MAGIC STAR

This is a trick where you fold a piece of paper and with one single straight cut produce a beautiful star. Two variations are shown. Your patter can be straightforward. Tell your audience that you graduated from kindergarten with the degree of Doctor of Paper Folding by demonstrating the following trick.

You will need a scissors, and a supply of 8½″-x-11″ paper. Very thin paper, called onion skin, is best, but ordinary paper will do.

Holding the paper so the longer side is across, fold the sheet of paper in half from left to right as in illustration 1. Find point E, which is exactly halfway between A and B, by folding A to B and putting a small crease at E to mark the point. Open out that fold again; bring point C exactly to E and crease the paper. It should look like illustration 2.

Illustration 1

Illustration 2

Fold A down along FE, crease the paper, and unfold it back flat. Bring G up past E to lay FG along the crease FE. Fold the paper and hold it in this position. It should look like illustration 3. Bring AF down on top of this by folding it where you creased it. The paper will now look like illustration 4. Cut the end off on the dotted line approximately as shown in illustration 4, and unfold both pieces to display the stars.

Illustration 3

Illustration 4

A variation of this trick is to fold the paper up to step 4, then fold point F up as in illustration 5 so that line FX makes a right, or square, angle with XH. X should be about % of the way from F to A. A few trials will tell you just where it should be. Make one cut along the dotted line starting very close to but not quite at X. This cut should be parallel to GH. The resulting star, when the paper is unfolded, will look like illustration 6, a star in a circle.

Illustration 5

Illustration 6

MAGIC PAPER DOORWAY

This is a trick where a small piece of paper is cut in such a way that it can be spread out with a hole big enough for a person to step through.

Hold up half a sheet of paper and ask anyone if a hole can be cut in it big enough to walk through. When you are told it couldn't be done, you might answer something like this: "Do you think I would ask the question if I thought it couldn't be done?" Then show how to do it.

The paper must be cut so it looks like illustration B. This is best done by folding it in half and making the cuts as shown by the heavy lines in A. Cut from alternating sides to about a half inch from the opposite edge. The number of cuts you make is not important as long as the pattern is the same as the illustration. The more cuts you make, the thinner will be your strand of paper, and the larger the hole will be.

Illustration A

Illustration B

Then cut along the folded edge between the top cut and the bottom one, as between the X's in illustration A. If the sheet is now carefully unfolded, it will look like illustration B. Gently pull at the top and bottom of the sheet and you will have a large loop, similar to illustration C, that will be big enough for you to step through. Try this at home a few times so you can decide how many cuts you can make without tearing the paper. If you have a sharp pair of scissors or an Exacto knife you can do this trick with an ordinary index card.

Illustration C

PAPER HELICOPTER

Most people know how to make a paper airplane or glider which will soar more or less successfully when thrown into the air. Ask your audience if anyone knows how to make a paper helicopter.

Here are the simple directions.

Start with a rectangle of paper and cut it as shown on the solid lines in A.

Then fold on the dotted lines so you end up with the helicopter as shown in B. The bottom part is held together with several pieces of Scotch tape or a small paper clip. The wings are folded in opposite directions.

Illustration A

Hold it up over your head, and let go.

Illustration B

THE MONSTER DOLL

This is a trick where you fold a strip of paper into several accordion folds and cut out a paper doll. When the strip is unfolded, one of the dolls, mysteriously, has two heads!

You will need a good scissors and some strips of paper two to four inches wide. An adding machine roll is good. This can be bought at a stationery or office supply store. You can make your own strips by cutting several sheets of paper lengthwise and sticking them together with Scotch tape.

The trick depends on the way the strip is folded and cut. Fold the strip into eight or nine 3″ accordion folds, but have one of the folds go only about a half inch past the center, as in illustration A. Make this half fold the second or third fold, so that at the end of the trick the monster doll is just past the middle of the strip. The dotted lines in illustrations B, C, and D indicate the edge of the half fold.

Illustration A

Make the first cut as in B, almost to this edge. The second cut is the underside of the doll's arm. Then make the third cut as in C, a little past the folded edge. Then complete the cutout as in D. When unfolded, the strip will look like E.

Illustration E

Do this several times at home so you will be able to do it quickly and accurately.

If at stage D you cut the head so it doesn't quite come to the folded edge, the monster doll will have two heads. If you cut the head beyond the folded edge, the heads on the monster doll will be connected.

HEX AND DOUBLE HEX

You will need a pen or pencil, scissors, Scotch tape, and a roll of adding machine tape or the paper tape that goes in a cash register. Your supermarket manager or any storekeeper can sell you a roll.

You must prepare several large loops of paper using strips about four feet long. Make one ordinary loop first. Then make a second loop, but give one end one twist before you tape it to the other end. Make a third loop giving one end two twists before taping the two ends together. If these loops are large enough your audience will probably not notice that there are twists in them. To do your trick, show the first loop and tell your audience that these are ordinary loops of paper and you are going to cut them in half lengthwise. Demonstrate on the first loop, and cut the entire length lengthwise until it falls apart into two loops.

Now tell them that you are going to put a hex on one of the loops. Proceed to write HEX on the second loop. Tell your audience that it is now a magic loop. It is magic for two reasons. The paper is indestructible—it can't be cut in half—and it has only one side. To demonstrate, give one of your audience a pen and ask them to draw a line down the middle of the loop all the way around, being careful not to raise the pen from the paper. When the line is complete, hold up the loop and show that the line is on both sides of the paper, proving that there is really only one side to the paper.

Now give another person the scissors and ask that the loop be cut in half by following the line made by the first person. When finished, the loop will not separate into two loops as expected, but will end up as one longer loop!

Next tell your audience that you are going to give the other loop a double hex. Write HEX HEX on it. Give this to a third person with instructions to cut it in half, carefully, down the middle. Won't they be surprised when they wind up with two separate but entwined loops!

Here is a very dramatic variation of this trick. It should be done in a large room because it produces some smoke. You will need, in addition, some saltpeter (potassium nitrate) and a Q-tip. Put a teaspoonful of the saltpeter into a juice glass a quarter full of water and stir for a minute. Let it settle. With the Q-tip paint a heavy wet line with this solution down the middle of a long length of paper tape. Allow it to dry thoroughly. Make a loop with two twists and tape the ends together with two pieces of Scotch tape, one piece on either side of the center.

Hang the loop from a wire coat hanger so that it hangs free and the taped part is on top. Ignite the bottom center of the loop with a match, being careful that the loop does not catch fire but merely smolders in a red line. Leave it alone, watch the two red lines climb the paper loop, one up each side. When they meet at the top, the paper will fall into two intertwined loops.

When you do this trick, be sure to have a jar of water ready to use as a fire extinguisher if needed, and keep a large sheet of aluminum foil or a cookie tin under the loop to catch any sparks that might fall.