The other method of preparing the cards (presuming that you do not wish to invest in several packs) is to float off the backs of a couple of cards, dry them, paste white paper on them and then stick pips on the paper. The drawback to this method is that the paper will probably not match the paper on the faces of the other cards in the pack.
CHAPTER III
THE HYDROSTATIC TUBE
This trick is one of the many masterpieces of Mr. David Devant, and I am greatly indebted to him for his permission to include a full description of it in this book and to give his method of working the trick.
It was Mr. Devant's custom to follow this trick with the "Wine and Water," and he had an object in doing so, for the preparations for the second trick assisted him in performing the first.
On a tray on the table were four tumblers, the second and fourth of which (counting from the performer's left hand) were inverted. Behind the glasses there was a large glass lamp chimney with a piece of paper tucked into one end, and a finger bowl, with two spouts, filled with water, and a long hat pin.
The effect of the trick—to the audience—was as follows. The performer, having shown that the tube was not prepared in any way, closed one end with a piece of paper (half the piece which had been tucked into the tube at the commencement of the trick). He then filled the tube with water and placed the other piece of paper on the top. He then removed his hand from the lower piece and the water remained in the tube. He explained that there was no trick about that, the pressure of the air kept the paper in its place and so prevented the water from rushing out.
He then removed the paper from the lower end of the tube and still the water remained inside it. Then he took the paper from the top of the tube, and still the water remained in the tube. Having replaced the papers he picked up the large hat pin and held the tube over the bowl. He pierced the upper paper with the pin and held it there for a moment. Directly he withdrew the pin with the paper impaled on it the water fell out of the tube into the bowl, carrying the lower paper with it. The performer then showed once more that the tube was free from preparation by rattling the pin inside it, and he at once went on with the "Wine and Water" trick, using the water in the finger-bowl for that trick.
And now for the explanation. Two small discs of glass which fitted over the ends of the tube were required. The ends of the tube were ground perfectly level and the glass discs were made with a "shoulder" (or sunk edge), so that when once they were placed on the ends of the tube they could not be moved laterally. The edges of these glass discs were also ground perfectly flat and were made to fit exactly on the ends of the tube.