I'm breaking my own rules
Yes I'm breaking the rules about revealing magic secrets, but I'll get over that. The rule that I'm having a harder time breaking is limiting an article to be no more than 10 pictures.
This article has a lot of pictures, but it's because I'm not sure that it would be helpful to keep clicking back and forth while you have rubber bands on your fingers. So I decided to put as many pictures as I thought necessary.
Put a rubber band on your right index finger and your right ring finger
Go to this YouTube link if you want to see what the trick looks like being performed,
Now link the rubber bands on your left index finger and your left ring finger
Here's what it should look like
Curl your fingers into the gaps - You will hold it here temporarily
There's nothing special about this position. It's just to get it into the spectator's head that there is nothing special about this position.
Here's a side view
While your volunteer folds the money in half lengthwise, do "the move"
The next set of moves happens very quickly, but very inconspicuously. While your spectator is folding the money, they'll be distracted and won't notice you doing this move. Make it quick though.
Release your fingers and bring your thumb to the top of the four bands.
Push down on the top three bands
When you've pushed down on the top three bands, pull your thumbs back toward you
Hook your thumbs underneath the bottom band
The bottom band is now on top of your thumbs - now bring your thumbs, along with the bottom band, to the top
Put both index fingers into the top gap
Put both middle fingers into the middle gap
Put your ring fingers into the bottom gap
Now your fingers look exactly the same as they did before you made the move
The spectator should think that you were just adjusting your fingers while you were doing "the move" because now your hands look exactly the same as they did before the spectator folded the bill.
(Here's what it looks like from the top)
Have a volunteer put the folded bill into the top gap. You can help them out by making the gap bigger using your thumbs
Have the spectator hold onto the bill at the tips
Tell the spectator to fold the bill over the top strand and hold on as tight as possible.
The tendancy is for them to pull the bill away from you. Tell them they don't have to pull the bill toward themselves, they just need to pinch on the bill tightly.
Getting the bill to jump from the top strand to the second strand
By releasing your index fingers and letting the top band slide off the fingers, it will appear as though the bill jumped from the top band to the second band.
Try to not make this motion too obvious. With some practice, you'll be able to make this move with minimal movement.
Once the top band has cleared your index fingers...
Replace your index fingers into the top gap
Again, this move is supposed to happen quickly. If you move your hands around a little bit, looking like you're trying to concentrate on getting the bill to jump from strand to strand, you can distract the spectator from the motion of the fingers opening up and closing.
It looks like the bill went from the top strand to the second strand. But what really happened is that the bill stayed on the same strand, it just moved down one.
The bill is now on the "second" strand and going to make the jump from the top rubber band to the bottom rubber band
I tell the spectator that the bill is going to jump from the top band to the bottom band and "clear the gap."
To get this to happen, I will release my middle fingers slightly so that the top strand can move its way down.
By moving the rubber bands toward the spectator's hands, I can get an illusion of the bill melting from one band to the next.
Here, you can see that because you moved the rubber bands toward the spectator, the bill looks like like it's melting from the second strand to the third strand.
Replace your middle fingers into the middle gap and pull the rubber bands back toward you
Now the bill is on the "third" strand
Show that the two bands aren't connected by opening your index fingers up
This part of the trick is optional. It's just to try and increase the impact of the trick.
Replace your index fingers back into the gap
Release your ring fingers to let the strand move down to the bottom
Again, you can move the rubber bands toward the spectator so give the effect that the bill is melting from the third strand to the fourth strand.
Replace your ring fingers into the gap and pull the rubber bands back toward you
Now the trick is over
I open my fingers to show how it went from the top to the bottom
You're done! You now know a pretty sweet trick. Practice it five or six times and you'll have it down so you can perform it at your next happy hour.
Good luck!
