Smartie Box Finger Stab

You take a mini Smarties chocolate box and place your finger through the inside. You then proceed to puncture endless amounts of toothpicks (or anything else sharp) into the container! You then remove the toothpicks, and pull your finger out showing no puncture marks at all!

Preparation

You must build a simple gimmick in order to do this effect. What you'll need are: a mini Smarties box, scissors, and toothpicks or whatever else you want to stab yourself with.

To make the gimmick look at the box. It has two bigger sides then the little ones. The big one will be the side we'll use. Take your Smarties box, and pop open both sides (Fig 1.) After popping the sides out, carefully cut off the access flaps. Now, you can shove your finger through the box from one side to the other.

Next you must cut the boxes sides. Take your scissors and cut two slits all the way across the side of the box (Fig 2.) *This next part is optional, but I find it crucial when I perform the trick.* Next, take your scissors and make small holes for your toothpicks. Once your done making the gimmick it should look like so (Fig 3.)

Now your ready to perform the Smarties Box Finger Stab

Pictures

1. Pop out both sides

Method

Take your gimmicked Smarties box, and place it on you finger. *NOTE* Whatever you do, DO NOT let the spectator see the slits in the box; it will ruin the trick.

Make sure you put your finger into the box, skin side up (opposed to nail side up). The audience thinks your just putting your finger into the box, this however; is not the case. What you really do is weave your finger through the box like so.(Fig 4.)

Now your finger will be weaved in and out of the box like in Figure 4, the next part is all acting. Take your toothpicks and shove them through the desired spots in the box. Make sure to be careful, and not get too close to your finger. After you've filled the box until your hearts content, (Fig 5.) pull the needles/toothpicks out,and pull the box off your finger,(when pulling, grip the whole box in your fist) and receive your applause!

Unfortunately this effect is quite angle sensitive, but I have received some of my BEST REACTIONS with this effect. Try your own positions for the pins, make a story about voodoo; have fun with it!

Comments

PlasmaShadow 27th Apr 07	This is very good. The pictures helped a lot. I think a smaller box would work better though because they can see your whole finger. That way, they will be even more shocked.
mitchellator 27th Apr 07	Very nice picklephantom, I amd deffinately using this trick sometime, great thinking
blake4 27th Apr 07	this is actually a really well thought out trick. thanx!
abrammazal 27th Apr 07	Thanks for the great trick I hope it didn't take too long for you to think of! Ill try to tell a story about (something) when i do it, and do not try to do it super slow and only do it once in a while but thanks!
rbec 27th Apr 07	its a good idea but I hate tricks that are this angle sensitive
a5ado 27th Apr 07	great trick, and rbec, most tricks are angle sensitive so I guess you hate most tricks. In my opinion, this should not be level 1. In fact, I'm pretty sure ed said in the forums that trick levels are based on effect not performance, and this trick looks too good to be 1.
Hiei3 27th Apr 07	This IS actually very nice. It's simple and could possibly work for stage too. Maybe just use a bigger box, your whole arm, and knives or something. Haha, yeah, I'm really big with stage, and knives seem much more dangerous that toothpicks. Anyway, very awesome effect. 4/5.
magic1993 27th Apr 07	very simple and cool i like it obviouse but cool
PicklePhantom 27th Apr 07	Glad everyone seems to like it. Trust me though, thats the smallest amount of toothpicks I've had in the box, the most is about 10 at the MAX. I tried working with a knife through arm effect with a cereal box, however I found my arm slightly too big to fit completely snug into it. I'll give it another couple trys though. Thanks for all teh positve feedback. :D
dasuprememep 27th Apr 07	I'm using this. Looks like this is something I'm going to be carrying around wherever I go now. Wow. Also, it isn't really angle-sensitive, because people usually don't duck down and look at the bottom.
unskilled 28th Apr 07	Haha, this one is interesting. And simple! And ed is right, a simple trick requiring little to no skill can be of more effect than some boring trick requiring tons of card control.
Xxsolja89xX 28th Apr 07	hmm pretty good... althou i would try to make it more deciving...
CrazyK 28th Apr 07	In order to end this trick clean and leave the box examinable: Maybe during the process of stabbing through the box, you can stab with a knife, two slits on the opposite side... so when you take your finger out, the spectator wont think its odd that the box has two slits in it.
abedkh 28th Apr 07	Thank you for sharing picklephantom;)
800runner 28th Apr 07	5/5 Great trick! I haven't tried this, but to cut down on the angle sensitivity maybe you could hold your other hand over your finger to "steady" the box.
PicklePhantom 28th Apr 07	800runner- Thank you for reminding me about that. I forgot to mention to decrease the risk from the angle sensitivity, you could use your other hand as "cover"
ahm1993 29th Apr 07	hey picklePhantom, if you use the other hand for cover, what will you use for piercing the toothpicks? your mouth???
pedrovski 29th Apr 07	This is an absolutely brilliant trick. i tried it straight away and it really works. I recommend this to everyone who wants to do a good street magic trick because it is angle sensitive so you should only do it to one person max two at a time. Thanks for the great trick. It is officially in my faves!
Hawk 29th Apr 07	A very nice mini illusion, This would work very well at parties e.t.c and also, what about making up a larger version for, a sword through assistant type of effect !.very nice explanation and, photos were very helpful. Nice work.
PicklePhantom 29th Apr 07	ahm1993- You would only cover the other side, once you've already shoved the toothpick in, Forgot to mention that ;)
t0aster 29th Apr 07	I would add a small sausage or similar meat device, so the spectator can also shove in a toothpick or two and feel it penetrate through flesh. Would add greatly to the effect, and won't take up that much more space. Just don't walk around with it in your pocket in the summer.
magicmike74 30th Apr 07	I will use this trick alot,thanks for posting it.as someone else mentioned,it may be even better using your entire arm.Still this is great how it is.
arryotter 3rd May 07	EXCELLENT trick! Very good, i'll be sure to use this.
Wolf8Link 4th May 07	This is a really good trick! I will make one now. t0aster has a good idea
PicklePhantom 5th May 07	Yes, I've taken t0aster's idea now, and made it into a full fledged rountine! I start with this (give the audience a good laugh) Then after you perform this, say " Now, were going to take this up a notch" then I pull out the cereal box and 4 STEAK KNIVES and shove them through the box. I'l try to upload a picture later, it looks great! :D Thanks for the great idea t0aster!
izzyhot 7th May 07	That is really good, i tried it on my sis and she freaked! I just love tricks like that, thanks for submitting it.
Guayo 7th May 07	Man this trick is really awesome. And I should definitely try the bigger box with knives too.
goresearch 10th May 07	wow so original i tried it out on my mom and she went crazy.
rubenelyusupov 13th May 07	would it be bood i make the box to fit my hand and use a pensile or a drill
galvatron 13th May 07	this sure does beat thoes gullotine whatevers. THis is awasome! thanks!
versonator 15th May 07	I like this trick its a bit like the first trick i ever did . the one where u put a ribon in an envolope and cut it and the ribon survives!
lark 16th May 07	It's a first trick I have ever liked. Really a great illussion.
DocShock 16th May 07	i will definetly be using this in my performances. very little set up, and very big effect. great job.
Wobber 18th May 07	The trick's good but very easy to understand - 3 out of 5 knew it the moment they understood I was not feeling pain .
willthong 18th May 07	Excellent. Love pictures, love the idea, love the fact that it is accessible to all those who are able to buy a box of smarties!!! 5/5!!! Wonderful!!!
dummyisdumb 23rd May 07	a tad bit obvious and angle sensitve, but nevertheless, good
addj 23rd May 07	pretty clever. just for showmanship's sake, itd be pretty cool to open it [as if opening a brand new box], eat some smarties, and THEN perform the trick
MoreSo 25th May 07	I love it! This is now an essential trick to accompany my other favourites =p the only improvement I could suggest is making the holes for the toothpicks earlier because i found it hard to make them with just the toothpicks. But I love it otherwise, thanks!
leonleon 27th May 07	This trick is good, 5/5. Another version of this trick is a minerature version of sawing a lady in half, you just draw a girl, put it in like you do in this trick, cut it down the middle. and magically she comes out un cut.
trickster 29th May 07	The angle is kind of bad but otherwise a very good trick!
Cheong 15th Jun 07	great trick! it really looks real. good pictures!
JustinDu 22nd Jun 07	my friends freaked out
arkarian27 2nd Sep 07	you could put a cereal box over your torso for a stage performance and as PicklePhantom said, use steak knives. Or you could use thumb tip with a bag of fake blood in it. really good explanation :)
Loki67 30th Sep 07	Wow this is awesome! 5 stars.
iansal 10th Oct 07	woww...i love this 1!!
bettas123 23rd Feb 08	I performed this trick for a small audience at my local mall, except I added fake blood to the routine and little marks on my finger where my 'wounds' miraculously healed.
twistle 26th Jun 09	This looks interesting. It doesn't look like something I would use though.
MagicMM 2nd Aug 09	Wow! I really gotta try this next time I have a smarties box :P
Free 2nd Sep 09	Great trick I'm gonna go buy some smarties after rating this 5 stars.
Gazea2 12th Jan 10	This works great!