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Classic Force in Sheetrock

Usually the talk on MOD surrounds the latest in mastics and how the adhesives can be used to do seemingly amazing levitations or “Georgia Magnet” type of effects.

[Kind of a humorous note, one MOD thread was about using a 3M compound with an admixture from the newer grout pre-surfacing fluids to create a portable version of a sawing a woman in half. It was pretty funny; especially when the Dean of Drywall ? the MOD version of Dai Vernon ? jumped in with a story about how a younger magician was working with sheetrock for the first time and came upon the idea of a broken and restored 4 x 8 of sheetrock.

He was like, “Look at this!” and the Dean was like, all, “Check out The Magic of Drywall, Volume 3.” The young guy was despondent for not knowing this but he snapped back and has had several marketable effects using putty and even one outstanding trick with caulk and tape where it appears that the tape tapes itself.]

Anyway, back to the news.

There is a new backing board available that is thinner and has more give than previous boards used in waterproofing. I don’t want to turn this into a MOD mini-board so I won’t give the name of the company that makes it.

Set-up for Mental Epic

But some enterprising magician/contractor found that you can use the board to do a…

Classic Force in Sheetrock

Usually the talk on MOD surrounds the latest in mastics and how the adhesives can be used to do seemingly amazing levitations or “Georgia Magnet” type of effects.

[Kind of a humorous note, one MOD thread was about using a 3M compound with an admixture from the newer grout pre-surfacing fluids to create a portable version of a sawing a woman in half. It was pretty funny; especially when the Dean of Drywall ? the MOD version of Dai Vernon ? jumped in with a story about how a younger magician was working with sheetrock for the first time and came upon the idea of a broken and restored 4 x 8 of sheetrock.

He was like, “Look at this!” and the Dean was like, all, “Check out The Magic of Drywall, Volume 3.” The young guy was despondent for not knowing this but he snapped back and has had several marketable effects using putty and even one outstanding trick with caulk and tape where it appears that the tape tapes itself.]

Anyway, back to the news.

Set-up for Mental Epic

But some enterprising magician/contractor found that you can use the board to do a great Mental Epic with spray paint. Granted, the board is 4 x 8 and you don’t wouldn’t want to cut it down because it looses the properties that make it perfect for the spray paint application. I’m quoting from “novisibleseams,” a contributor to MOD and a pretty decent mentalist/drywaller.

“The problem with mos (sic) Mental Epic’s on sheetrock or even drywall, is the permanent nature of the spray paint for the third prediction. With _____, you can use your force at the beginning, middle or end. It is all in how you turn the board back into position.

I put it on an easle (sic) and when I write my prediction, I put a 2×3 piece of mylar over the prediction and turn it back towards the audience. Now, when I want to show that the predictions match up, I use a modified Swami Gimmick to spray the prediction to the left of the first prediction or the right of the last prediction or on top of the middle prediction (depending on the force) and roll it into place.

There is no problem rolling the covering around the board because that’s what it’s made to do. So if the prediction you want is in the middle, you roll the covering down, and for the sides, you just roll it to the side. This brings the prediction into the right place and puts you in a perfect spot.

Because of the size of the board, you need to do this for something larger than a parlor audience. To hide the spray noise of the Swami Gimmick, I usually just go into a coughing fit. Fortunately, most audiences realize that drywallers inhale a ton of stuff during their work and so a prolonged dry-hack is not unexpected.”

Another side note: the “dry-hack” is a term of art in the drywall magic world. It doesn’t necessarily mean an actual cough or even a cough that sounds unproductive. It can be a series of sneezes or even — in the case of one disgusting magician/drywaller — dry heaves.

Novisibleseams does not describe how to handle the Swami Gimmick modified for spray paint but I think that’s pretty obvious. I think you could use the same method for a bunch of things such as Hippity Hop Rabbits or Fraidy Cat Rabbit.