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!

Thin Model Sawing (a lady in half)
Designer
Zati Sungar
Illusion Main Category
Short Description

An assistant reclines in a thin box. The box is sawed in half, the halves separated and replaced, and the assistant emerges unharmed.

Designer
P.T. Selbit
Illusion Main Category
Short Description

A girl is pulled through a small hole at the center of a manhole cover.

Illusion Name
Designer
Guy Jarrett
Illusion Main Category
Short Description

An assistant walks through steel bars of a jail cell.

Time Machine
Illusion Name
Designer
Franz Harary
Illusion Main Category
Short Description

The Time Machine uses smoke from fire extinguishers to help aid in the production of a person.

Website for More Info and/or Purchasing
Toccata for Light Bulb & Paper Bag
Designer
Jim Steinmeyer
Illusion Main Category
Short Description

A light bulb is repeatedly and instantly removed and replaced in a stand shielded merely by two panes of glass.

Website for More Info and/or Purchasing
Topsy Turvy
Illusion Name
Designer
Robert Harbin
Illusion Main Category
Short Description

An assistant immediately changes from upside down to rightside up inside of a small cabinet.

Trapdoor
Illusion Name
Designer
Tim Clothier
Illusion Main Category
Short Description

Several items are pulled from a door lying on a table. An assistant appears as a finale.

Website for More Info and/or Purchasing
Trouble
Illusion Name
Designer
Jim Steinmeyer
Illusion Main Category
Short Description

The magician slices a box containing his assistant into 5 pieces. The pieces are separated and restored and the assistant is unharmed.

Website for More Info and/or Purchasing
Twister
Illusion Name
Designer
Franz Harary
Illusion Main Category
Short Description

An assistant is placed in two box with only her feet showing. The top

Upside Down Production Box
Designer
Robert Harbin
Illusion Main Category
Short Description

The magician shows an empty box and then produces an assortment of items from the box including two tables, silks, a spring snake, a giant die box, and a stack of fishbowls.