Camirand Academy’s Masters Of Magic Series by Gary Ouellet

The Masters Of Magic Series was released between 1979-1986 and featured outstanding close-up routines. These were polished full routines that could be presented as theatrical pieces or used for informal close-up shows.

The booklets were published by the Camirand Academy of Magic and featured detailed writing by Gary Ouellet and a massive number of photographs by Guy Camirand making them very easy to learn from and to master.

Routines include:
Finger On The Card: This is the card routine that launched the Camirand Academy. It is a sucker type effect where a card is selected. Two cards are used to identify its color and suit and one of them is placed under the spectator’s finger. The spectator is surprised that you did not know that the card under their finger is their selection. You then have them try to find their card in the deck. Amazingly the card they find is their selection which causes them to immediately check under their finger where a completely different card now resides.

Supershells: Considered one of the best three shell game routines, that influenced many of the routines that professionals currently use. Includes many different phases, variations, and an impossible ending. You are also taught how to make your own shells.

The Silver Passage: A coins through the table routine with some visual vanishes and penetrations and an added element of a small mirror which gets the credit for the coins melting through.

The Two Goblets: Using two cups from a cups and balls combination set you perform a series of excellent and impossible looking sequences where a ball penetrates, vanishes, appears, and transposes. For the finale, three huge balls appear.

Threshold: Although several different card routines and techniques are taught the main routine is a sit-down torn and restored card where the the double-signed card is torn into four pieces, one corner is held as a receipt, and the other pieces fuse together.

The Homing Ring: A multiphase ring off rope routine where a finger ring repeatedly escapes after being tied to a rope and re-appears on your finger.

Eric DeCamps’ The Coin Connection: A stand-up coin routine where three silver coins vanish to reappear in a purse. They then invisibly travel from hand to hand, converted into foreign coins, dropped back into the coin purse only to revert into their original silver coins.

Meir Yedid’s Royal Takeover: A beautifully displayed routine where three cards are selected and found to be Aces. The three Aces visually change into a Royal Flush and everything is examinable.

The above routine descriptions are just the themes and main effects taught. Each section is full of variations, alternate phases, and many techniques. This book can act as a course in intermediate to advanced close-up magic.

First Edition. Written by Gary Ouellet. Published by Meir Yedid Magic in 2022. 8.75″x11.25″ hardcover, with 272-pages, and more than 580-photographs. The hardcover edition is a limited edition of only 150 copies.

Contents:

Foreword (Meir Yedid)…….11

Introduction (Guy Camirand)………. 13

Finger On The Card………… 15
Introduction (Guy Camirand)…………. 18
Introduction (Gary Ouellet)……………. 19
Finger On The Card…………….19
Effect………. 20
Performance………….21
Drop Control……..21
The Double Cut…………….. 25
The Drop Cut ……………….. 26
The Finger Glimpse ……….28
The Sliding Double Lift ………………3°
The Rotating Slip Force………………34
Finger On The Card Revisited …………38
Swivel Cut Control…………38
Butt Cut…………….41
The Last Word (Gary Ouellet) …………44

Supershells………. 45
Introduction (Guy Camirand)………….48
Supershells ………….. 50
Properties ……………. 52
The Steal……………… 54
The Load……………… 59
The Placement……… 59
The Routine…………. 63
Hand Quicker Than The Eye……….63
The Sting…………. 66
One Armed Charlie………..68
Challenge Transposition…………….. 72
Pinky Pinch……… 79
Pinky Acquitment…………. 82
Sidesteal Sequence ………..83
Presentation ………… 87
Final Words (Gary Ouellet)……………..90

The Silver Passage………….. 91
Introduction (Guy Camirand)………….94
A Short History Of The Silver Passage ………….96
What You Need …….98
The Clink/Clink Move………..98
The Crossover Lap…………… 106
The Gary Ping Chien …………110
The Hirata Master Move……112
Notes On The Hirata Master Move………………116
The Last Word (Gary Ouellet) ……….. 117
The Silver Sequel………………118
The Grand Trunk Funk And Banana Railway Switch …118
The Jamary Coin Clip………..120
The Gossamer Dissolve…….. 121
The Two Goblets……………125
Introduction (Guy Camirand)…………128
Foreword (Gary Ouellet)……129

The Two Goblets ………………130
Effect……… 132
Properties …………… 133
Set-Up………………… 134
The Routine………… 135
The Cenotaph Illusion ………………. 135
The Cenotaph Placement…………… 137
Part One: The Liquescent Ball ………..139
The First Penetration…….139
The Tip-Off Move………….140
The Second Penetration ……………. 141
The Put-Down Move…….. 141
The Third Penetration ……………….143
The Flying Ball…………….. 143
Part Two: The Teleporting Ball……….145
The Shameful Lapping ………………146
The Throwback Technique…………146
The Ethereal Ball …………..151
The Quicksand Move……..151
The Hermetic Ball………… 154
The Whoops Move……….. 154
The Last Word (Gary Ouellet) ………..158

Threshold………..159
A Message From The Editor (Guy Camirand)……………162
Important Learning Note……………162
Introduction (Peter Reveen)…………..163
Foreword (Gary Ouellet)……164
The Incredible Vanishing Deck……….165
Preambule………..166
The Vanish……….168
The Capricorn Card…………….171
Card Switches………. 174
The Ouellet Switch……………. 175
Practice Drill……. 177
Common Mistakes And Tips……….179
Uses For The Ouellet Switch………….. 180
Brainstorm……….180
The Solar Oven…………….. 181
As A Packet Switch ………. 181
The Curry Open Prediction…………182
The Switch Syndrome…….184
Threshold……………. 187
The Threshold Principle……………..187
Presentation……..188
The Drop Switch Sequence………….193
The One Handed Fold……193
Why Threshold Works……….197
The Anxiety Factor…………… 198
The Last Word (Gary Ouellet)………. 200
The Homing Ring…………. 201
A Word From The Editor (Guy Camirand) …………….. 204
Introduction (Ken Krenzel)……………205

The Homing Ring……………..206
What You Need………………..206
Phase One: Preamble, The Blowaway Knot….207
Phase Two: The Reverting Ring………211
Phase Three: The Supersonic Ring……………… 215
Phase Four: Swindle Ring……………… 218
The Rear Shift Lap……….. 218
Phase Five: Boomering…….. 223
Alternate Sequence: Ring Drop………228
The Last Word (Gary Ouellet)………..230

Eric DeCamps’ The Coin Connection………… 231
Publisher’s Introduction (Guy Camirand)……234
A Word from Eric DeCamps ………….235
The Coin Connection………..236
Effect………237
Props Department…………… 237
Set-Up……………….. 238
A Word On Vanishes………..238
Retention Of Vision Vanish …………..238
The “Gone!” Sell ………………240
ACT I: The Homing Coins…………….. 241
Benzais Friction Palm………………. 241
Purse Steal And Shuttle Pass……..244
Scoop Pickup………………. 246
Edge Grip Pickup…………246
ACT II: Travel Agents……….249
The Stack Steal…………….250
The Pretended Pickup ……………… 251
The Shell Sneak ………….. 253
The Blow-Away Vanish……………..254
The Retention Pickup………………. 255
ACT III: Foreign Exchange …………… 257
The Levered Production …………… 257
The Side Entry Vanish………………258
The Silver/Copper Transformation…………259
The Clean-Up……………… 261
Supplement: An Alternative To Act II …………262
Patter Suggestion ……………. 263
The Last Word (Gary Ouellet) ……….264

Meir Yedid’s Royal Takeover……….265
Royal Takeover Bonus (Meir Yedid)…………….267
Effect…….. 268
Set-Up……………….. 268
Performance……….. 268
Clean Radical Change……….270
Credits…………………271