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!
Designer Tim Clothier and Paolo Carta
Short Description Unique sub trunk/blammo box combo routine with additional switch and reappearance of original assistant.
Short Description Cata-Poultry is a catapult to launch duck or similar sized animal into a cage. Similar to the duck cannon but with a mechanical catapult device.
Designer Possibly U.F. Grant
Short Description The magician balances an assistant on the back of a single chair
Short Description The magician's feet are locked into stocks. He's lowered headfirst into a cell filled with water and attempts to escape.
Short Description An assistant drapes a coat around her body and stands on a small table. She vanishes as the coat is raised by a rope.
Designer Richard A. Boehlke
Short Description A plaster head of a woman is assembled on three poles and placed under a curtain. A live assistant then emerges, having been transformed.
Short Description Two assistants have the top half of their bodies switch places while keeping their bottom halves in place
Short Description A woman is crushed under the weight of two male assistants sitting in boxes placed above the woman. The boxes are raised and she is shown unharmed.
Designer Possibly Carl Rosenfeld
Short Description An assistant appears inside an empty, transparent box.
Short Description An assistant is cut in two inside of a clear box so that the audience can see her head, torso, legs, and feet almost the entire time.
