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 is impaled on a spike. She is removed from the spike and shown to be unharmed.
Short Description The magician's assistant vanishes from inside a pyramid box and she reappears in the audience. Later, two new assistants are produced from the box.
Designer Ken Whitaker and Paul Haynes
Short Description An assistant is sawed in half without any visible cover.
Designer Jim Steinmeyer (with John Gaughan and Jonathan Pendragon)
Short Description One person passes through the torso of another person.
Short Description The magician is locked into a metal coffin and spikes are driven through him. The spikes burst into flames, but the magician reappears at the back of the venue unharmed.
Short Description The performer stands on a small pedestal, is quickly covered with a cloth, and instantly disappears.
Designer Walter "Zaney" Blaney
Short Description A member from the audience lies upon a board supported by two small step ladders. The ladders are removed and the assistant and board remain suspended in the air.
Designer Michael Grandinetti
Short Description A life-sized portrait turns into a real girl.
Short Description The magician stabs his assistant with 3 glowing lights. The lights are removed and she is unharmed.
Short Description An assistant is divided into 3 separate pieces, taken apart, and then reassembled in a new space entirely unharmed.
