I really wish I had worked out a good saver or out for a failed card on ceiling... or in my case, card somewhere on floor.

I performed as emcee for a musical act in NYC this week, with my main set between the opening and closing musical acts. The complication was that the musician who invited me asked me to use her custom-designed playing cards to help promote her merch. Her cards are beautiful but made of heavy, glossy, slippery plastic, which made working with them a challenge. I just needed a two-trick set to cover the time between acts.

My opener was a pretty safe variation of Leap Of Faith (Bill Malone from PH AoA Book 1, pg 187), which got its usual super reaction.

Then, card on ceiling. I usually use the loop of tape approach rather than Ammar wax or thumbtack, though I love wax (but stay away from poking holes in venues' ceilings). Method wouldn't have mattered this time, however. After having the card signed, returned, and controlled, I wrapped the deck with a rubber band in the same way I always do. In retrospect, I should've wrapped the band around more tightly. Who knew? Because everything went south on the toss.

As I tossed, I could tell the cards were choosing to be free. To live their best lives. I think this was because of the slipperiness and weight of these custom cards. By the time they reached the ceiling they were already spreading. The chosen card never had a chance, and they ALL fluttered down to the floor below.

Holeee-poop.

Somehow (Houdini's spirit?), the chosen and signed card landed face up right next to my foot. I grabbed it, furtively removed the tape, grabbed up a handful of other cards, and moved the selected card to the top. "Anybody for a game of 52 pickup?!" Then, I managed to double-lift my way out of this jam. "I believe this is your card." No! "Hmm. That's funny. Are you sure? Because it's the only card I see with your name written on it!"

This got me doing research and wondering...

If the card is truly lost in a jumbled mess on the floor, and you have no idea what the card is because why would you, how do you salvage such a gigantic fail? You could peek before throwing and read their mind... that's sort of anticlimactic. You could force and then have a backup reveal... but the reveal isn't their signed card. I haven't yet found anything better than the obvious, "Don't use the wrong kind of cards."

What savers or outs have you used or come across for when CoC goes awry?

Hi Tom, first never had the cards to spread like that. Not sure which technique you use nor the rubberband you're using, but it would be very hard if not impossible for the cards to break loose like that with my wrap. I do think you had an opportunity when the signed card ended face up at your foot to use that revelation. That in itself was pretty amazing. As I said, the slickness shouldn't mattered. Double check your technique.

Best

Steve

Sickness shouldn’t matter at all.

As for an out if you use a signed card here is your problem. There isn’t one. You just have to own it.

Tape is the worst method you can use if you ask me. Wax makes no sense. Why band the cards at all. Half the coolness is the cards in a brilliant cascade and their card stuck. I’ma purist though and prefer the card on wall anyhow.

This effect, like most Schulien effects are all or nothing. Not many credible ways to recover. You just have to eat it.

There's always the good ole Invisible Deck to use as an out if things go way off the rails. Present it as a prediction made earlier in the day and you don't have to worry about the signed card.

This is a great point, Steve. I typically wrap around twice widthwise. If only I'd wrapped widthwise *and* lengthwise.

With standard cards, I've never had this problem. So I think the issue for me came down to not using the right technique for these particular cards.

And, ahhh, the thrill of things going horribly wrong until the moment out is unexpectedly gifted to you!

Boy, I like this idea. That could salvage almost any pick-a-card gone wrong revelation!

There's such a tremendous upside when CoC (or CoW) goes right... it does makes the risk of having to own a failure worth it.

I agree that wax is best. I've used tape depending on the venue and how iffy they are when asked if they'd mind if something gets stuck to a wall or ceiling.

Also, you're right... the shower of cards is spectacular! In this case, I only had one custom deck and needed to use it for a closing trick later (I failed to mention that earlier). *sadface*

I never said wax was best, only better than tape. Use a tac. Don’t ask for permission, ask for forgiveness.

As for an invisible deck out, you had the card signed and now want to claim it is a prediction? Ugh. It seems so transparent and worse yet desperate to be. I would much rather own the failure, which it clearly is, than look like that.

But everyone has their own way so no right or wrong.

How about having a laugh at your own expense, "that's the first time that has ever happened again" or some other clever reparte, and coming back later on in your show with a fresh deck, remove the wrapper (or invite a helper from the audience to do this) and make the almost impossible Magic happen...

Yea having a laugh at your own expense is really a great idea.

Magicians get so caught up in being afraid of failure and it is silly. You WILL fail if you perform. It is inevitable. Make friends with it!

Here is the worst part. The more you work, the more it will happen, not less!!! It is simple math. Think of it like this. If you do 95% perfect effects and 5% bad enough to get caught (Which by the way absolutely NO professional in the world is capable of accomplishing.) that means 5 out of every 100 times you will blow the effect. So the more you do things the more failures that happen. Doing effects just 5 times a night, 5 nights a week means that you are doing them 100 times a month. So this means simple that 5 times a month you are going to really screw up that effect! Even if you are this unrealistic 95% number. So the more you work the more these things happen.

I know most of the literature ignores this absolute fact of life but it is important. It is GOING to happen and you may as well get used to it. The good news is you probably won’t screw up all the effects on one night or in one sitting. So there is that. My “out” for every effect is exactly the same. They like me. They are having a great time and then if something does happen they just are willing to laugh it off with me and move on. No need to get into ridiculous “outs” and pretend something else was what you “really wanted”. At times I have seen “outs” that almost insult the intelligence of the audience.

I own it and use a line something like “There are some people who actually like to see a magician mess things up. I like to think my show has something in it for everyone”. People laugh, I am humble and we move on.

As Julie suggests it is a bit of a laugh at my expense.

Thanks Julie and Danny for your insights. I love the "something for everyone" line.

So true regarding higher probability of a failure correlating to increased frequency of performance. Put another way, I hope we all continue to have many opportunities to fail!

Here's a wrinkle in my original scenario that I didn't mention. This was a custom-designed deck *including* the suits: Stars, Ghosts, Roses, and Strawberries.

That, combined with the fact that this was the closing trick of a two-trick set probably means my trick selection wasn't best for the situation. I'm a big fan of as close to goof-proof as possible, mainly because I'm sometimes a goof.

Danny's entire post is worth reading and re-reading if you are getting into performing. Yes, try to reduce failure as much as possible, but also think about how to react when things go south, which they inevitably will. Great post.

This is a timely thread for me b/c I will soon add a new effect to my site: Double Stuck - The Two Cards on Ceiling Trick.
Here's the video I just posted a minute ago: https://youtu.be/ok0i5jOjdm4
But it relates to this thread b/c I don't use a rubber band to hold my card, I use the card box. And I toss the box to the ceiling twice.
I never have a shower of cards. It's impossible with this method.

The shower of cards is really part of it for me.

Really interesting thread.

A question for Danny, and others who do the shower. while it might seem silly, I'm serious, as I would think this is something to be considered. As a spec, I love the idea of the shower of cards. As a performer, how do you solve the cards on the floor problem? Do you leave them there for the rest of the night? pick them up? leave it until the end? let the venue deal with it? Continue with the same deck or pull out another one? Is it a distraction as you do other effects? Inquiring minds want to know.

It is a closer.

I leave them. To be fair when done right only a few hit the floor anyhow. Most, if not all land on the table. They get picked up when the table is bussed. There is a great photo in the Schulien book which shows the cards hitting the wall without rubber banding.

I go through more decks than you want to think of. Also I can and do work with a deck in literally any condition. So using multiple decks a night means nothing as to having to break them in or whatever.

In reality it isn’t an effect for every table either.

It is only a matter of preference and not hard fast rules. I guess with my background and having learned from the Schulien family themselves, my preference is no banding. Other views are absolutely correct for their own personal circumstances.

I wouldn't want to be eating at a table where a shower of cards falls on my food. And for anyone else who prefers to not subject their audience to that display, I've got a trick where the cards are all placed in a box, but the card still sticks to the ceiling. https://buy.bobmillermagic.biz/magic-1/5......download