possibilities and limitations of each magic effect.

 

[Josh Burch]

I think the apearing cane or umbrellas are a good bet for cosplay.

I go to a lot of Cons and while something like a chop cup is a great magic routine I don't see it working as part of a cosplay competition or even on the show floor.

At 0:48 he performs a very flashy 20th century silks.

I feel like this kind of magic has a real wow factor. It looks classic and amazing.

Here's the umbrellas:

Another nice thing about all of this is that you can do it silently or to music as is the usual in cosplay competition. You don't need a microphone to wow the audience.

 

[AliceMattoso]

Thank you all for your collaboration! =)

Around here we usually don't use microphones, instead, we pre-record our skits and just do playback while acting. Most cosplay competitions follow this format, so I usually go along (but I did use a microphone on few occasions). As for the kind of skit, we have two main formats, the Traditional Skit, where you are supposed to remain in character, and the Freestyle skit where...well, everything goes.

For the Traditional Skit, I already have a performance in mind using the rings and the chop cups, it may be not very flashy, but it'll fit the story nicely. Thanks for the tip!

For the Freestyle... well, that's where i'm probably using your other suggestions. Thanks a lot!

As for the budget, everything has to be carefully considered because when buying thing that need to be shipped, the price tends to triplicate thanks to Brazil tax laws, so what is cheap for you guys is really expensive around here. That's why i'm going for digital material and things i can produce locally, at first. But if a material is essential for the routine, i'm willing to import... i just can't import everything.

 

[Juvator]

Well I hope someone is going to record your performance after reading this I'm very interested in the result I like to see cosplay at least I don't participate in it though.

 

[AliceMattoso]

Well I hope someone is going to record your performance after reading this I'm very interested in the result I like to see cosplay at least I don't participate in it though.

Well, it's a year away, but certainly it'll be recorded. And I'll make sure to put subtitles in it =) Thanks for the support, you guys are great!