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 An assistant's shadow is used to prove that her middle has disappeared, followed by her entire body. The screens are removed showing the girl's body really has vanished.
Short Description A clear chamber is filled with smoke and suddenly a person appears inside the chamber.
Short Description An assistant is sawed in half. The saw is removed and the assistant emerges unharmed.
Short Description The magician saws through his assistant who is curled up inside a wire-framed egg shell.
Short Description A classic Shadow Box illusion that uses a camping tent instead of a box. A tent is shown empty. A light is lowered into the top. Shadows appear on the inside of the tent and an assistant magically appears.
Short Description An assistant enters an empty box, her shadow being shown as lit on the front panel. She then disappears.
Short Description A signed vase is broken and then fully restored.
Short Description A girl is placed into a vertical box. The box is laid horizontally and then sliced into 9 pieces and separated.
Short Description The Smoke Box illusion is a small, illuminated box that fills with smoke and produces an assistant.
Short Description The magician tears up pieces of a napkin, soaks them in water, wrings out the water, and suddenly produces dry confetti from his hands which "snows" onto the stage and front rows of the audience.
