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Subject: Bending Spoons


Author:
Paul Hayward
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Date Posted: 09:04:27 05/17/02 Fri
 Uri Geller fooled the world with his apparent ability to bend spoons, using only the power of his mind. But this "ability" has been shown to be thoroughly within the capabilities of any sleight-of-hand artist, and was explained by Randi in his book, The Truth About Uri Geller. These days, lots of magicians perform this trick (some even better than Geller).

There are also numberous works available from magic outlets that detail methods for accomplishing this effect.

Although there are many methods, essentially the stunt works either by using spoons that have been "worked" beforehand (i.e. softenned so that - even though they can be banged on the table and appear to be solid - can also be broken quite easily between the fingers) or the spoon is actually bent during performance under cover of some larger movement, then handled in a way that disguises this.

If the first method is used, you must either use your own spoon, or sieze an opportunity to tamper with the spoons given to you by someone else prior to performance.

You'll note that Geller often has the host of whatever TV show he's on provide a number of spoons, which he then has checked, banging one or two of them on the table as if to help.

He only needed a few moments before the show to add a pre-worked spoon of his own, or "work" just one of the spoons provided. This can be spotted because the "worked" portion is fatigued, and thus less reflective.

Obviously, he uses the tampered-with spoon. Whilst talking about what he plans to do, this spoon is simply snapped between his fingers, and held together between his fingers to create the illusion of being solid.

The rest is showmanship (note that the spoons often "fall apart"...the reason for this is they were broken before he started).

The latter method, in which the spoon is bent under cover of a larger movement, has also been employed by Geller. In this case a combination of optical illusion (wiggling it, or asking people to fix their attention on one end only while the spoon is tilted) make it look like real magic.

Paul Hayward.
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Replies:
Subject Author Date
Re: Bending SpoonsJustin15:34:23 08/02/02 Fri
Re: Bending Spoonsspoony06:32:03 09/23/02 Mon
Re: Bending SpoonsDan02:41:46 09/24/02 Tue
Re: Bending SpoonsGeorge Stankov14:32:29 09/26/02 Thu
Re: Bending SpoonsLouie16:48:09 10/04/04 Mon
Re: Bending Spoonsmisty19:59:07 06/12/06 Mon

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