If you don't wear a watch, what's a strong ending to recaped? The cap in the ear is strong, but I don't think it puts the frosting on the cake. Any ideas?

Hey Justin,

Well, you can make the pen and cap vanish as a whole (For example sleeving it after you pull the cap from out of your ear and placing it back onto the pen). If the pen belongs to them, reappear it and give it back! This altered ending phase should give you more room for creative patter as well.

I wear a watch when doing this trick but don't always ditch the pen in it.
I will sometimes take the cap out of my ear put it back on the pen and say," and here is a souvenir." acting like I am going to hand it to them. Gets a good laugh. I just pull it back and they make a ewww face.
Give it a try
Shawn

Carl Coultier, in his video, Third Hand, did some interesting things with a pen...you might be able to incorporate it into your routine

I don't wear a watch either.

I just slip the pen into my jeans pocket as I show the cap in my ear. *hint: turn your body more and get the correct timing*

Bring out the cap. Show that the pen has vanished.

False transfer the cap and show that the cap has vanished.

Produce the cap from behind the spectator's ear, and, at the same time, retrieve the pen from your jeans.

Produce the pen from your cap as the original does.

I don't wear a watch either. At the end of the routine I do a snap vanish of the whole pen as I pretend to break it over my right knee. I then all around vanish the whole pen and produce it from my left pocket... give it a shot, it works. Just be careful when you tap your right thigh as you're "looking" for the pen make sure it runs the long way behind your hand (for obvious reasons). This shouldn't be too hard considering the snap vanish puts the pen in that position anyway. Enjoy.

My biggest problem with this trick is the Striking Vanish itself. Producing it from behind my knee is easy for me. I have the AOA Books and I have read the instructions and watched the Demo Video many times, but I still can't understand how Gregory Wilson does the Striking Vanish without even moving his left hand at all. Is there a better source for breaking down this vanish somewhere?

David Williamson's book! And not for the striking vanish itself. Its full of wonderful ideas.

Do you guys have a place on the net where I can get instructions for the trick?

Honestly, I've done this trick a couple of times and I don't get good reactions from it. Maybe because the people I do it for don't like Pen tricks.

Is recap published in a book or is it sold as single effect?

Wow, with all the extra ideas you guys have, we could come up with a "Recapped Revisited
...Again" routine! I am still working on getting this routine down (my hands aren't used to handling a pen cap yet)

ferraroj, this routine can be found on Greg Wilson's "On the Spot" video. Will it ever come out on DVD???

I don't think that this is really a stand-alone trick by itself. It's more of a comedy piece which really demonstrates the art of misdirection. I usually do this trick as an opener before going into cards, and it does get the rather than

ferraroj:
This trick is on Gregory's 'Off the Cuff' video as well as his 'On the Spot' videos as
'Recap Revisted' where he goes over it again in a little better detail. I highly recommend either one of them. Every single effect is usuable which makes the videos well worth the price.

When doing recap: for the strike vanish, I point the tip of the pen at the hand holding the cap. I hold the pen cap in the direction it would be in if I was going to put it back on the pen. When you are in this position and you do the strike vanish, the cap makes a half rotation. This puts you in position so that you can put the cap on the opposite end of the pen using just your right hand.

This gets a great reaction because the cap vanishes the left, not only reappears in the right, but it is also on the pen. I do this strike vanish after I have done the one where it ends up behind the knee. Because the cap ends up in two different places, I don't think it is harmful to do the strike vanish twice.

For an ending to the trick: when you make the cap disappear and go in your ear, place the pen in your pocket when they are looking at you ear. Then, you bring the cap down to your other hand and immediately do the criss-cross motion with your hands together that Gregory suggests. Open your hands and show the pen is gone. Say "I know what you are thinking, the pen isn't here" and turn so they can see it isn't behind your ear.

When they are looking at your ear place the cap in your pocket. Do the criss cross hands again and make the cap disappear. Act surprised and say "Can I borrow a pen? I have a really neat trick I can do with it. I promise, you won't get it back."

For the striking vanish, check out what Sankey has to say about it. I think his method is very, very good and natural. I believe he discusses it on Sankey-tised volume one, but I could be wrong.

Jay also discusses it on the Best Of volume 2 (Leaving Home). I think it's also on a video for Leaving Home by itself (but I could be mistaken).

Another cap in the pocket; I never thought of that. I do perfer the all around vanish, even if I am only able to get it 80% of the time. I will keep that in mind.

It's published in Harris' AOA.


Justin,
You can steal a second cap and do a Sylvester Pitch over and over so it appears the cap is multiplying. Then end with the cap changing colors on the last pitch. I've tried this and it gets a great response.

Some of the vanishes are just sleights where angles are key (I don't really like this)...I do the watch vanish at the end...

I have finally gotten enough practice in on this trick to the point where I have gotten very good reactions to it, and thus gained more confidence in doing it. I must have practiced this trick for at least 6 months (getting all the phases down) before I started attempting it on spectators outside my close family. But it has really been fun and paid off.

I still don't have the confidence I would like in doing Gregory's 3/4's across. Uggg! I have been practicing that one for over a year and still can't get it 100% even 5 times in a row. My own personal rule of thumb for tricks like this is being able to do it 10 out of 10 times without a major mistake.

But hey, thanks for the tip concerning the alternate behind the knee revelation.

GlenD