#13 The Anti-Gravity Ring

A finger ring is suspended on a piece of string. After a discussion on gravity, the ring slides down the piece of string, but then a moment later the ring goes against gravity and starts to move up hill on the piece of string showing that magic can defy the laws of nature! No smoke, no mirrors, just Anti-Gravity Magic!!

As a magician, I often tell my audience: “I’ll fool you, but I wouldn’t lie to you.” Well, in this case, I do actually tell a little white lie at the start of this trick.

I say that I have a ring and a piece of string. The ring part is true, but the string is actually a rubber band that is used to suspend the ring. You don’t want to say it’s a rubber band because somebody in the audience might figure out the secret. It’s not that a ring can slide up a rubber band, but that a rubber band stretches and if someone thinks about it a little longer, they might get the secret.

So, the secret is stretching the rubber band and hiding a length of it in your hand. When you show the length of the elastic at the beginning, you are psychologically saying see how long the string is, and then when you hold the elastic in both hands with the ring on it, it should look the same length…even though you have stretched it to look the same while secretly concealing a length of elastic in your palm.

Once you have done that, you lower the hand concealing the elastic bit so the ring can slide down the string while talking about gravity and then you simply release the tension holding the hidden bit of elastic and let it slowly slide between your finger and thumb so it appears as if the ring is sliding up the string, when in actual fact the elastic is just returning to it’s original shape bringing the ring along for the ride. Simple, but magically sneaky!

The length of the “elastic bit” is what can be hidden in your palm.

As the ring appears to go against gravity, I just focus intently on the ring, magically willing the ring up the hill with my magic mind! I used to blow gently on the ring as it slid up the string, but then someone said that the blowing was moving the ring up the string, so I don’t do that anymore.

And one more thing, make a little knot in the end of the elastic, so when you feel this knot with your thumb and forefinger, you will know that the elastic is about to stop moving because it has come to its end…and also the knot will stop the rubber band from slipping right through your finger and thumb and sending the elastic flying and the ring to the floor, which would ruin the great mystery you have just performed.

So practice, to get the length consistent and to become very smooth at releasing the tension and then you will be on your way to performing nature defying magic!!

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Steve Baker is a magician located in the GTA residing North of Orangeville.

Since 1997, Steve has entertained adults and children at private functions and large public venues to amaze them with sleight of hand, strolling magic tricks, mentalism and fun characters from Deep River to the Kawartha Lakes and from St. Albert to St. Mary’s, Ontario.