Magic Tricks

Octopalm does what they say but you do need to experiment a bit to get it just right for your situation. I found that you do not need to “activate” as long as they say (only about 15 to 30 seconds) but you do need to let it dry for much longer than they say (10 to 15 minutes – depending on how much you use). If you don’t let it dry completely it will transfer to your coins, cards or other objects. The big thing, when working with coins, is the mathematical relationship between the size of the coin and the surface area where you want it to stick. The ratio in surface area between a dime and the middle section of your ring finger is very high (small coin / big finger part). So you don’t need much Octoplam and you have little risk of dislodging the coin prematurely. The problem hits with larger coins like halfs or silver dollars. Now there’s much more coin surface (and more weight) but no more finger surface area to stick the coin to. And you can’t bridge the coin over a knuckle unless you can keep that finger completely straight. As soon as you bend the finger, part of it pulls away from the coin and it can easily dislodge. Same concern if your coin is a lot wider than your finger. Holding your fingers together keeps the coin out of view but you need to keep the coin with the Octopalm held slightly raised from the others. If not, you could very easily bump the coin with one of the neighboring fingers and it will pop right off. Same concept of surface area consideration needs to be taken into account if you’re planning to use Octopalm to aid in classic palming a coin. You can’t put the paste in the area of your palm where you would normally hold a coin in classic. Too many moving surfaces. You have to put it at the base of the thumb and watch your angles as the coin will be in a different spot on your hand. But there’s a lot of surface area there that doesn’t move too much when you flex your hand or move your fingers so a large coin can be held in place with Octopalm. You just need to experiment and plan your positioning well to get the results you want. As for clean-up, I’ve found Goo-Gone is the best. I bought a small bottle for $5 at a craft store. I had several very small toiletry containers that you can get for carrying those types of products on airplane carry-ons. I put a cotton ball in one (filled it up) and squirted it with Goo-Gone. I used a lot, about half filled the container, and the cotton ball soaked it all up. I keep it in a zip-lock type bag in another zip-lock type bag that I keep the Octopalm. I’ll open both containers and use my thumb to apply Octopalm, rubbing for 20 seconds. While I wait for it to dry I can lightly touch the soaked cotton ball and that puts enough Goo-Gone on my thumb to remove the Octopalm. Rub it for a few seconds with the fingers of that same hand and wipe it off. If I need to wash that hand I can being careful not to get the Octopalmed part of my other hand wet. Carefully close both containers and wait the rest of the 15 minutes. I don’t use very much Octopalm but it is on a good size surface area. So I really give it time to dry. Now I can do my coin routine and clean-up of that hand afterwards is just as easy. If I’m working a fuller set and I don’t want the Octopalmed hand to get in the way, I need to position that routine in the act so the sticky part of that hand doesn’t interfere with any other effects. I have the cotton ball container in my case and leave the lid off. After that coin routine, as I am grabbing for the next prop I get a dab of Goo-Gone on my other thumb, do a quick rub of 2 seconds and the Octopalm is gone. No one has ever cared that I wiped my hands on a napkin or handkerchief during a show. And the Octopalm and Goo-Gone a both gone that easily. Much easier and cheaper than turpentine or paint thinner.

All in all, very happy I got Octopalm but it did take some time to work out the best way to use the product. My biggest complaint is that the instructional video is only a single, massive file to download that was obviously taken from a DVD. Now I’ve got to break it back apart into the various original chapters so I can more easily get to whatever section I want to review. Would have been happier with an option, for an additional fee, to get the actual DVD.