Water Wizardry: A collection of tricks in which water is the chief agent

by Arthur Ainslie

THE INDIAN SANDS

In its simplest form this trick consists in putting some silver sand into a bowl of water and taking it out—perfectly dry. But the trick in that form is hardly worth doing and certainly not worth the trouble involved in its preparation.

An important additional effect is produced by using sands of three colours—red, white, and blue. The white sand is not really white, but the natural colour of the sand. In this case, not only does the conjurer take out the sand perfectly dry, but he takes out the sand of the colour named by the audience.

This is a trick which depends largely for its effect upon the showmanship of the performer, for unless the audience are thoroughly convinced that the bowl of water is what the conjurer says it is and nothing more—an ordinary bowl nearly filled with ordinary water—and unless the audience are further convinced of the fact that the sands of different colours are poured into the bowl and are thoroughly stirred up into the water they will not be properly surprised when the conjurer comes to the climax of the trick.

Therefore, the conjurer should lead off by giving the bowl out for examination. The bowl can be either of glass, metal, or china. The trick is most effective, I think, when a glass bowl is used; it should be a large flat bowl.

The different sands should be placed in bags, the red sand being in a red bag, and so on.

If the conjurer uses a glass bowl he should have the water in a large glass jug. He leads off by holding up the bowl for inspection; then he gives it out for examination. If he is performing in a room he should have a box or some kind of stand on the table, so that everyone can see the bowl during the whole of the performance.

Having received the bowl back again the conjurer pours in the water, and he should take note beforehand of the actual quantity required. If there is too much water some of it may get splashed over the brim during the performance of the trick, and if there is too little the trick is not sufficiently effective; besides, with a little water the trick is more difficult.

The conjurer then picks up the red bag and pours out the sand, a little at a time, on to his other hand; he should take care to let the audience see that he has nothing concealed in his hand at the beginning of the trick, and in pouring out the sand he should work slowly so that the audience see that he pours out nothing else but sand. While he is doing this he should hold his hand over the bowl, because some of the sand will drop off his hand into the water. There will naturally be quite a little mound of sand on his hand when the bag is empty. He then tips the sand into the bowl and stirs it slightly. The dye will colour the water.

He proceeds to empty the other two bags in the same way, taking great care to let the audience see that the bags contain nothing but sand and that he places nothing else in the water. At the end of these proceedings the water will be thoroughly coloured.

The conjurer, having turned up his sleeves, dips his right hand into the water, and stirs it up. Then, displaying his empty hand to the audience, he dips it into the water and takes out a handful of the wet sands and holds it up so that the audience can see it. He returns the "mud" to the bowl and washes off any sand from his hands.

Once more he dips his hand into the bowl and takes it out closed. Picking up a glass goblet with his other hand, he holds it under his right hand from which dry red sand slowly trickles. When the hand is empty he opens it, shows it to the audience, and puts the goblet down. Then he washes his hands in the bowl, and repeats the performance with the white sand and the blue, so that at the end of the trick the audience can see the sands in the three goblets. At the conclusion of the trick he can pour all the water with the sand "mud" into another vessel and thus show once more that the bowl is not prepared in any way for the trick.

This splendid effect is brought about by very simple means. Most conjurers hold the opinion that the best tricks are simple; this one is both simple and easy.

The principal secret consists in the preparation of small quantities of the different sands. First of all a quantity of sand is dyed red and a similar quantity is dyed blue, and both are left to dry. While they are drying the conjurer can prepare the white sand.

Fig. 11

Place a small quantity in an old frying-pan and put it over the fire until it is thoroughly hot. Then drop in a small piece of tallow candle. When the grease melts stir it well into the sand, so that every grain is covered. Then take the sand off the fire and press it down into little moulds.

As sands of three different colours are to be used in the trick it follows that the prepared sands must be put in moulds of three different shapes, because the conjurer merely has to feel in the water for the particular blocks of sand that he requires at each dip. The white sand can be put into little round, flat moulds, about as large as four halfpennies stuck together. When these little round blocks of prepared sand are cool they will be perfectly hard and waterproof.

The red sand can be placed in small square moulds and the blue sand in oval or round moulds; the shapes are immaterial so long as the conjurer remembers them.

The bags can be of paper. To prepare for the trick, turn one of the bags upside down and push the bottom of it inwards. Then place two or three of the blocks of sand of the right colour in the cavity at the bottom of the bag. Then turn the bag over and fill it with ordinary sand of the same colour.

Prepare the other two bags in the same way. In picking up each bag from the table, when you are going to do the trick, begin by lifting it about an inch from the table with the left hand; then grasp it round the middle with the right hand and hold the little finger under the bottom of the bag to prevent the blocks of sand from falling away. The paper of which the bags are made should be fairly stiff.

When all the sand from one of the bags has been poured out on to the hand—naturally a good deal of it will fall into the bowl—the conjurer turns his hand over and lets the sand drop into the bowl; at the same time he merely has to take his right little finger away from the bottom of the bag and the blocks fall into the water. They drop behind the falling sand, and being of the same colour they are not noticed by the audience.

If the conjurer does not care for this method of getting the prepared blocks into the water he can have larger bags and have the prepared blocks in them with the sand. In that case he dips his hand into a bag, takes out a handful of sand, and lets it trickle back into the bag. He does this once or twice; then he takes out a handful of sand and lets it fall into the water, taking care to let the audience see that he puts in nothing but sand. He repeats the action. Then, in taking another handful of sand, he gets two or three of the blocks with it, lets some of the sand fall into the water, brings his hand down close to the water, releases the "blocks," brings his hand up again and releases the rest of the sand from it. He can continue in this way until the bag is empty.

If the performer is on a stage there is very little likelihood of the audience seeing the blocks even if they are dropped from a height with the sand, but in a room, with the audience close to the table, it is as well to take every precaution against the discovery of the secret.

As for the rest of the trick, the effect is produced entirely by showmanship. In the hands of a capable performer the trick will cause a sensation, but if it is presented in a slipshod careless way, so that the audience are not thoroughly convinced at each stage of the trick that there has been "no deception," then the trick will go for nothing. For example, if the conjurer neglects to take out a handful of the wet sand and show it to the audience, he misses a point. Of course, all that the conjurer really has to do is to feel in the bowl for the particular blocks of sand he requires. It is as well to have one or two more blocks than are actually necessary. When the conjurer has taken out a handful of the blocks he requires he merely has to crush them in his hand and they fall in a shower of dry sand.

A hint to the drawing-room performer. After the performance see that the water is poured away at once; otherwise, if some of the younger and more inquisitive members of your audience come round behind your screen at the close of the performance they will be sure to want to know how this trick was done, and if they get a glimpse of the water they may possibly notice grease floating on the surface!

Various other methods have been invented for keeping certain portions of sand dry when other sand of similar colour is placed in water. Some conjurers have done the sand up in little packets of grease-proof paper. I have also heard of tiny air balloons being filled with sand. The great drawback of any of these other methods is that when the conjurer is letting the dry sand trickle away from his hand into the goblet he cannot immediately let the audience see that he has nothing concealed in his hand. He has to go at once to the bowl for the next handful and leave the "fake," whatever it may be, in the bottom of the bowl. By using the method I have described the conjurer gets the most convincing effect, and if he prepares a large quantity of the different blocks of sand at the same time the trick is really not troublesome. The exact quantity of tallow required must be determined by experiment; it will depend, of course, on the amount of sand which is being prepared.

The object of using goblets for the display of the dry sands is to enable the members of the audience in the front rows of seats to see the sands. When one is performing to an audience composed chiefly of children the first two or three rows of seats are usually occupied by very small children, and from their positions they cannot see the top of the table. Raise the object which you are going to place on the table and you bring it within the view of everyone.