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How to Make a Floating Cane

A floating cane is a magic trick where a cane appears to float between your legs without any support at all. It will bounce up and down with your hands visibly far away from the cane. Making a floating cane trick is a very simple process and requires only basic materials; getting the trick to work properly may take practice in learning to move your body in a specific way to have the cane seem to move up and down in a magic way. With a cane at your disposal and some time in front of a mirror, however, you will have a brilliant trick to add to your magic act.

Things You'll Need

Pants
Safety pins
Cane
Very light colored thread
Chair
Mirror
Magician's assistant

Instructions

- 1
  Place one safety pin behind each knee of the pants. Make sure they are pushed in all the way and close the pin to avoid being pricked.
- 2
  Sit down in your chair and place the cane between your legs. Take 2 feet of thread and tie it around the middle of the cane at least two times to make sure it stays in place.
- 3
  Tie one end of the thread to one safety pin and the other to the other safety pin. Double knot the thread to hold it in place. Relax your knees to leave the cane on the ground.
- 4
  Sit down in front of a mirror and practice bending your legs outward and inward at the knees to make your cane jump in the air and float. Practice your arm movements and your magic words as well. Make it look as smooth and as realistic as possible before you perform the trick. Remove the safety pin and set the cane aside until the day of the performance.
- 5
  Prepare the trick on the day of the performance by sitting down in your chair with the cane between your legs. Put the pins back into place behind your knees and practice for a few moments before beginning the show.
- 6
  Have an assistant on hand to turn off most of the lights in the room and light the rest of the room with candles. This allows you to conceal the thread that will be tied to your cane later.
- 7
  Have your assistant invite your audience into the room. Greet the audience and explain that your first trick will be to make the cane dance and float. Wave your arms above the cane and chant "magic words" to distract the audience as you move your knees apart slowly. Move until the cane starts to lift in the air.
- 8
  Relax your knees to lower the cane. Make your leg actions seem as if they are part of how you cast the spell. Vary the speed of your movements to make the cane seem more animated.
- 9
  Place your hands on your knees after the trick is done and discretely snap the thread holding the cane to your knees. Stand up with the cane, pulling the tread off the end as you move up. Move in a grand gesture, shouting "Tada!" or something similar to distract the audience as you remove the thread.
- 10
  Let the audience inspect the cane without the thread to show that there was nothing on the cane during the trick.

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