How to Make a Salt Shaker Vanish
Impress your friends by "screwing up" an attempt to make a coin disappear -- and instead making an entire salt shaker go through the table!
Up next in How to Do Easy Magic Tricks (15 videos)
Want to be a magician like David Copperfield? Start by mastering the easy magic tricks in this Howcast video series.
You Will Need
- A salt or pepper shaker that is at least four inches tall
- A stiff cloth or paper napkin
- A coin
- A table
Steps
-
Step 1
Take a large coin
Place a large coin on the table in front of you and talk about this amazing trick you know -- making a coin disappear from a table.
-
Step 2
Cover the shaker
Take a napkin and cover the salt or pepper shaker so that the napkin is standing in an inverted "V."
-
Step 3
Lift the shaker
Lift the napkin-covered shaker and smack it onto the coin once or twice, as if this will make it vanish.
-
Keep up a steady stream of chatter about the coin. It's vital that your audience is expecting a coin trick and not paying attention to the shaker.
-
Step 4
Move shaker
As you pull the shaker off the coin, move it to the edge of the table nearest you.
-
Step 5
Let shaker slip
While you're still babbling about making the coin go through the table, loosen your grip on the napkin, allowing the shaker to fall into your lap. Keep holding the napkin as if it is still there.
-
The napkin must be thick enough to retain the form of the shaker after you let it fall into your lap.
-
Step 6
Slam it
Quickly slam the supposed "shaker" down hard on the coin with both hands. The napkin will collapse.
-
Step 7
Feign irritation
Pull the napkin off the table and feign amazed irritation that you didn't make the coin disappear -- you mistakenly made the shaker vanish instead!
-
In 1983, David Copperfield made the Statue of Liberty disappear on live TV.
