Flash and Burn by Liam Montier

With Halloween approaching first, here is a very simple idea that can you build into a routine for something a bit festive.

In effect, you have some card stock of some description (playing card, blank card, tarot card, business card...) which is then passed over a lit candle.  There is a flash of fire, and then, turning the card over, you reveal a word literally burnt into the card!  It could be a word they were thinking of, or if you are using it to reveal a selected card, it could just say ‘Yours’ which would be pretty creepy on a Tarot Deck or whatever.

I’ll leave the routining up to you - this will just cover basic handling and how to make the burnt on writing look really cool.

NOTE THAT THIS PREPARATION AND EFFECT IS TO BE USED BY ADULTS ONLY, AND EVEN THEY MUST BE CAREFUL!  I ACCEPT NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOU HURTING YOURSELF!  And in fact, I’d probably laugh at you, so if in doubt, don’t do it!

Start off by getting a craft knife, lighter and ashtray, scrap paper, card stock, some kind of sticky stuff (magicians wax, white-tac (rather than blue which would show up too much) whatever and flash paper - a pad like this one is ideal.

http://www.dudethatscoolmagic.co.uk/acatalog/FM_Flash_Pad_White.html

So, first of all, carefully scratch the word you want to reveal onto the face of the card stock you are using.  You want lots of scratches, but not very deep, and certainly not going through the card. 

Now, you have scratched the word on, but it doesn’t look very visible.  So here is a cool tip that you can use to make it stand out.  Burn a scrap of paper (not flash paper!) in the ashtray, and wait for the ashes to cool.  Then pick some up, and rub them into the scratches!  The dark ash then sticks in the scratches, and gives a nice and spooky look (rather than simply writing your spooky message with a marker pen!)

Now, a double lift or top change to reveal the writing could already be pretty cool, but now we are going to add a bit more flash! 

Cut a scrap of flash paper until its the size of about HALF the card stock.  Use your sticky stuff to secure it right in the middle of the card.  Use as little sticky stuff as possible, and right on the very corners - any flash paper that is stuck down probably won’t burn off.  This is fine if you are just left with some mini scraps (it looks like part of the card).

Now, using a top change as you reach for a lit candle, you can swap a blank card for the prepared one, and then when it goes over the candle (with you holding it by the short edges, right hand over the top so that your fingers are safely out of the way) there will be a flash of fire, and then your spooky message appears!

You could reveal the name of a card, or a spectators name, maybe a thought of word... Let us know your ideas!

Until next time,

Liam Montier for dudethatscoolmagic.co.uk

PS.. Love Flash Paper then checkout In A Flash and Spontaneous Combustion by Jay Sankey