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This is both a fun and engaging trick that is a great start for an aspiring magician or just someone who likes to mess with their friends. It's easy, fun to perform, and doesn't require any special tools or skill. Just know that if you don't explain yourself, you could drive your friends a little crazy!
Steps
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Pull a pen out of your pocket and hold it in your right hand. Tell your audience, "Watch and learn! I'm going to make this pen magically disappear before your very eyes."
- If you want to make a spectacle of it (which is all the more entertaining), assure your audience that this is just a normal pen. Wave it around a bit, flick it with your finger, and bounce it up and down. Give them time to get ready for your magic skills.
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Hold your left palm up in front of you. In this trick, for it to be convincing, it's a good idea to count out loud and gesture with your other hand. This is visually and aurally distracting from what you're actually doing.
- Tap the pen against your left hand as if that somehow makes the pen disappear-able. The more of a routine you make it, the more impressive the trick will be.
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Hold the pen near its tip and raise it beside your head. You need to be facing perpendicular to your spectator's line of sight. This way whoever is watching cannot see the pen as you hold it near your ear next to the side of your head.
- This is mainly building up suspense. Once it's beside your head take it back to it's originally position, as if teasing your audience.
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Tap the pen against your left hand and gesture toward your head once more. You can keep count, saying one, two, and then make it vanish on the third go. It takes a lot of work to make a pen disappear – you've gotta rev up!
- This part of the trick you can milk however you'd like. You could act like you have to warm the pen up, shake it out, or roll it between your hands to get the trick to work. Your friends will never know!
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On the third time, place the pen behind your ear. Now comes the actual work. As you raise your hand for the third time, carefully and without losing a beat, place it behind your ear. You must do this smoothly and while focusing on your hand in front of you.
- The counting is important to help you keep the timing exactly the same each time you raise your pen-holding hand. Try to perform every raising quickly to prevent detection.
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Fluidly and swiftly clap your right hand against your left. Bam! The pen is gone! Smugly show both sides of your hands and that the pen is nowhere to be found. Just be careful not to turn your head, showing the pen.
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Decide if you'd like to make the pen re appear. Whatever you do, don't seem like you don't want to turn your head to face your audience head on. If you don't want to do more tricks or run out of time, simply say you're going to tie your shoelace and bend down; if they look away, quickly pull the pen from behind your ear.
- If you do want to make a show of it, hold your hands against your head as if this great psychic exertion pains you greatly. While clutching your head in agony, slide the pen into your hand and produce it from wherever you see fit.
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Put on a long-sleeved shirt with open sleeves. For this method, you'll be using the "sleeving" technique – where the pen magically disappears...into your sleeve. For this, you want a darker-colored shirt with open sleeves that aren't too tight around your wrists but also not hanging down like you're a wizard. Aim for somewhere in between.
- You want to stay in the color realm of your pen. If you're using a white pen, a white shirt may be fine. The darker your pen, though, the darker your shirt should be.
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Hold a pen with both hands. Take the pen the long way and hold one end with your pointer finger and thumb and the other with your pointer finger and thumb. At this point, your fingers should be facing your audience. With whatever hand is your dominant hand, apply pressure on the pen with your middle finger, as if it wants to push it back into your palm.
- The pen should be held out in front of you as if on display. A foot in front of you is good – you want your elbows relaxed as if it is all effortless.
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With your middle finger, snap the pen back to your wrist. Practice this part plenty before you do this trick in front of your friends. You want your middle finger to essentially snap the pen backward to your palm where you will hold in there for just a split second. Do this part as quickly as possible so it looks like it disappears.
- Rotate your thumbs upward once the pen is snapped. This allows the pen to be concealed by your fingers. Your fingers should now be facing inward as if you're about to give someone the "thumbs up" sign.
- With the snap, do a slight up and down movement. This isn't necessarily to do the trick per se, but it looks good to your audience and makes it look as if you're actually doing something to make the pen disappear and your body has been slightly effected by it, producing the little up and down motion.
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Slide the pen into your sleeve. With the pen clasped against your wrist, quickly (very, very quickly) thrust it into your sleeve. Once it's in there, open up your hands, showing your flabbergasted audience that the pen is nowhere to be found.
- Rotate your hands, palms up, to show there is no pen. Then turn them over and wave them around a bit, proving that it's not concealed at a specific angle that you're audience just happens to not be seeing.
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Pull your sleeves up for added effect. After you've waved your arms around a bit, pull up both your sleeves to be even more convincing. To make sure the pen comes with your sleeve, pinch it as you push it up. It will be resting at the bottom of your sleeve due to gravity and won't be noticed by your audience underneath your arm.
- If you'd like, once you get really good at this trick, tug at your sleeves a bit even before the trick. Don't move them too much, though – just enough to give the illusion that you've moved them up a bit. If you move them too far, you can wiggle around a bit to lower them before you vanish the pen.
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Practice this in a mirror until you get it down. There will be many times when the pen misses your sleeve and shoots up behind you, or when you snap the pen back at an awkward angle and it hangs down your hand. To make sure you're doing it correctly, practice in a mirror until you can do it several times over convincingly.
- Add some flare to your show, too. Start with showing the pen, adjusting your hands as if you have to get it perfect, concentrating really hard, maybe even blinking the pen into thin air. The grander your show, the more distracted your audience will be.
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Expert Q&A
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QuestionHow can I do this trick with a coin?David Martinez is a Magician based in San Jose, CA. David has over 20 years of experience and has performed throughout Northern California at weddings, private parties, team-building events, and more. He has notably performed for some of the biggest companies in the world, including Apple, Google, Facebook, and Uber. David previously served as President of the Silicon Valley Chapter of the International Brotherhood of Magicians and has received awards for Close-Up, Walk-Around, and Stage performances. In 2023, he co-authored Amaze and Delight: Secrets to Creating Magic in Business, aimed at helping individuals and organizations nurture healthy and happy business cultures.To perform the coin-disappearing trick, follow these steps. First, hold the coin in your dominant hand between your thumb and first two fingers, keeping it concealed from view. Then, using your other hand, distract the audience by gesturing or making a magical incantation. As their attention shifts, discreetly transfer the coin to your palm, concealing it with your fingers. Next, slowly close your fingers into a fist, making it seem as though the coin is still there. With a flourish, open your hand to reveal that the coin has vanished into thin air. To enhance the illusion, practice smooth and subtle movements to maintain the audience's focus on your actions. With mastery of sleight of hand, distractions, and confident presentation, you'll leave your audience amazed at the seemingly impossible disappearance of the coin.
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QuestionWhat if everyone sees the pen behind my ear?Community AnswerNext time you do the trick, try letting the pen slide into your shirt.
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QuestionI did it for my friend and it didn't work. What can I do?Community AnswerPractice more and read the instructions again in case you missed something.
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Tips
- Make sure the audience is looking at your palm of your bottom hand, not your top hand. To focus the audience on your palm, move it slightly. This will make the audience confused. Another way is to put a coin on your palm and say that "I'm going to make this coin disappear..."Thanks
- It may help if you have long hair.Thanks
- A good misdirection is to take off the cap and put it in your hand, making it seem as if you are trying to make the cap disappear, then when the whole pen disappears, act confused as if it all went wrong, while the spectator is equally amazed.Thanks
Tips from our Readers
The advice in this section is based on the lived experiences of wikiHow readers like you. If you have a helpful tip you’d like to share on wikiHow, please submit it in the field below.
- Add little flares to your distractions to liven up your act.
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Warnings
- If you do this trick wrong it is possible you can stab, or cut your ear, so be very careful.Thanks
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Things You'll Need
- A pen
- Time to practice
Expert Interview
Thanks for reading our article! If you’d like to learn more about magic tricks, check out our in-depth interview with David Martinez .
References
About This Article
Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 397,148 times.
Reader Success Stories
- "The practice is what is really needed. If you want to put a little flair to your show, tell your audience to look closely." ..." more
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"The practice is what is really needed. If you want to put a little flair to your show, tell your audience to look closely."
..."
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"I did it in front of my friends, I said it's just a little bit of magic, something you didn't know about me."
..."
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"It was hard for me at first, but remembering to put pressure on the pen really made a difference."
"Thanks, I tricked multiple friends. Haha! 😂"
"It is a very good and easy trick."
