The Genii Forum

Can anyone advise me as to where I could find a practice mirror or vanity? A magic shop in my area has one available but it's a little pricey. A 3-mirrored vanity would be great to study my angles. Thanx for any suggestions. :confused:

Go to Home Depot and buy three 12" mirror tiles and some tape.

-=tabman

Great Idea tabman. Also found that my local plastics company had some short ends of mirrored plex and i used that with tape hinges. Less fragile.
damon

Don't mean to knock mirror practice, but I think a cheap video camera is better.

I went to Tap Plastics and bought a piece of mirror plastic the size of my close-up pad and two pieces half that size. I taped the three pieces together using duct tape with a 1/4" space between sections. When I am not using them for practice, they act as a case for the pad. Total cost was around twelve dollars.

Jim

Pete and I agree! (Pete, is that a photo moment?)

In a mirrow you only see it once and then you only see what you were watching. On tape, you can look for one thing at a time. Watch your face! People who can't see your hands will!

Good Luck!

Bob Sanders
Th Amazed Wiz

I also will have to agree with a video camera. You will be able to see more. Also you can do your performance for the camera and then look at it, That way you wont be as distracted. And if you are like me and im sure several others, when practicing in front of the mirror you tend to blink during the move.

There's a plus to using mirrors for close-up magic over using a video camera. If you're watching your hands in the mirrors you're absolutely not staring at your hands live.

If you can do a routine while moving the head and eyes checking several mirrors then you can perform the routine while checking several spectators and never once look at the hands.

-=tabman

Some years ago, somebody put together for me three pieces of wood with mirrows attached to them and connected with hinges. this has worked well since.

I think mirrors and camera work well together. Both have their uses.

I like the use of mirrors. Unlike video which can only be watched after the fact, if you are looking at your hands in the mirror, you can make immediate adjustments and see immediate results. I also believe that experience with both mirror and video can increase your ability to gather input from just the mirror.

I think the video is best for the performance, but the mirror is best for the moves.

Larry,

Just let the camera run while hooked to the monitor and look at the TV screen. (The right/left thing is not as confusing as you would think.)

A major advantage is that you can use zoom to make it bigger than life and easier to see than actual size in the mirror. Mirrors have no adjustments for size. You only get one size.

If you are watching the monitor, you aren't staring at your actual hands either. It does have the disadvantage of only one angle in the shot.

Dancers rehearse both ways for a reason. I'll leave that explaination to Lucy.

Bob Sanders
Magic By Sander

I use a mirror for practicing. It's made of three very thin and highly polished metal plates, hinged with duct tape as others have suggested. These are "unbreakable" mirrors that they sell for public restrooms and other vandal prone areas. Works great for this, and you have never to worry about fragility. When folded, it's only about a 1/4" thick, mostly due to the duct tape.

For rehearsal (not the same as practice, in my opinion) I also prefer video. Lately I've been experiments with using an Apple iSight camera instead of my camcorder. (You can record using iMovie or QuickTime Pro 7.) It's handy too if you want to check angles on something you're working on, the self-view video window in iChat even reverses the image for you, if the left-right view of a camcorder monitor bothers you.