Magicians, masters of illusion and sleight of hand, use these skills to inspire awe and wonder in people of all ages. Now many of their secrets are available online. One such secret is the magic scarf trick. In this trick, the magician appears to wrap a scarf around his neck, but as his hands move forward from behind his head, he snaps his wrists outward, pulling the scarf off without choking.
Materials
All you need to begin is a place to stand and a scarf. The scarf must be long enough to wrap around your neck. Excessive fringe or decorations can make executing the magic scarf trick more complicated because you may get tangled up and unintentionally reveal the secret to the audience.
Method
Stand with your feet shoulder width apart and drape the scarf over your shoulders so you have a length of it in each hand in front of your body. The length on the left should be slightly longer then the length on the right.
Grasp the left length with your right hand and pull it to the right side of your body, as you would to wrap the scarf around your neck. Grasp the right side with your left hand and pull the ends behind your head. The secret of the trick lies in that step: as you are pulling the right side of the scarf over the left side, be sure that you use the right side to double up the left side, leaving a loop that will cause the scarf to separate when pulled instead of choke you.
Continue holding both ends of the scarf. As you appear to arrange the scarf behind your neck, pull the ends away from your head, grasping the left side on the loop you created, and voila, you did it.
Tips
As you are learning to perform the magic scarf trick, do each step slowly and concentrate on the method. Repetition leads to the ability to perform the trick faster and with the proper sleight of hand necessary for creating the illusion. Practice in front of a mirror so you are able to see if you are giving away the secret. Novice magicians learning this trick often end up coughing as a result of wrapping the scarf too tight and pulling too fast.
