The Classic Color Change

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Start with the deck face up in the left hand. Your left thumb lies along the left side and your fingers along the right side. You are holding the deck by its edges only. The left hand doesn’t do anything else in this effect; it just keeps the deck still.

• Bring your right hand over and slide the top card slightly forward. How far you pull it toward the audience will depend on how much of the next card you need exposed. You need enough to get contact with the heel of your hand. This will be clearer later.

• Your right hand should conceal the face card and deck so that most of the top card and all of the are hidden. The right hand is held with the fingers together and parallel to the face of the deck. Think of your right hand like a sliding door. It first slides forward (toward the viewers) and then backwards and then forwards again.

• As you slide it backwards (towards you), let the base of your right thumb- the meaty pad that would be used to grip a palmed coin- contact and pull the second card back with it. So, the hand slides backwards and the second card slides with it.

• Continue sliding. This exposes the top card again and pulls the second card far enough down so that it it is out from under the top one.

• You should now have almost all of the second card pulled off the deck under your right hand and most of the top card showing.

• Push slightly downward with the heel of your right hand and the second card will pop upwards into it. You don’t need to actually palm it, you just need it to clear the top card. The bottom edge of the top card and the top edge of the bottom card have to move past each other.

• Slide your right hand forward again, concealing the original top card again. This brings the change card on top as the right hand slides forward. Align the cards before you expose the change.

• To recap- the right hand covers the top card, slides back exposing the top card again, and then slides forward. You then pull your right hand away, showing the change.

Presentation Tips:

Show your right hand freely before it approaches the deck. Make the audience aware that it is empty without saying so.

The left hand stays still throughout the change. It serves as the ’stage’ on which the magic happens. The right hand’s action is almost machine like- forward, backward, forward, change…. Try to get all the moves to match both in rhythm and how you hold your hand.

There are two different ‘reveals’. In the first, you slide your hand off sideways and keep it frozen and stiff. The audience will suspect you have palmed off the face card. Wait a beat and then crumple your fingers and show the right hand is obviously empty.

The second reveal looks more magical. Instead of sliding the right hand off to show the change, just open the fingers wide in a sort of exploding starfish action. This makes it look as if the card changed immediately.

You can use both reveals in the order given by repeating the change. Just do a one-handed cut between so that a new set of cards is changed. Otherwise you will be just changing the same two cards.

Finally, when you perform this, tilt the deck down and towards the audience. This will hide the outer edge of the deck and prevent them from seeing that the top card is pushed forward on the get-ready.