Repository
What follows is an alphabetized list of major illusions and effects. The list includes PUBLIC DOMAIN, LICENSED, and PROTECTED illusions. Please review our DEFINITIONS page for more detail on the differences between these categories.
DISCLAIMER: The Illusion Repository assumes no risk or responsibility for the information listed here nor for your purchases or builds and provides this list as a professional courtesy.
If you are truly interested in purchasing one of the “protected” illusions, please call your favorite builder and see if they are authorized to build the illusion. Oftentimes a builder may simply pay a fee to the designer for the right to build a single unit (a one–off). In that case, the builder may not be listed, but would still be authorized by the designer to build the illusion as a one-off.
The other way to purchase an illusion from this list would be to directly contact the designer. Often the designer can recommend a preferred builder. (e.g. Jim Steinmeyer prefers that clients contact him directly.)
In some cases the illusions listed here are NOT available for purchase or performance. Some have been exclusively licensed to individual performers and are not available to the public. So when in doubt, CONTACT THE DESIGNER! And don’t worry – most designers (including the “big names”) are more than happy to help – it’s their job!
Short Description Twenty-one assistants are produced from a cabinet that appears large enough to hold about six.
Designer Jonathan Pendragon
Short Description 360 degree levitation of an assistant as performed by the Pendragons
Short Description A magician levitates a ball in 3D space. Another option is to levitate a candle stand with 3 candles all independently.
Short Description A spectator's hand is removed from his body.
Short Description The performer reaches into the cabinet and produces imaginary or invisible objects from the cabinet.
Designer Ken Whitaker and Paul Haynes
Short Description Mid-air Metamorphosis Effect
Designer Carlo Venturini, Prof. Seeman, or Otto Heinemann
Short Description Assistant lies on a couch and then floats in mid-air.
Short Description The Airtime levitation is a double levitation where an assistant is levitated many feet off the ground. The magician cannot reach her to pass a hoop around her body so instead he levitates himself to meet her in the air and is able to pass the hoop.
Short Description The magician is confined inside a polished metal torture device and then impaled with a rack of sharp spikes.
Designer Robert William MacFarland (Amac)
Short Description A stage-sized version of the three card monte - a female assistant hides behind a giant playing card. The card is mixed with two others on stage and the audience is fooled into thinking she is in one place when she actually is in another.
