i was right i thought magic sand i saw in toy stores was cool
illusionist doug henning cool stage illusion idea:)

Sands of the Nile
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Sands of the Nile, also known as Hindu Sands, is a stage illusion
which was performed and made popular by Doug Henning.

Here is how Doug Henning's performance looked to those who saw it on
TV. He would stand behind a small, high, table, bearing a large
transparent bowl and three small piles of colored sand. He would begin
by pouring ordinary-looking water into the bowl. As he began to tell a
story about an ancient Egyptian ritual, he would stir the water with
his bare hand, upon which it would turn black and opaque. As the story
unfolded, he would then place a handful of each color of sand into the
bowl of dark water, then extract them, one by one, dry and unmixed.
Henning would then stir the water one last time, and it would again
become completely clear, with a few stray grains of sand left in it.

[edit] Method
This is a classic item sold at magic shops. Here is one method that
some have used to duplicate the magic shop item:

There is a product called magic sand (or "Wondersand" or "Space
Sand"), that is, or at least was, available in almost any well-stocked
toy store, science education supply house, and perhaps also in some
science museum gift shops. It consists of dyed sand with a strongly
hydrophobic coating. It may or may not have been originally developed
as a way to sink oil spills; it is apparently also used to surround
buried pipes in extremely cold climates; its water-repellent
properties would allow the pipes to be dug up easily for maintenance.
It was primarily marketed, though, as a children's toy, a material
that could be poured into a container of water, and sculpted while
underwater: once the water was poured off, the sculpture, held
together by the surface tension of the surrounding water, would
collapse.

Darkening the water at the beginning of the trick, then clearing it at
the end, could be accomplished by a variety of methods, involving
either dyes and bleaches, or a reversible (or even timed) chemical
reaction. By using "magic sand," each handful of sand would remain dry
under water, and would be held in an easily-retrieved clump by surface
tension, so long as it remained underwater.

Clearly, the hardest part of such a trick is the presentation.

[hide]v • d • eMagic

Magic General: Magic • Timeline • Terms • Manufacturers • List of
magicians • Assistants • Exposure
Types: Card magic • Street magic • Escape magic • Coin magic • Mental
magic

Stage illusions Aquarian Illusion • Asrah levitation • Assistant's
Revenge • Aztec Lady • Battle of the Barrels • Bill in lemon • Bowl-A-
Rama • Bullet catch • Cabinet escape • David Copperfield's laser
illusion • Chen Lee water suspension • Dagger head box • Devil's
torture chamber • Guillotine • Impalement • Indian rope trick •
Interlude • Metamorphosis • Mismade Girl • Origami • Predicament
escape • Quick-change • Radium Girl • Sands of the Nile • Sawing a
woman in half • Table of death • Twister • Wringer • Zig Zag Girl

Parlor magic Book test • Needle-through-arm • Vanishing bird cage

Close-up magic The Best Coin Fold • Cups and balls • Chinese linking
rings • Balducci levitation • Ambitious card • Card warp • Floating
match on card • French drop • Palming • Retention of vision vanish •
Scotch and Soda • Square Circle Production • Detachable thumb • Thumb
tip • Glorpy • Healed and sealed • Zarrow shuffle

Levitations Asrah levitation • Balducci levitation • Elevator
levitation • Hummer card • King levitation • Sooperman • Super chair
suspension • David Copperfield's flying illusion

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sands_of_the_Nile"

This page was last modified on 24 September 2007,