I don't know the exact specifics, but it's really just incredibly thin non-reflective string. You can tell by the way the stick rocks when he sets it up that it's actually dangling and not standing up from the floor, notice he doesn't actually wave his hand above the first stick like he does the second (which is probably suspended from the first).
Basically hes waving his hands around the objects in ways that look like he's proving there isn't a string but is distracting you from the string actually being attached somewhere else. The ball is attached to his hand somehow so him waving his hands all around would never actually break the line. (edit: it's attached to his eyebrow, he's sticking it there while pretending that's to do his eye thing, he never really completely circles the ball with his hand. That's why he leans outward for that part of the trick) And the reflectivity of the ball makes it hard to tell if it's actually spinning or if it's stable (just like his contact juggling ball)
There is a lot of skill involved in this trick still to avoid breaking the illusion and to manipulate the length of the strings without the viewer noticing. I imagine the camera guy is somewhat in on the trick and that usually the viewers would be standing a bit further back.
Just pay attention to the motions of the ball when it starts to fly away from him and imagine it being at the end of a long pendulum and it sort of makes sense, I actually wonder if that was an accident and he managed to make it look like he meant to do it.(e: not an accident, it's where he is pulling the ball away from his face to unstick it)
Also notice that when he puts the last stick down on the ground that one of the sticks in his pile also moves (he tried to hide this by putting something in the pile at the same time)
I'm not a magician though maybe someone who knows more can be more specific and accurate.
The stick is being anchored by a single string, strung between the 2 balls in either corner. The stick is laying across the top of the string that is holding the stick in place. The string itself is only about halfway up the stick. The string lays loose, and then he places his hand on the ground and lifts the string up with his fingers tips, as he leans forward, at some point when he needs to put the stick against the string. So it would simply look as if he's bracing himself when he leans forward, but the fingers tips of his stabilizing hand will have wiggled under the string laying loose on the ground in front of him.
but they effectively did tell us how it was done, with string, the specifics are pretty complicated I'm sure. you might think everyone knows its string right away but they dont!
It kind of bugs me when people try to downplay the skill. Obviously he doesn’t have magic powers. Its a trick, and its well done. Can we leave it at that?
I mean, he got everything right. He just didn't know the specifics about how the invisible thread was used on the sticks (two threads tied to the carpet, forming a pyramid where two edges are invisible threads). The threads have knots where the hovering stick rests
a major part of illusions like this is tricking your mind in to thinking you know the masses of these objects. its entirely possible the sticks themselves are painted foam or something. the hovering clear ball trick is doable with a normal contact juggling ball, but it could also just be a plastic bubble so he can easily manipulate it with sticky tack. the gold ball similarly is most likely a painted ping-pong ball or something even lighter.
"magician's thread" isn't crazy strong. the old cheapo magic kits they make for kids usually have it in there, and its basically a tiny spool of like nylon string and you need to fray it a little to get one of the fibers. those fibers are the magician's thread. any time you've ever had an article of clothing or a sleeping bag and you pull on the thinnest little fiber and it causes a weird line to show up, its that. its really hard to see. it won't hold up a ton, but ultra-lightweight objects are easy peasy. then if you can trick your audience in to thinking your object isn't actually ultra lightweight, you can blow some minds.
The sticks are held up by a long string that is fixed to the mat at both ends, somewhere in front of his shins.
Then he uses that string’s tension to balance the vertical stick. Stick wants to fall forward but can’t. You can see the stick curve is important cause it’s angels back to the mat. Also can see the slight vertical area on the stick where string is at.
He can spin his hand around because away from the V string.
He balances the horizontal stick on the two strings that make up the V.
At the very end he is lifting the string off of the vertical stick.
Basically that, with some pseudo-spiritual dressing to sell the effect. I doubt you'll see much stick balancing out in the wide open.
If anyone wants to make almost invisible thread, take black cotton thread and tease it apart into thinner fibres if you can. It's not strong, but can hold a playing card just fine using magicians wax (you can use soft silicone disposable earplugs as an alternative)
The stick is done (educated guess, used to do that ball trick with invisible thread during elementary school recess) with a couple threads tied to the carpet, forming a pyramid where two edges are invisible thread. The hovering stick is resting on a couple knots tied into those threads.
I once saw something similar at a local flea market. My cousin bought the kit. It looked like a regular spool of thread, but then you take a piece of thread and split it to a singular strand (like thread is made up of a bunch of twisted strands)
Anyway. Once he found out you just attached the string to your hat, he got bored with it. We all dabble in magic once. That was his experience lol
The big ball I think he's legitimately just balancing on his head, and then the other move he does with it is like a classic contact juggling trick you would see in the fushigi commercials.
The smaller ball Im pretty sure he attaches the string to his eyebrow when he's doing the freaky eye thing. Notice he doesn't actually put his finger COMPLETELY over the ball when he's looping over top. It just looks a lot like he does from our viewing angle. So draw a straight line from the corner of his brow down to the ball and it makes more sense
I'm convinced the gold ball is attached to his head or neck. The movements seem to align. And if the ball was suspended from his hands, wouldn't it start to fall while he's moving his hands around it? But maybe that's just him tricking me.
This sounds right. And it honestly makes it even crazier than outright magic for me. That’s some crazy control and spatial awareness. And showmanship in general.
yeah, that much is obvious to anyone who's seen this style of performance before. I'm more interesting in the eyes, I've never seen that. It looked like editing the first time because of the cuts, but he puts them back on again at the end, no cut, no hands by face. It's literally contacts that he pushes up under his eyelids or something.
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u/dkyguy1995 1d ago
Even knowing how this is done, it's still rather impressive to maintain the illusion. Also balancing a ball on his head is not easy