Kieron Johnson - The Time Traveller

The Tim e Traveller Traveller A M ag i c i an B ef o r e His Hi s Tim Ti m e by Kieron Johnson

Volume 1

First Edition Printed by Haresign Press Copyright © 2018 Saturn Magic Ltd All All Rights Rights Reserv Reserved ed No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, neither printed or electronic without the permission of the copyright holder.

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Table of Con tents

Foreword by Mark Traversoni.................................... 5 Introduction by Joel Dickinson................................... 7 Introduction by John Morton...................................... 9 Introduction by Kieron Johnson................................. 10 A Litt Little le About my Early Life Life in Magic Mag ic.......................... 12 The The Gandalf Theo Th eory............... ry........................ ................. ............... ................ .............1 ....15 5 Invisible Ice.................................................................17 The La La La Switch .................................................. 24 Radley.........................................................................28 Lolly Lolly 2 .0......... .0 .................. ................. ............... ................ .................. .................. .................. ........... 32 Iced Tea......................................................................45 How to Swallow Smoke............................................. 54 How to Wate Waterp rpro roof of Cards.... Cards......... .......... .......... ........... .......... .......... ........... .......... ....... 60 Flower Power ............................................................. ............................................................. 61 The Anything Deck....................................................66 Flash Flash Paper Advic Ad vice............. e.............

68























To The Max

70

Boiling Boiling an an Egg Egg with with the Power of your you r M i n d .............. 75 Light up the World ....................................................... 76 Taste the Rainbow ....................................................... 78 Hot Deck.....................................................................83 Diabetics Nightmare .................................................... 87 Final Thoughts and Thanks ......................................... 91























Foreword: Mark Traversoni

I have been good friends with Kieron for a number of years and writing this book has been quite a journey with him. He has so much going on inside his head that plucking out the items to include here has been quite a task! Kieron is one of the most creative thinkers in magic that I have ever come across and in my opinion has been highly influential in creating the new age of magic we all now enjoy - the magic that moved away from the conventional packet tricks, Ambitious Cards, Chop Cups etc that everyone seemed to be doing at the time. His ideas are still considered to be almost crazy but when you take the time to think about them you can begin to see how they will work. You have to get yourself into a mindset to fully appreciate his ideas and thinking. When Kieron has an idea he is obsessive; he does not give up until he has the solution - which has to include all the movements and reasoning for doing what he is doing. We speak for hours on the phone each week - this has resulted in some amazing brainstorming sessions which has resulted in some awesome items being released and amazing things that are still work in progress. People want to see real magic when we perform for them and Kieron specialises in the impossible - the randomness of his magic is its appeal and audiences just























I have heard many people say “Oh that’s so Kieron, I will never be able to do that” - you can, you just need to set yourself free as he has and trust your feelings. As you you would expect, expect, the ideas and concepts in this book book are different. Use them as they are or add your own twist to them. By buying this book you must be part way down the path to understanding that the audience deserves more than tricks that instantly reset and require no preparation. It is a shame so many ma ny judge judg e how good good an effect is on that criteria. Kieron is a great guy. I hope you enjoy his book as much as we have enjoyed collaborating on it.























Introduction: Joel Dickinson Kieron is a wonderful guy. It is a pleasure to sit and write this introduction. I have performed with Kieron, I have watched him perform and I am lucky to have him as my friend. Kieron has a unique ability to create magic from the most unlikely objects. To this day I do not know how his mind works. Where do his creative ideas come from? I once asked Kieron how he creates so much incredible magic to which he replied “don’t worry it’s just a problem I have”. Kieron is the most committed, creative, inspiring and respectful magician I have met and he inspires me with my own work. If I ever eve r feel defl deflate ated d or stuck stu ck in the world world of magie, agie, I will ask myself ‘what would Kieron do d o ’ trouble trouble is, I would never know. I must tell you about how I met Kieron. I was outside of a bar and as I walked up to the door, I could hear gasps, laughter and applause from the outside. I walked in to the bar and Kieron was sat in the corner with his audience in front of him him and within just ju st a minute minut e I became a layman. I was hooked watching Kieron perform from the back of his enthralled crowd. As I sat watching I could see an incredible amount of preparation and effort which Kieron brought to his performance. However, to his audience, his preparation was completely invisible. Forks were bending and melting like rubber in his participants hands. Mixed Rubik's Cubes were solved in the most impossible way, fire transformed to ice, water

























demand of his audience, signed objects appeared inside chocolate bars and so much more. But what exactly does 'so much more' mean. Well, Kieron is not like other magicians I have seen perform. Over the years I have watched many magicians but that one particular evening something special happened. After Kieron finished performing, one gentleman was in floods of tears. The gentleman shook Kieron's hand and thanked him for such a wonderful evening and performance. Being a magician I needed to know why he was crying, “wasn’t that amazing" I said to gauge the gentleman. To which the gentleman replied “yes, his magic is amazing . 丨don’t know why I am crying but he is just such a wonderful guy". Which brings me right back to the start.























Introduction: John Morton When people think of a magician they think they know what they are going to get, however very few have as many varied aspects to their personality as Kieron. He is a Magician, Regurgitator, Mentalist, Memory Man, Creative Consultant, Mad Scientist and avid hat aficionado. I, like a lot of magicians first heard of him through his outstanding release “To The Max” a trick that is now in a lot of working magicians acts. Like the great Max Malini, Kieron is not afraid to put in a lot of preparation to create a true moment of wonder for his audience, and I recommend you the reader do the same. I’m privileged to be one of the friends Kieron brainstorms with and in the words of Morgan Freeman in the film Now You See Me: "I believe that what's about to follow, is really going to amaze".























Introduction: Kieron Johnson Thank Tha nk you for buying the first volume vol ume of my book. book. I was originally planning to make this one big book but I have now decided to make this a number of separate volumes to speed up the publishing process. In here you will find some brand new, never published work that I have kept close to my chest for years. The hardest thing putting this book together was getting my thoughts in one place. Anyone that knows me knows that I have a lot of thoughts in my head! I wanted this book to be about magic that is different and workable. These effects are still in my working sets and have served me well over many years. I’ve never been one to publish unworkable concepts; at the heart I am a consultant and teacher and I want my work to be performed. I am and always will be a working magician in the trenches having the extreme highs and the lows. One day performing for Royalty and the other day I am in a city























your audiences the best you can offer. The end effect is well worth the effort. There are no pipe dreams in this booklet, everything works. The benefit of preparation is that all the hard work is done at home; you will notice I have stripped a lot of the hard work out to keep everything simple. I have to say thank you to my lovely wife Katy for putting up with me and for her support. To Mark Traversoni for his kindness and believing in my work and helping guide me and to Russ Stevens for publishing my first works. There have been others as well, so I thank all of you who have helped and supported me and to those who have bought my creations over the years. I also owe a huge debt to Max Malini and Rocco Silano for their inspiration - we truly do stand on the shoulders of giants.























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A Little About My Early Life in Magic Many people consider me to be unconventional or weird although I never set out to be that way. In my early magical years I had no desire to just perform the normal packet tricks and plots in magic that everyone else was doing. I had what others considered to be crazy ideas and was told many times by the 'establishment' that no-one would ever do or buy them.

























I have been inspired by many magicians over the years but there have been two main influencers: I never met Max Malini but by reading and listening to what others have said about him then he is at the very core of my magic, not being afraid to prepare and do the unusual. One of my greatest inspirations and mentor is Rocco Silano, as without him none of my magic would exist and my life would not be what what it is now now.. He taugh taughtt me that that free magic is everywhere and we should be aware of our surroundings, that it's not about the tricks, it's that everything around you can create a moment of magic. I was in a bar with Rocco, and whilst standing at the bar he stretched both hands out and to my astonishment a Coke Coke can can on the bar started started to move. move. It moved to the edge edge and flipped off the bar edge into the bin. bin. It was the first first time time I saw a true true miracle. miracle. I asked asked him how he did it, he said there is free magic all around us, you just have to























I always put a lot of passion into my work so I don't let him down. Eight years later I'm in China performing alongside him and after the show he asked to see my metal bending routine. In my routine I use 2 forks, one is in a wine glass on the table, as I'm bending the first fork the one in the glass just started to move as someone leant in and knocked the table by accident. I saw this happening and put my hand out as if I was making it move causing everyone to gasp. Afterwards he asked asked me how did did I make make the fork move in the glass and I looked him in the eye and said “Rocco if you look around free magic is around you everywhere". It dawned on Rocco that his words were being played back to him eight years later and smiling he grabbed me on the shoulders with two hands and shook me saying “Noooooo”. There was no greater pleasure than being able to give























The Gand G and alf Th Th eory The reason I call this the Gandalf theory is that I believe that all magic is magic and that all styles and genres can work for you, if they they are are a part of you. For example, if Gandalf came to your table and did linking rings, then sawed a lady in half, then did sponge balls followed by the razor blades it would be a strange thing to see because Gandalf doesn’t do magic, he is magic. What I'm trying to say is that you have to be true to yourself but not limit yourself. It is very easy to be told you can't mix styles. You can and you should do what suits you, not what you are told you should do. I still find today that some magicians don't get me























I have a rough idea of a script when I perform but I find the routining and patter evolve and comes with repeated performance. The mechanics are always sound and well rehearsed, even though my style seems very disorganised and random. Like in a game of chess I'm well prepared and always thinking a number of moves ahead. Mix it up, do what you feel, trust your intuition, it may not always work, but pick yourself up and start again. The greatest gift with close-up magic is that you can always go to another table. As a good friend once said, l,if you do the stuff you always know you will be stuck in a mediocre rut. You may get the constant applause but the only way to be truly great is to push the limits and occasionally fail, only then you can reach true greatness”. This is only my personal opinion and as my Dad always says, listen to everything but do what feels right to you.























Inv isi bl e Ice Ice

























Explanation

This is my version of the Invisible Deck. If you're not familiar with the plot, it's where a card is thought of and found to be the only card turned the wrong way in the deck. I wanted something different for my stage show and I loved the idea i dea of it being on display disp lay for the entire ent ire show. show. I have also used this in parlour as well. What You Will Need

An Invisibl Invisible e Deck, eck, these can be bought for less less than £10 £10, a plastic container bigger than the deck, a microfibre























The cards are then put in the box. box. Make sure the the cards card s are wrapped well or sealed in the bag so the water will not get into the cards. I then boil the kettle because we need water to form the ice ice. Boiling Boiling the water wat er will help help produce clearer clea rer ice than if you just used water wa ter straight straight from the th e tap. tap. In some areas a reas you may be lucky and find your water produces clear ice anyway. I fill the container around a quarter with water and let it freeze. Once frozen I place the cards in and pour a little water in and and let let it freeze, freeze, fixing fixi ng the deck de ck in position. I then























When frozen make sure that you have at least 12mm of ice all around the deck to ensure good travel times with the ice. Now you're ready to transport this to your show. I wrap the ice in a microfibre cloth and place in my cooler bag. The size of the ice and the microfibre cloth should give you a good eight hours travel. Most people do not believe that you can travel for so long with ice outside of the freezer but for many years before electricity and the invention of freezers ice was transported long distances across continents to our country. Keeping ice dry is the secret to making it last























Set up I place a plate on the stage with a microfibre cloth folded on top to absorb any melted water during the performance time and on top of that I then place the ice. Performance Ideas

When I perform this, I use the concept of time travel in my show and this is one of the kickers of that routine. It could be done as a standard prediction. I haven't detailed my routine as I think this is something you will be able to take and run with, I'm quite excited to see what is done with the plot.















































Tips

The Invisible Deck handling comes as standard with the deck. You could also pre-show this instead with a normal deck, or this could be done as a card force and the prediction is in the ice. To remove remove the ice form for m the the container, container , run cold wa w a ter te r on on the underside of the container until the block of ice falls out, ensuring you keep the water away from the

















































But that’s tha t’s easer said than done. How do do you get over o ver it and how do you get over your own fear? I could tell you cliche things like “don’t run if you’re not being chased” I could could tell that tha t you no-one no-one will notice it, I could tell tell you no-one dies, it's just a magic trick so stop over thinking it. But the truth is that there is no right or wrong answer -

























situation. I can tell tell you from my own experien exp erience ce that they they are not all the same. Experience only comes from the doing, risking it all on the line, throwing the dice and all that cliche Hollywood crap we have been fed. As I said at the start only you will know how to move and think like you. These ideas I'm suggesting are bold, crazy, brazen and should not work but somehow they do to great effect!

























"Wha "Whatt is the offbeat offbeat?" ?" you may ask. ask. It is that tha t moment moment when the effect is over as such or a process is finished. Everyone thinks that something is over and they relax, at that time they think you are finished and their vision is generally generally not not focused focu sed eg. eg. maybe they are clapping clappin g or saying how amazing something was. This gives you ample time to switch anything you like. In Taste the Rainbow for example, it is a little different as you switch when you put the sweets away. They think the



























Radley



























f

You say "ladies and gentlemen a bird in fancy dress as a dog" - they laugh. You say “you don’t believe me do you?” You then let go of



























paper with random animals on them, 260 modelling balloons, a helium cylinder and some fine thread.





































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































The gimmick is a simple pouch made from microfibre cloth.























As the flash paper burns bring your hands hands together an and produce the ice.























Boiling an Egg with the Power of your Mind

Effect An An egg is borrowed or introduced and and checked. checked. The magician then holds it in his hand and by mere thought causes the egg to get hot and become boiled.

What You Will Need A To The Max' gimmick, gimmick, see the To The Max' section. section. A Thermos filled with hot water and eggs eggs..

Explanation I parform this at house parties the most as I can borrow the egg. I put the boiled boiled hot egg in my pocke poc kett or in the the To To The Max Max holder. I ask ask to borrow bor row an egg, egg, I casu casual ally ly switch switch the egg and place it on the table, this is all done on the offbeat using the La La La switch and time misdirection. I then talk about Uri Geller and energy and I hold on to the egg and focus and to their shock it is now boiling hot. It’s a very odd trick but it’s nice to link in if you are doing metal bending demonstrations or other PK mind effects.























Ligh t up th e World

Effect A deck of blank blank cards with OFF written written on all of them them is introduced. You have them pick one and cross out the word OFF and write ON and their name. The cards are now shuffled. A light light bulb is introduce introduced. d. You spread the cards and and pass the lightbulb over them. The lightbulb lights on an area of cards, you separate the cards and you now have a few left. Repeat the process until eventually it lights on one card - their card. What You Will Need Two decks of blank cards, one which has Bicycle Rider backs and another which has Mandolin backs and a magic light bulb that lights up when a magnet is close to it. Explanation I set up both decks of cards with the word OFF written on them. I then take take one one Mandoli Mandolin n card as a force force card in the Bicycle deck and keep the rest of the other Mandolins for future performances. You now force the Mandolin card and have them cross























participant shuffle the cards, which you take back and ribbon spread on the table. The slightly different back design will be easy for you to spot so you just use the magic bulb to narrow down the selection eventually stopping on their card. I tend to perform this more frequently in a parlour rather than close-up, but it can be used for either. I like it as it's a different way to find a card. This was one of my first ideas, the light bulbs are now mostly plastic when I first did this they were glass. It is a fun effect and something a little different.

























Taste the Rainbow Effect

A packet of Skittles is introduced, introduced, you start to talk abo about that in the 1960's they did experiments on children testing for psychic powers. They found with sweets they got a ninety percent hit rate and you would like to do a similar experiment with them. You offer the bag of Skittles and ask them to take one without looking and keep it in their closed hand. They take one and you ask them if they can guess or feel what colour they have picked. They say red, you then say did you get any other colour? They say green. They open their hand and it's red, to their surprise the kicker is that you pour the packet out and into a wine glass and they are all green. They have managed to select the only red sweet from the packet of green.























What You Will Need

First of all you need to buy some packets of Skittles. You need 2 normal size bags for the performance so do not rip them open, carefully cut off the top of the bag.

Empty these in to a bowl, I wear gloves when preparing this effect. You need to separate the red and the green, the rest I eat























Explanation

I place the green Skittles in my outside jacket pocket and the red Skittles in my inside pocket. I pull out the packet with the red Skittles in and I talk about the how I'm going to test for psychic abilities. I ask them to pick one without looking so they don’t see they are all red. Once they have picked a Skittle I place the packet back in my inside pocket and execute the La La La switch while asking them if they can guess or sense which colour they have. There is no heat on you now, so I casually pull the other packet packet out and place pl ace it on the table. I then ask them to focus on the Skittle and ask them to guess what colour is in their hand. I say in the packet there are no blue Skittles. For some reason this pushes them towards two colours red or green 90 90 of the time. Here are a few variations of what may happen - either























You say “are you you sure?” sur e?” they say “yes” they open their thei r hand and it’s red, you say “that’s amazing, you picked a red and that's the only red one in the pack" you now pour out the rest and they are all green. The same goes if they say yellow purple or orange. You say “that’s ok, you’re still amazing you picked the only red in a packet of green" This is definitely worth making up. It's a very different type of magic and can be a super powerful effect. I should just like to thank Timmy Taylor for the inspiration of this effect as he inspired this effect so a big thanks to him.























I use 2 containers to keep the colours separate and to top up my bags during the performances.

























Hot Deck

Effect

A playing playing card is selected selected and and you state you have have a prediction drawn on a box. You ask what was your card, they say the three of hearts. Unfortunately you have drawn eight of spades. Under your control the ink melts slowly turning it into their selection. Method

This is one of many things you can do with the hot deck. I first came up with the concept many years ago working on the Troy TV show. This is something I have played with off and on and I























circuit powering up the tile. The tile is in contact with the box surface below the ink drawing, the resulting heat activates the ink causing it to vanish revealing the permanent ink below. Setup

You draw the three of hearts on a box or a Post-it note in Sharpie (3H), you then take your heat sensitive ink pen and draw an eight and spades over the top of the first drawing so it now looks like the eight of spades (8S). Ensure the tile is pressed well onto the surface of the box below the drawing so the heat transfers when the switch is activated. You will need to hold your hand in place above the drawing while the ink fades because if you move your hand away the switch will turn off and switch off the tile.























The Peltier tile and magnetic switch.























The assembled unit is shown above without the battery in place. The tile is mounted on a deck cut in half so there is room for the battery inside the box. As shown below the box and deck looks normal when everything is inside the box.























Diabetics Nightmare Effect A Sharpie is introduced introduced during your show to have have a card card signed to do any signed card effect you like. After signing you ask them to hold onto the pen or just put it down on the table. After the card effect you you pull pull out a sugar packet packet and say you will make the sugar disappear, you pour it into your mouth ready to eat it. You ask the participant to tap your mouth with the Sharpie and the sugar is now gone. They laugh or groan and you ask them to tap your mouth c.gain, the nib of the pen is now in your mouth. They take the lid off the pen and now sugar pours out of of the pen for a good 10-20 seconds. Setup

























and wiggle it apart, remove the ink supply inside the pen and throw it away. Fill the grey part of the pen with salt and put the black part back on and finally the pen cap back on the pen and the nib in your pocket. I find popcorn salt is the best as it pours longer. Explanation

The sugar pen is set inside your pocket. During any signed card/coin routine I casually take the pen back and place in my pocket. I then take it out straight away and hand it to someone to hold (having























mouth with the pen and slowly move the nib around your mouth and then into view clenched between your teeth. Take it out and look at it in a puzzled way and then internally think to yourself and then look at the pen. Ask the participant to remove the cap and see the nib is missing, you take the pen and pour out the sugar in a dramatic way. Using the popcorn salt will result in a good long pour.

See pictures for the making of this - it's very simple and the effect is a nice bit of business.













































Final inal Tho ug ht s and Thanks Well here here we are at the end of my firs firstt book. I don' don'tt intend intend this to be my last and there will be lots more of my crazy ideas in the next volume. I hope I have now converted you, if you were not already, into a magician that will prepare for your performance and deliver the most stunning effects possible. Please don't just be a clone, performing the same old tricks everyone does just because they are classed as workers eg. being instant reset etc.

Kieron Johnson - The Time Traveller

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