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00:00 [no audio]
00:07 [dramatic music]
00:35 This is Levitation Impossible.
00:37 You're going to cause a dollar bill
00:40 to animate, levitate, and rotate
00:44 all while isolated under a glass.
00:47 If you bought this, it's because you saw it and it fooled you.
00:51 You're going to be shocked at how easy this is to do.
00:54 And I know you're dying to find out.
00:57 So let's get to it.
00:59 [dramatic music]
01:09 Levitation Impossible.
01:12 This is a trick that really looks impossible.
01:18 I mean, it really looks impossible.
01:27 Would you believe that we can do all this
01:30 with no threads,
01:33 a borrowed bill,
01:36 and a borrowed glass?
01:39 You can perform an enhanced version of this routine
01:45 that allows you to animate and levitate the bill
01:49 without being anywhere near it.
01:52 We'll turn it upside down,
01:55 step away, and with hands free, watch.
01:59 First it moves a little.
02:02 Then it moves a lot.
02:07 This is the type of thing that your audience will remember
02:11 the rest of their lives.
02:16 Watch.
02:19 We're going to start by constructing our gimmicks.
02:33 The gimmick is two magnets,
02:37 one small, one large.
02:40 What you're going to do is
02:43 let them attach to each other face to face.
02:46 This way you know where the polarity is.
02:49 You're going to mark the outsides of the magnets with this black wax.
02:52 You can soften up the wax,
02:55 and it gets pliable,
02:58 and it gets sticky, and it's tackier when it's softer.
03:02 A small piece size or a little bit smaller piece
03:05 goes on the back.
03:08 Actually, quite a small piece can go,
03:11 but it's a good idea to make it a little bit smaller for yourself
03:14 and to make it a bit tacky and easy to manage.
03:17 On the back of the small magnet,
03:20 a very small piece of wax, press it kind of flat.
03:23 Then a bigger piece on the back of the big magnet,
03:26 the back being the portion that is sticking out right now.
03:29 You're sandwiching the magnets between wax,
03:32 but the wax should not overlap the edges.
03:35 You don't want wax to get on the other sides,
03:38 but you're going to be cutting your working sides.
03:41 These are the completed gimmicks stuck together.
03:44 Let me take them apart.
03:47 The bigger one has more wax, as you can see.
03:50 The little one has just a flat piece.
03:53 The little one will be inside the dollar, inside the glass.
03:56 The big one will be on the outside,
03:59 that big lump of wax acting as a handle.
04:02 When your thumb comes in touch with it,
04:05 it's easily gripped.
04:08 Now this is just the beginning of how this works.
04:11 To better explain this next portion,
04:14 I'm going to turn this to the side here.
04:17 What you see is that the bill is attached with a magnet
04:20 inside and outside the glass.
04:23 That's this part of your gimmicks.
04:26 But the bill itself,
04:29 let me just remove this,
04:32 the bill itself is shaped really weird.
04:35 It's shaped kind of like a tulip shape.
04:38 This is twisted into a stem
04:41 with about a half twist in it, a tight twist.
04:44 It's created basically a levitation support arm.
04:47 What that does is it holds the bill steady.
04:50 It is adjustable.
04:53 The round magnet is in here,
04:56 the disc magnet, the small one.
04:59 You can adjust this to perfectly
05:02 center the bill so that it's going to conceal
05:05 the arm and the magnet there.
05:08 Perfectly flat in relation to the bill is what I'm trying to say, I guess.
05:11 Then when this is in here,
05:14 it's going to make the bill stick out far enough
05:17 that it actually is in the center of the glass.
05:20 There's a lot of reasons this fools people.
05:23 One is that they're expecting it
05:26 to float in here.
05:29 They're not really thinking it's stuck to the back.
05:32 Even something about this, when it's isolated,
05:35 like I just showed you here,
05:38 even this just looks amazing.
05:41 If someone comes in the room and they see that,
05:44 they think immediately that that's levitating in there.
05:47 That's great for a promotional picture or anything,
05:50 rather than the standard Phantom cards.
05:53 There's so many reasons,
05:56 one of which, not the least of which,
05:59 is that the bill is twisted in this really odd shape.
06:02 They think it's a ball, and it's way out in the center,
06:05 but you have twisted this control arm into the bill.
06:08 The way you do this
06:11 is like this.
06:14 You can borrow the bill and do this pretty easily.
06:17 I'll give you an idea towards the end of this video
06:20 for how to do that.
06:23 It gives you plenty of time to do it without anyone suspecting that you're up to anything.
06:26 The small magnet goes inside the bill.
06:29 I'm just going to show you how to create the shape.
06:32 It gets centered
06:35 with the bare side flat up against the bill,
06:38 centered in the bill.
06:41 You're going to grab it on this side.
06:44 When the bill is worn and softer, it's almost a little bit easier
06:47 because we have to keep this flat.
06:50 I'm going to round this off.
06:53 I'm going to pinch it hard on each edge.
06:56 I'm holding it by its edges.
06:59 I'm going to pinch it there.
07:02 Then I'm going to grab it on this side and this side
07:05 and pull this around it.
07:08 Squeeze and twist the entire thing.
07:11 This is hard with a brand new bill.
07:14 I wouldn't be too worried that you're going to rip it.
07:17 Give it a good hard twist like that.
07:20 Don't twist it up so it shortens too much.
07:23 It still can be extended.
07:26 You've got these creases. Now you've got a control arm.
07:29 It's going to be adjustable and very stiff.
07:32 People don't think that even if you could attach the bill,
07:35 it would be flopping around. You have a lot of control.
07:38 Give it a twist.
07:41 If these are butterfly wings,
07:44 these are twisted in like this.
07:47 The wings are curled in.
07:50 Squeeze that into a ball,
07:53 maintaining a tight grip on the part that you twisted.
07:56 Squeeze that into a ball that is projected away from this.
07:59 There you've got your gimmick.
08:02 It should be big enough
08:05 that it's going to conceal the thing,
08:08 like it's just wedged in the glass.
08:11 If your angles are good, if you've only got a couple people
08:14 or one person performing, you can get away with a smaller bill.
08:17 That's what you end up with, this tulip thing.
08:20 The last step is to quickly adjust it
08:23 so that it's going to be straight
08:26 when it's flat against the surface of the glass.
08:29 Like that.
08:32 From the front, it looks good. It looks like a round bill.
08:35 You can also squeeze here to bring this up further.
08:38 You don't need to. The angles here, all they're going to see is round.
08:41 They see you just made a ball.
08:44 There's your gimmick.
08:47 You can be more subtle with it. I'm doing it very extreme here.
08:50 You can do it where it's more subtle
08:53 and they wouldn't notice if it fell out on the table.
08:56 It doesn't look too weird.
08:59 Alright, here's the no threads version.
09:02 Here's the moves.
09:05 This is your tulip shaped bill with your magnet already in it.
09:08 Again, we'll show you how to borrow that from the audience
09:11 and get that in there in a moment.
09:14 This is your control gimmick.
09:17 The control gimmick I'm going to put on my butt
09:20 because I have my keys in my back pocket.
09:23 This is going to attach to the keys.
09:26 The back of it is black.
09:29 No one would ever see it.
09:32 It's easy for me to get it just by displaying the glass.
09:35 Again, I can approach with this glass.
09:38 I can borrow the glass.
09:41 When I display the glass, I get the gimmick.
09:44 It comes out in these two fingers here.
09:47 I walk up to the table, draw attention to the glass,
09:50 come back with my gimmick,
09:53 and I come around the front with it in these two fingers.
09:56 I'm able to attach very easily to the bill.
09:59 Now I rotate the glass by the stem.
10:02 There's the gimmick.
10:05 I'm going to rotate it so that the gimmick is at the back.
10:08 Now I'm going to turn the whole thing over onto my hand.
10:11 This thumb comes in contact with the gimmick
10:14 and as I turn it over,
10:17 I'll show you in slow motion here,
10:20 as I turn it over, I'm going to slide the thumb down
10:23 and the bill comes down and looks like that.
10:26 I have it rotated so that this ends up in this position
10:29 but my thumb will be able to control it from behind.
10:32 I'll show you that up to speed.
10:35 There's my bill.
10:38 I'll turn that over like that.
10:41 You can cover and position so you know you have it just right.
10:44 I don't think anything's going to go wrong.
10:47 I could just have it rise up.
10:50 Of course that's not real tricky.
10:53 You can see my thumb.
10:56 There's different ways you can manipulate this.
10:59 But what I'm going to do is cover it.
11:02 The cover will be this move here, a little jump.
11:05 Now it's in the air.
11:08 It doesn't take much to cover the thumb.
11:11 In slow motion, the thumb comes up as I go up
11:14 and then it comes back down by the time I'm down.
11:17 So it's invisible.
11:20 So we go up like that.
11:23 And now, very carefully,
11:26 I don't manhandle this or it's not going to look like it's floating.
11:29 Very gently,
11:32 I'm going to do a paddle move
11:35 to show both sides of the glass,
11:38 which, of course, is rotating it again
11:41 as I bring it up.
11:44 So up to speed.
11:47 Just like that.
11:50 Reaching the top.
11:53 Show that it's buoyant by pressing down on the bill.
11:56 The magnet will release just enough to do that.
11:59 And it comes back up.
12:02 Turn the whole situation over.
12:05 And now the thumb is going to be very close to here.
12:08 And it's going to come in contact with the control
12:11 just at the first joint of the thumb.
12:14 Like, immediately.
12:17 So I say, right there, and here's how we get it to turn.
12:20 What I'm actually going to do
12:23 is turn the glass like this.
12:26 I'm going to keep the magnet in its place.
12:29 And here's what happens.
12:32 It turns.
12:35 It's because the outer magnet's a bit bigger.
12:38 It'll work with the same size, but because the outer magnet's a bit bigger
12:41 and the inner one is smaller, it's able to kind of
12:44 just roll along inside the magnetic field of the outer one.
12:47 And because of the shape of the glass,
12:50 it won't do it everywhere in the glass, as you can see.
12:53 You'll learn where the best spots are.
12:56 Like, right here, I know it'll do it.
12:59 So here's what we're doing again.
13:02 I'm going to come away from here to here, like that.
13:05 Turn the whole situation over.
13:08 My thumb is already near it, so it's nothing suspicious.
13:11 As I rotate the glass
13:14 and come away to here, it's pulling it down.
13:17 I'm going to thumb-palm this off, basically.
13:20 Into thumb...
13:23 Pinch it off there.
13:26 Turn the glass up so I have the bill like this.
13:29 And now I can dump the bill back into the hand
13:32 and I want the magnets to come back in contact with each other.
13:35 I'm going to immediately open this
13:38 facing the audience.
13:41 My gimmick and my magnet's back here, facing the audience.
13:44 And before they see this part, the middle fingers cover it
13:47 and pull everything with the bill.
13:50 Pull it very, very tight and straight.
13:53 So now I can pull both magnets off as if I'm just
13:56 throwing out their bill again.
13:59 I have the magnets right up to the end and I can pull them off
14:02 and return the bill.
14:05 When the thumb comes in contact with this,
14:12 I'm going to use these fingers to rotate the glass.
14:15 But the thumb coming in contact with this
14:18 will keep this in place
14:21 causing the bill to spin inside.
14:24 You don't rotate this, it's just held in place.
14:27 It's just restrained.
14:30 And the spinning is caused by the rotation of the glass.
14:33 Alone.
14:36 Alright.
14:44 Here we go with the enhanced version.
14:47 The enhanced version does use a piece of thread
14:50 but this is not what I would call a
14:53 thread worker trick.
14:56 The thread is used as a remote control to control your
14:59 magnets from a distance, that's all.
15:02 You've got about a 2 1/2 foot piece of Vectra X2
15:05 coming from the outside magnet
15:08 into my pocket where I've attached it to
15:11 a deck of cards.
15:14 I could also attach inside the belt and I can attach the magnet
15:17 back here if I want to keep it there.
15:21 With that in the glass,
15:24 I draw attention to the glass, steal my magnet away,
15:27 come here, attach just like that.
15:30 I can rotate it so it's away
15:33 just as before. The moves are pretty much the same.
15:36 I have to make sure I don't come in contact with the thread.
15:39 That's what's nice. You don't have any
15:42 real contact with the thread, minimal. You don't have any kind of
15:45 complicated body hookups. I'm going to flip this glass
15:48 over. Again, come under the thread,
15:51 grab the stem, flip everything over and the thumb is going to
15:54 run the bill down the glass just as we did
15:57 with the no threads version. But this time,
16:00 this hand is going to shield from there
16:03 as I center everything
16:06 like that.
16:09 Now my hands are free. All I need to do
16:12 is come in. Don't go too far away, but
16:15 you know how long your thread is. Come in under the thread,
16:18 hook it with the thumb, so you're coming through the crotch of the thumb
16:21 and you're just going to draw this upwards a bit
16:24 and put some pressure on it until you get a little bit of motion.
16:27 That's it. Let that register
16:30 and then boom, freak them out.
16:33 Immediately, disengage from the thread,
16:36 take this by the stem, again handling it very gingerly
16:39 to make it appear as if it's floating.
16:42 You're going to bring it to this hand, but first
16:45 let's do the spin move. This comes in, the back of the hand
16:48 hits the thread, so now the thread is in the crotch
16:51 again, but coming across the back.
16:54 Now I'm going to rotate the glass.
16:57 I'm going to rotate the glass this way
17:00 but I'm going to keep tension on it so the magnet
17:03 can't move. The thread is running over my hand
17:06 so the magnet can't move as I rotate the glass.
17:09 Let's see how that looks again.
17:12 Float it up, disengage,
17:15 pick it up and make sure you're high enough
17:18 in there that you get this nice spin
17:21 then bring it over to here, set it down
17:24 again, we're running over the back of the hand
17:27 so now all I have to do is
17:30 pretty much put tension on, bring my body away
17:33 bring the hands up and away, this comes down
17:36 I'm going to control the thread here
17:39 so the magnet can't get away
17:42 and continue putting pressure against here
17:45 while bringing the glass away and that disengages
17:48 pretty easily. The thread shouldn't break, this should
17:51 quietly disengage. Now I can
17:54 scoop this like that, I'm going to dump it
17:57 right back into the hand with the magnet
18:00 as before so these can come back together
18:03 and I can separate the bill
18:06 and strip off the magnet just as I did earlier.
18:09 For clarity's sake here, I'm hooked up
18:12 with a white piece of yarn
18:15 on the deck of cards in my pocket and
18:18 like I said we could attach it to the back but we're going to come out
18:21 with it in this position, attach
18:24 in the front of the glass
18:27 and bring that then around to the back
18:30 so it's concealed. Now I'll turn the
18:33 whole apparatus upside down, I stay clear of the thread
18:36 and the thumb is going to bring this down
18:39 and I can use either thumb, whatever's comfortable for you
18:42 I'm going to bring that down as we turn it over
18:45 under cover, positioning the glass, I get everything set
18:48 where I want it. Now I stay clear of the thread
18:51 all I have to do when I'm ready to move the bill is
18:54 come underneath it, catch this in the crotch of the thumb
18:57 first I'll move it a little and that involves
19:00 just taking up the slack and that's it
19:03 stop and now under control
19:06 move it a lot, disengage, come in
19:09 pick this up
19:12 I'm going to sweep this hand underneath
19:15 and now I catch the thread with the back of the hand
19:18 just like that, through the crotch of the thumb
19:21 that's going to keep the magnet in place while I rotate
19:24 the glass with these fingertips here, this way
19:27 and that's going to cause the bill
19:30 to turn
19:33 you can see the magnet just stays in place, again the magnet doesn't
19:36 rotate, only the inside magnet rotates
19:39 and this is caused by you rotating the glass with the
19:42 right fingertips. Now you can bring this to this hand
19:45 and with some tension
19:48 bringing this away, the bill is drawn straight
19:51 back down to the hand
19:54 if you want to borrow the bill and get the
20:02 magnet into it without arousing any suspicion whatsoever
20:05 all you have to do is this, you have it ready to go, walk up to the
20:08 table, ask for the loan of a bill and
20:11 place the bill right in the center and tell the person you borrowed it from
20:14 that you're going to fold their bill up and
20:17 tell them about the Russian scientist who actually
20:20 believed that there was a shape
20:23 underneath insects' wings, the texture
20:26 underneath their wings, it's microscopic, if you look in a microscope
20:29 there's a certain shape that actually assists
20:32 the insect in flying and allows them to repel
20:35 gravity. And if you've ever heard that a bumblebee
20:38 is not aerodynamic enough to fly
20:41 yet it still flies in defiance of physics
20:44 this was his explanation for that, this is how that happens
20:47 this is the special shape that allows
20:50 things to fly
20:53 that's not, it's not done, hold on
20:59 it's not done, it's halfway there
21:02 I have to, this
21:05 this is like origami times ten
21:08 here, it's
21:11 minutes to learn, a lifetime to master, there it is
21:14 it's the shape
21:17 of the bumblebee, it's a ball
21:20 but that is how you can get into the routine
21:23 get the gimmick into the bill without
21:26 arousing any suspicion, tell an interesting story while you're at it
21:29 which is true, you can look it up online, it gets even more interesting
21:32 so that is levitation impossible
21:42 this has been a goal of mine forever for almost
21:45 twenty years, I hope you see what I see in it is that
21:48 it's a visual that just had to kind of come into existence
21:51 one look, they see magic
21:54 and it was my duty to bring it into
21:57 existence, I'm pretty happy with the outcome
22:00 I'm delighted to be able to share it with you, what I hope you do is right now
22:03 get yourself a wine glass because once you start
22:06 playing with this, it's going to blow your mind how
22:09 fun this is, I haven't played with anything this fun
22:12 the no threads version I'm talking about
22:15 but whether you do it with threads or no threads, I hope you enjoy it
22:18 again, I'm thrilled to be able to share it
22:21 I'm Steve Pearson, thanks for watching
22:24 it's important to note that this trick wouldn't have even been
22:37 possible if it weren't for the
22:40 Vectra X2, you receive a supply of that
22:43 with the trick, this is the refill spool, if you get
22:46 serious about it, you need more, there are two other
22:49 threads in the Vectra series, which I began
22:52 developing this line of levitation supplies about five years
22:55 ago and I wanted to create the most comprehensive line of supplies
22:58 that magic's ever seen
23:01 I wish I would have had these when I started out because I was working
23:04 on this floating bill 20 years ago, I could not
23:07 do it because there was no thread strong
23:10 enough and invisible enough to do the job
23:13 now obviously there is, we also have the
23:16 most invisible thread that you'll never see
23:19 the Vectra Virtuoso and in the middle
23:22 somewhere coming up the middle, we have the original
23:25 Vectra line, which is our most popular
23:28 thread still, and this was the first one
23:31 that kicked off the line five years ago
23:34 you also receive the Master Wax in black
23:37 we have that also in flesh color and
23:40 card colors, which are red and blue
23:43 for bicycle cards, black and white for other cards, black and white
23:46 can attach to objects, tables, credit cards
23:49 and then these mix, so you can get the exact tint
23:52 you want in case you have to attach somewhere where people can see it
23:55 if you're going to do anything
23:58 with invisible thread, you can find samples
24:01 of all three inside the Master Levitation
24:04 System, which will also teach you all the
24:07 ins and outs of thread work, from stripping
24:10 and tying, to attaching to wax
24:13 to lighting, control
24:16 everything and more
24:19 and it's the only 3D levitation system
24:22 meaning you can float the object anywhere, imagine a two foot aura
24:25 around your body, that you can float this object
24:28 and it doesn't just go left and right, it doesn't just go up and down, it doesn't just sit there and bounce
24:31 as a matter of fact, it doesn't bounce at all
24:34 this is the most realistic levitation
24:37 you're ever going to see, and if you don't believe it, watch this
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26:21 Hi, I'm Steve Pearson and this is the Thread Bullet
26:26 The Thread Bullet is the fastest way to get into thread magic
26:29 and start working with a static line
26:32 what that means is that your thread is not attached to anything mechanical
26:35 or electronic, it's controlled only by you
26:38 it makes for the most natural looking levitation possible
26:41 it's the way the pros do it, and now you can too
26:44 with the Thread Bullet
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