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Ah memories!!!

The magic set my uncle gave me when I was seven included a small scale cutting a lady in half illusion. The lady was a printed cardboard cut out of a lady in a one piece swim suit type costume, the box was a paper sleeve like a sealed DL envelope with the shorter ends trimmed off and the saw was a pair of scissors.

With the lady inserted in the sleeve with her head sticking out of one end and her feet out of the other, the magish takes the scissors and cuts through the sleeve and, apparently, her torso but with a swift movement the sleeve halves are removed to show there was no damage to the lady.

The sleeve isn't examinable before or afterwards but patter and presentation can cover that aspect as long as you are wary of angles! With DTP programs and laser printers, the lady and the sleeve can be produced cheaply but with a professional appearance.

Ah! You see; I'm familiar with the workings of the trick in question and that's not what we were thinking at all for the 'sawing a lady in half': we started by looking at Andy's "turning a lady inside out/sawing a lady in half" trick, which is performed by folding a queen inside an indifferent playing card and stapling it to "lock" it, and then pushing her through (at which point it's noticed that she's turned inside-out). Sawing her in half is pretty much incidental to the effect (and is, in fact, part of the cleanup!). From that, we ended up thinking about how a stabbing-things-through-banknotes-in-an-envelope trick can be adapted to (prior to the sawing trick) be used, with the same queen "assistant" and a hole punch to do an office-themed sword cabinet. And then we started thinking about costume changes (colour changes between different queens), and about what we might be able to achieve using other office equipment (I perform a paperclip-through-playing-card that could easily be adapted)... and then we realised that what we were actually doing was inventing a complete office equipment themed routine!

Perhaps when we meet up next month Andy and I can finish putting the thing together and share it with you all in the Routines section. No promises: there's always the risk that we'll end up spending too much time on our "making pints of beer disappear" trick and not get around to it!

Dan Q wrote:
For our last meeting of the year we've opted to pull the date forward by a week to avoid Christmas. And so, our next meeting will be -

Tuesday 13th December 2014, 7:15pm onwards
Lamb & Flag, St. Giles, Oxford [map]

See you there! Would be great to see some of the new Oxford-based folks that have started cropping up on the forum, too!

Just thought I best check the date, is this the 16th?

Cheers
Rob

Whoops! I guess I must have been looking at January in my calendar when I made that post. Yes! I meant the 16th - I've updated that post and I'll post it again here:

Tuesday 16th December 2014, 7:15pm onwards
Lamb & Flag, St. Giles, Oxford [map]

Thanks! See you then!

i'll be there! possibly not until 8pm though.

At the risk of putting myself out of my comfort zone, should we do some performance for the punters?

And if anyone wants to provide feedback for something I've written - check out this post on Data Visualisation and Magic.

I'd be delighted! Rob and I have occasionally performed for punters in the old pub, before, and I've been seen doing so at times when I've been waiting for others to show up, too.

This last week I've been working on an ACAAN routine (with a little help from Boris Wild: that should give anybody who knows what I mean to find it), but unfortunately I'm not going to be able to show it off tomorrow because a certain prop I need is at the dry cleaners! I've got what I think is an improved handling for a trick you showed me when we first met, Andy (starts with "pick ten cards"), which I'd love to give back to you in case you want it. Oh; and so long as it's not raining I'll try to remember to bring a copy of The Art of Switching Decks in case anybody would like to leaf through it.

See you tomorrow!

I'm in the Lamb & Flag, which is really busy tonight! Far left corner when you come on. Only managed to bag a small table and one stool so far, but I'll keep an eye out for more becoming free! See you later!

Hi guys: I can't remember when we said we'd meet up in January - was it Tuesday 20th (a week earlier than normal)?

Okay... nothing but tumbleweeds! I'll call it, then. Next meetup:

Tuesday 20th January 2014, 7:15pm onwards
Lamb & Flag, St. Giles, Oxford [map]

See you then!

I'm just grabbing a snack from the van across the street, but I'll be there from about 7.25pm. I believe we're expecting me, Andy, Luis, and a newcomer called Simon, IIRC. See you all soon!

Hi

I should be there just after 8

Rob

Wow! Our busiest night yet, with six magicians in attendance: me, Luis, Rob, Andy, Gary, and newcomer Simon! And a great night it was, too.

We talked about moving the meeting to Old Marston next month, perhaps to the Victoria Arms, Red Lion, or the Three Horseshoes.

The Victoria Arms is one of my favourite pubs in Oxford (and used to be my local, when I lived in Marston), so it'd get my vote. But while it's great for road access - with a good-sized car park and near to the ring road - it's perhaps harder to get to by bus than either of the other two. I've been in the Red Lion once, and it seemed perfectly nice too. Can't say anything either way about the Three Horseshoes as I've never been there. Any opinions?

Hi

Have we chose a pub? Also when is it, 17th. The reason I ask is this is half term, I can proberly make it, but things tend to change during the hols.

Cheers
Rob

I think I can make the 17th. I'm waiting to see if I have tickets to go see a show in London but otherwise I'll be there.

Who's bussing? It's um-thing-um-me from Thame who's name I've embarrasingly forgot. I should be able to give him a ride if needs be.

I don't know the pubs too well - choose whicever one is likely not to be full of diners!!

Oh - and I cheekily propose a new rule for the next meeting or two:
You're not allowed to show a trick you've shown before unless you've been specifically working on it or someone asks you to show it!!!