Craig Beytien on Petite Magia: Crafty Plans for the Tabletop Wizard
In the fifth episode of The Magic Book Podcast, Adrian Tennant interviews Craig Beytien, a seasoned magician, craftsman, and author. Craig discusses what led him to write the upcoming book Petite Magia: Crafty Plans for the Tabletop Wizard, which features 29 magic effects. Reflecting on his innovative approach to miniaturizing classic illusions, Craig discusses how Eric C. Lewis and Paul Osborne influenced his work, and emphasizes the enduring value of physical magic books in our digital age.
Transcript
Coming up in this episode of The Magic Book Podcast.
Craig Beytien [:This book really is, in some sense, my history, which started with performing and then went to building, then went to writing. So to me, it's a culmination. It's a real expression of my life in magic.
Adrian Tennant [:You're listening to The Magic Book Podcast, conversations about classic and contemporary books that teach, illuminate, and celebrate the art of magic. I'm your host, Adrian Tennant, a lifetime student of magic and mentalism, occasional performer, and long time book collector. Thanks for joining me. Welcome to the fifth episode of The Magic Book Podcast. My guest today is Craig Beytien, a magician, craftsman, and author who has made significant contributions to the world of magic through his performances, prop building and writing. Craig, who is originally from southern Minnesota, grew up in Overland Park, Kansas, and discovered his passion for magic at the age of 10. What began as a hobby grew into a lifelong journey. Frustrated by the quality of some commercially available apparatus, Craig honed his woodworking skills and founded Illusion Arts Magic in 1997.
Adrian Tennant [:Craig is perhaps best known for his miniaturized versions of classic illusions including the Mini Me Guillotine which caught the attention of the late Paul Osborne. This led to Craig contributing two chapters to Paul's book, “The Illusion Paradigm.” Today we'll be discussing Craig's new book, “Petite Magia: Crafty Plans for the Tabletop Wizard,” a publication that compiles and expands on a series of articles from The Linking Ring, offering fully dimensioned plans and explanations for 29 magic effects. Craig, welcome to The Magic Book Podcast!
Craig Beytien [:Adrian, delighted to be here.
Adrian Tennant [:Well, let's start at the beginning. You discovered magic at age 10 after a boy scout event. Can you tell us about that experience and how it sparked your interest in magic?
Craig Beytien [:Yeah. I think to that point, I had never seen magic performed live. I recall in the early sixties seeing Mark Wilson on television with the Alakazam show and others. And so I'd seen it performed in a not a live setting. And this was at a boy scout event that the cub scouts, at that time I was a cub scout, were invited to, and this magician performed on stage. And I just remember being transfixed. And as the performance ended, I went backstage, and he was obviously alone putting all of his props up. And I said, “How how do you do all this? How did you learn to do this?” And he said, “There are tons of books in the library.”
Craig Beytien [:“Go to the public library. You'll find books there.” And that's how I started. And so that started a lifelong - my wife would say, ‘obsession’ - I would say ‘focused hobby’ that I've embarked on, for the last, well, probably over 50 years.
Adrian Tennant [:Can you remember what your first magic book was?
Craig Beytien [:Well, I know I was reflecting on that. We had an opportunity to talk a little before this event, and I had to jog my memory a little bit because actually my very first book was Bobo Coin Magic. And my dad had purchased it, but the one I think I recalled for you was “Okito on Magic.” We were in Chicago, and this was the early seventies, and we had gone to Magic Inc, and I had scanned the bookshelf, and I saw Okito, and I was immediately struck that the book was not placed so you could see the spine. It was turned so you could see the cover. It had the paper sleeve on it, and there was Oikito's face. And I thought, “Wow. What an interesting looking fellow.”
Craig Beytien [:And then, of course, I came to know and respect - and when I say “know” in a disconnected way, because he passed away in 1968 - Theo Bamberg. Andd I was fascinated by the book. And so they had two copies at that time. One was signed by the author. I don't think it was Okito. I mean, it'd be a co-author. And that one was like, you know, $100 or something outrageous.
Craig Beytien [:And the other one that was unsigned was like $25. So I said, “Well, I'll take that one.”So I've had that in my collection and I devoured the book. And I didn't know it at the time, but it would inspire me later on to attempt to build some of the effects that Okito describes in the book.
Adrian Tennant [:That Magic Inc. reprint from the early seventies has the photo on the jacket that's inscribed to Jay and Frances Marshall.
Craig Beytien [:Yeah, it is, actually. Right. Who ran Magic Inc. for many, many years.
Adrian Tennant [:Craig, what were some of your early experiences performing magic?
Craig Beytien [:Well, you know, I grew up in Kansas City, and there was a magic store there. And I would have to ride my bike to it, and it was some distance away. It was across the Missouri line. I was living on the Kansas side. And I remember going in there, and they would do demonstrations. And, of course, “The secret is told when the magic is sold!” You know, that's kinda where I bought my first few small tricks. And then I would do magic shows for my family, as many of us as youth do.
Craig Beytien [:I remember a particular failure, actually, associated with an inverted cup. It was a chrome cup, but it had a metal section in it that dropped down so that you could place the card underneath and pull the card out, and, of course, it wouldn't fall. While I was standing, as it happens, I was over my grandmother's register, which is this floor heating thing that went down to the basement. And as I pulled the card out, the little piece of metal had not completely gotten there, and water just went whoosh! I was, you know, a little bit humiliated, but I recovered. But I guess from that from going that forward, I had folks in town see that I had interest in magic, and I remember starting doing small shows. I did Girl Scout events. I did a few Cub Scout events.
Craig Beytien [:As I was building a repertoire, I would do magic at school. And so it just kind of snowballed over time. I was actually featured in our school newspaper in high school as this young man who loves magic. And, so that was kind of the, you know, pre-semi-professional side of my performance history.
Adrian Tennant [:Early in your career, you worked as a cast member at Worlds of Fun, a Kansas City amusement park. Craig, what was that experience like?
Craig Beytien [:Well, it's interesting. I remember going for the very first tryout, and this was at Royal Stadium, Truman Sports Complex in Kansas City. And so I was already intimidated by the venue. And I had done enough magic by that time as an amateur, having been paid for several gigs that I had a certain degree of confidence. And I had developed a character that I think very often the magic failed first, and then I would recover. And I recall using that technique in a couple of tricks that I performed before the judges who were determining who would be cast members. And I recall that the gentleman was just, you know, animated, like, “Oh my gosh, I see the show now.”
Craig Beytien [:“We can have these interstitial events where Craig does magic in between the songs and so on and so forth.” And so, lo and behold, I was cast, and we started rehearsals. I had to sing and dance. I could handle the dance. I didn't much carry a note at those in those days. Carry a note? I couldn't even FIND the note! And ended up performing in that show.
Craig Beytien [:We did - during the heat of the summer - we had a period of time where it was just weekends, but then when it got into the summertime after the 1st May, I believe, it went 6 days a week, 7 shows a day. The running gag in the show was that I was trying to produce 2 doves, which would fly out over the audience, come back, and land on my shoulder. And every attempt to do so failed until the very last of the show when I have a blank gun. And out of frustration, I just shoot in the air. Well, they had rigged a rubber chicken with feathers glued to it, which then proceeded to fall down onto the stage, and then I would point the gun to the audience and say, “Now clap!” And then we went into the final act. So it was this kind of running gag. What was interesting is because of my interest in magic and my ability to perform other things, Worlds of Fun would lend me out and send me to other venues to perform what I consider to be more serious magic, close-up magic, card magic, so on, and so forth.
Craig Beytien [:And, boy, did I learn discipline? Did I learn how to deliver when you were exhausted and tired? And, frankly, you could recite the songs and the dance in your sleep as well as the lines that were associated with the magic. But it really taught me that the audience deserved a good performance each and every time. And so I prided myself in trying to deliver the best I could, but I did learn a great deal about performance discipline in that environment. And I consider one of the highlights of my early career. It was just lots of fun, a lot of camaraderie with the cast. And, when it was all over, I was sad.
Adrian Tennant [:Your background includes performing, building props, and writing. How did these different aspects of your magical journey develop over time?
Craig Beytien [:Well, I would say organically for the most part. I mean, as many of us who get into magic at an early age, it's all about, you know, obtaining tricks and performing them. And there was a good period of time I performed all through high school, performed all through college, made extra income doing it in college. And then when I got married in the late eighties, obviously, children started to come. And so the aspects of performing took a second seat obviously to childcare and maintaining a marriage. And so I remember I had carried with me the books that I had obtained early in my career. And when you're home and you're babysitting or whatever, you're not out performing, but that the interest is still there, I would pull these books out, and I'd look at them, and I would review them. And I remember, you know, I greater magic is one of my favorite books that's out there, and we have the Okito book and several other books that I'd collected.
Craig Beytien [:And that's what I discovered, by the way, Paul Osborne's series. And then came to find out that the Illusion System Series actually came with blueprints. And I thought, “Oh, wow! This is interesting.” And because I'm a bit of a closet carpenter, I've always done woodwork. I've always built things for the home. I've always done repairs. I started opening these books and going, “You know, I got a little extra time.”
Craig Beytien [:“Maybe I could build something.” And I remember just diving in and saying, “I'm gonna build a Thin Model Sawing. I mean, let's go for something really hard because, you know, no guts, no glory!” So I remember getting the plans. And at that time, his “Big Black Book” had come out, which came out, I think, in 1991. And I had purchased it a few years earlier, and it was a compendium of a lot of his plans that appeared in Genii. And one of them was, of course, the Thin Model Sawing. And so I built my very first illusion.
Craig Beytien [:I remember doing it in the basement. My wife was very curious, continually looking down the stairs going, “What are you doing?” And I never performed it. I built it, but I never performed it. And I ended up … I don't remember how I sold it because we didn't have Facebook then. We didn't have really Internet to speak of. It must have been through some third party or something that we ended up selling it to someone. I went, “Wow!” Now I made a pretty hefty profit.
Craig Beytien [:So I'm thinking, “Okay. I can do this.” So I then started building and, you know, I got to a point where I had built some fairly large illusions, including one that I had shipped to Italy. It was a kind of a unique cut-in-half effect. And I'm thinking, “Wow, this is great, but it's a lot of work. I wonder if there are smaller things?” What was frustrating though at the time was that there really were no plans out there that one could use to build smaller effects. So I started off slowly.
Craig Beytien [:I probably made 2 or 3 tip-over cabinets, small tabletop things. And so as I was starting to do this, I went like, “You know, there's a whole genre here of smaller effects that one could build.” And then I really discovered - going beyond my knowledge of Okito - all of the amazing magic apparatus that he built throughout his career. And I started doing some research. I remember being in New York and going to the New York Public Library and pulling out some of the Albo books and seeing what Albo was documenting in terms of those old effects. I remember just graciously Xeroxing at the New York Public Library, all these explanations and drawings and so on and so forth. So I really embarked on what I consider to be, you know, tabletop illusions, things that were small enough that would not take the entire basement in several months to build. And that really started me thinking about, “Gosh, can I create some of my own?” And I started to create some of my own and build more.
Craig Beytien [:And those were ones that I would perform because, you know, the opportunity generally available out there to do large stage shows. Subsequently, I did several of those in Dubuque, Iowa. But for me, it was just a matter of learning how to be effective at building smaller things.
Adrian Tennant [:If you're enjoying this episode of The Magic Book Podcast, please consider leaving a rating on Spotify or a review on Apple Podcasts. It can really help other people who share our interests discover the podcast. Thanks. Craig, one of your best known creations is the Mini Me Guillotine. Can you tell us about the origins of that effect?
Craig Beytien [:I had decided to try a miniature version or a smaller version of a Monster Guillotine. And I liked the effect. I thought it was cool, but all of the Wrist Choppers that were out there, I don't know. They just seemed contrived. They didn't seem that dramatic. And so I really wanted to build a replica, a tabletop, 3-foot replica of a Monster Guillotine that would one use for your wrist. And over about a 2-year period of time, I succeeded in building a prototype and ended up building 2 or 3 others. And I happened to have one that I hadn't sold.
Craig Beytien [:And I said, “I wonder if Paul Osborne would be interested in rendering for me in his inimitable style, a version of this?” And so I reached out to Paul. He said, “Hey, I'm intrigued.” I said, “I'll send it to you. If you feel like you'd like to draw it, I'd be honored. I'd just like to have a copy.” So I sent it to him. He didn't ask, but I said, “If you do a drawing, you can keep it.”
Craig Beytien [:And so he said, “Oh, okay. That seems fair.” So he did an amazing drawing. And then shortly thereafter contacted me and said, “Hey, I'd like to add this to my Illusion Systems Series. I said, “You're kidding!” I didn't even think to ask for remuneration. I just said, “Yes!”
Craig Beytien [:You know, “Paul Osborne wants to include something that I did!” And he included my full explanation and all my sources, and he put it in the series. And about 2 or 3 years later, he contacted me and said, “Hey, I'm doing another book called ‘The Paradigm,’ and I'd like to invite you to write a couple chapters.” And so I wrote a chapter on thinking outside the box and one on finishing because I had made literally every mistake one can make in finishing my props. And so I had learned enough then to feel somewhat conversant in giving people advice about how to finish props. And so he gleefully accepted 2 of my chapters and included them in the work. So that was kind of my transition from performer to builder to now, “Gosh, now I've got the confidence. I've written something.”
Craig Beytien [:And then I don't know what compelled me, but I reached out to Sammy Smith, still the publisher, editor-in-chief of The Linking Ring. And I said, “Look, I've got an idea. I wonder if I might run it by you.” And he was very open to it. They oftentimes will receive material from performers in the field or other magicians. And so I sent him one plan and one explanation that is something I had adapted. And he goes, “I like this. We're gonna run it.”
Craig Beytien [:And I said, “Wow!” He said, “Do you have any more?” And I go, “I think I could.” And that led to about a 2-year run, about 24 issues, where I had created - they called it “Petite Magia,” and it was a series of dimensioned plans. Now luckily, my son is a trained graphic artist, so I asked him if he would do the drawings. And so when I would finish building something, he would take it to his house, and he would deconstruct it and then do dimension plans. And so this continued over that 2-year period. And that's how the Petite series evolved. And then I got to a point where I kinda ran out of things, at least at that time.
Craig Beytien [:And I thought to myself, “You know, at some point, I really ought to put these in a book.” Thinking back on Paul's experience and what he did and others, I thought, “Gosh, maybe I could do that as well.” So that's where the book was born, the idea of creating these. So there's a total of 29 in the book. And so very excited. I should also mention just parenthetically that the relationship with Sammy Smith evolved over time, and I started writing feature articles for The Linking Ring. I've written, I think, three cover articles and then a couple of other special interest articles on several other folks. And that's been a real labor of love because it's really documenting, and benchmarking people's lives and magic and how they've evolved.
Craig Beytien [:The one I can readily recall is Jack Hart, who was the art designer for a number of the Copperfield performances on television. He was a boyhood friend of Harry Blackstone Jr. And through him, and we continue to have a relationship, he introduced me to a list of what I call magic celebrities who I've had the pleasure of interacting with. So that's kind of the story.
Adrian Tennant [:Now in 1997, you founded Illusion Arts Magic. What specifically inspired you to start your own company?
Craig Beytien [:Well, in part it was just I was making, I think, my best year … hopefully, the IRS isn't listening … I think I made around $30,000 in selling magic. And I thought, “Wow. This could be a side hustle. This could be a side gig.” And so I started Illusion Arts Magic. I remember being delighted I could find illusionartsmagic.com.
Craig Beytien [:By the way, and since then, I have not maintained a website. I have a Facebook page now. I find it equally effective without having to maintain a website. But Illusion Arts Magic has been the name of the business, gosh, since then, and it brings me so much joy that folks are aware of my work. They seek me out. I don't advertise. It's all word-of-mouth. And it's fun because people bring me problems.
Craig Beytien [:You know, “I'm trying to do X. How do I do that?” And, you know, if you're around long enough and if you, you know, close your mouth and open your ears, over time, you will learn a lot about basic magic and how things can be hidden and and how things can be manipulated in order to achieve certain effects. And so by no means would I consider myself an expert, but I do think I'm fairly knowledgeable in the art and enjoy finding ways to surprise people and help people solve their problems.
Adrian Tennant [:Absolutely. Craig, let's talk about your new book, “Petite Magia, Crafty Plans for the Tabletop Wizard.” What inspired you to create this collection of miniature illusions?
Craig Beytien [:Well, again, this goes back to my own interest in trying to find ways to express my love for building and for my love for magic without doing it on a scale that becomes difficult to maintain. And so for me, it was a chance to not only adapt and find opportunities. And several books really influenced me. If I go back and I received an amazing gift, it must be about 10 years now, of the Eric Lewis Trilogy of books. And I was just blown away by the ingenuity. I've got the 2-volume set of the Harbin books that have a number of different ideas in it. And one of the things that I am fastidious about is provenance and giving proper credit and getting permission. And I remember being able to reach out to Martin Lewis, Eric's son, who now, of course, has passed, and get permission to include an item from one of those three volumes in the Eric Lewis Trilogy.
Craig Beytien [:And he was very wonderful about it, and said he would be delighted as long as I gave indication within the article that I'd gotten his permission. And so to be able to talk to people who were originators … I remember reaching out to Greg Wilson, because, you know, back on television, I remember Mark and Nanny Darnell performing the Penetration Through the Plate Glass Window. And I remember that performance on television, remember seeing it and thinking, “Gosh, maybe I could do a, like, a miniature version of that.” So I wanted to get information about how that came about. So I reached out. Mark was still alive, but not really reachable. I was able to reach out to Greg, and I didn't really so much need his permission.
Craig Beytien [:I just wanted part of the story. And so I wanted to include that in the explanation of the effect. And so to be able to talk to people, Bill Smith, Johnny Gaughan, a number of folks who just, I'm they're my idols to, you know, get insights, get information. I remember talking to Jim Steinmeyer about a particular problem I was trying to solve with what is Modern Art. And so it it allowed me an opportunity to reach out and and touch some of these really amazing people, but also to bring that kind of ingenuity and thought process into creating my own magic, which I'm I'm delighted to say I haven't been successful in creating several of my own effects, which, have been sold commercially as well as I continue to sell. And so to have this book, you know, in some sense, it's proof, right? That I did all this stuff, and then be able to share it with others. I mean and be able to share my son's art by deconstructing these effects and spending time describing them and talking about their provenance. And to so-called a labor of love would be an understatement.
Craig Beytien [:It's more than just an expression of here are tricks you can build. It really is in some sense my history, which started with performing and then went to building, then went to writing. So to me, it's a culmination. I'm not dead yet, but I think I've got more to contribute. But for me, it's a real expression of my life and magic.
Adrian Tennant [:Interesting. You mentioned the Eric C. Lewis Trilogy. The effect from the books was Curious Cubes, is that right?
Craig Beytien [: Adrian Tennant [: Craig Beytien [:I believe it was, and I actually in the process of trying to locate permission to adapt one of the effects for the series, I reached out to Mike. And Mike was the one who said, “Gosh, I'll give you Martin's phone number.” So it was through Mike that I actually became aware of it, and I had to compliment him on the work because, you know, it's clearly a lot of work and research. And what I enjoyed about reading Eric's work was that he would go back and say, “Gosh. This is how I saw this effect, or an early version of this was performed by this English performer that he met during the war.” And so he was very interested and dedicated to establishing provenance and not claiming for himself credit for the effect. Although he might have, you know, taken it another step, he was always very respectful to the origins of the work.
Adrian Tennant [:Yes. He was always refining. I mean, even from his earliest books when they were first published in the 1930s, Eric was never really settled. He's always looking for improvements.
Craig Beytien [:Yeah. I really admire the guy, and, again, had the pleasure of interacting with Martin as well. And, clearly, you know, he followed in big footsteps his father.
Adrian Tennant [:Craig, can you share one or two of your favorite effects from “Petite Magia,” and explain what makes them special to you?
Craig Beytien [:Yeah. I think two in particular. One would be the Mini Me Guillotine because it was my first attempt at really solving a problem. You can't simply have the same mechanism necessarily because of the scale and nature of the effects. So figuring that out and then coming through with an alternative to it that did not involve the hand falling, to me, it was a major challenge. Everyone who's ever purchased one, I think I've built at this point, it must be somewhere in the 12 to 15 of these, you know, through the years and including one out of Padauk, some kind of South African mahogany that somebody requested. So I'm really proud of that. Probably the Tesseract Transposition, which is also in the book, which is really my signature effect.
Craig Beytien [:And I have to give credit and homage to Michael Baker and his co-creator, but they originated in the fact that involved the cabinet and then a houlette and a transposition between those two items. I have seen that effect never been in its physical proximity, but I like the idea of transferring from one houlette to another. And in the process of trying to figure out how would I do that, And that's by the way, my way of kind of innovating was I never wanted to find out how they did it. I wanted to find out if I had to create it, how would I do it? And sometimes in a few rare instances, I've actually landed on how they actually did it because of just process of elimination. And so I created this c-seating block that could be unseat or sat depending on the nature of the effect, and then created it in the version of Tesseract Transposition. And I remember writing Michael and saying, “This is what I've come up with. I wanna be sure I'm not stepping on your toes.” And he was very respectful and very kind.
Craig Beytien [:He said, “No. You actually are not doing it the way I did it.” I said, “Well, good. I'm happy to hear that.” So, yeah. And that that was sold commercially through a magic store in Wichita, the Stevens Magic Emporium. A couple other effects came out of that, Shift Shape, and a few others. And then just as it evolved, I started creating a lot of different versions of that.
Craig Beytien [:You know, the only one that's not in the book, which will probably be if if I do another book and that's possible, is my take on the, Okito-style Chinese Checker Cabinet for which I have built to count about 28 different versions of that. Every one different. And oddly enough, hearkening back to “Okito on Magic,” it is explained in that book, or at least a portion of it is explained, his method and his performance specifically of it. And as you know, in that performance, he did not speak that performance. And, so I have created so many different versions of that same effect, including instead of checkers, Oreo cookies that are 4 inches in diameter that actually we laser engraved some dark colored MDF. It looked just like the cookie.
Craig Beytien [:It was amazing. And we put filling in there. The filling was actually a block of wood that was smaller, round obviously, and then they were covered with medical tape. So it actually looked like a 4-inch Oreo cookie. So instead of using the traditional checker, and then instead of having an Oriental cabinet, it was actually one of those old time kitchen bread boxes, Art Deco style. And then the pagoda, instead of being a pagoda, which vanishes the checkers, in this case, the cookies, it was an old Nord refrigerator. Taking an idea like that and just iterating on thematic changes in ways that you could do it, that's the stuff that I enjoy now.
Adrian Tennant [:You can be notified when new episodes of this podcast are published either by signing up on the website at TheMagicBookPodcast.com or by following the Facebook page. Thanks. Craig, in “Petite Magia,” in addition to the building instructions, I noticed that you include sources for materials. Why did you decide to include this information as well?
Craig Beytien [:Well, oftentimes I remember working with Paul's plans. And by the way, there's not a plan on the earth that doesn't have a problem. That doesn't have something that isn't explained, that you have to go and figure out. And so I felt compelled in the situations where I knew that the sources were still current to indicate where I got my magnets, because I do use magnets quite a bit. Earth magnets, rare earth magnets, where you could purchase certain items. Now none of that's evergreen, obviously, but it's a place to start. And so I always felt compelled to give a little more information on the serious builder who wants to find a solution. “Use a hasp here as opposed to any kind of other connector.”
Craig Beytien [:“And here's a source for it.” Now I haven't done that in every instance, but I have tried to throughout the work to provide at least some idea where some of these items can be obtained.
Adrian Tennant [:As you mentioned, your work often involves solving unique challenges in miniaturizing illusions. Could you give us an example of a particularly tricky problem related to either a miniature or regular-sized illusion that you've encountered and how you solved it?
Craig Beytien [:Well, this one is not in the book, but it gave me an opportunity to interact with Jim Steinmeyer. I had purchased his book, which gives you the right to build for your own use. And I was going to build the Modern Art, which is a wonderful take on the Cut-in-Half Woman if you didn’t have an assistant. And I remember getting to a point where I was trying to determine a few dimensions and the way the angle worked, on the inside, and I was just stymied. I remember going, “This doesn't make sense to me.” It also looked like it would not be stable. So I somehow found Jim Steinmeyer's phone number. And I called him and I said, “Jim, I hate to bother you.”
Craig Beytien [:I said, “I'm building Modern Art.” I said, “It's a wonderful effect.” I gushed. I mean, I was like talking to some major celebrity. And I said, “I can't seem to solve this issue.” And I remember this little bit of a pause, and then he said, “Craig, I designed them. I don't build them.” I was like, “Oh my gosh!”
Craig Beytien [:Okay. “So, basically, what you're saying is figure it out.” And he said, “Yep.” Okay. So he was very kind, very gracious. And even if he had a solution, it was it was too good a story for him to tell to say, “Hey. Just that's the challenge, pal. Figure it out.”
Craig Beytien [:So, you know, is there anything in the book where there was really a struggle? Certainly, the Mini Me Guillotine had its own unique challenges. No. Nothing that I couldn't solve or couldn't figure out. I mean, necessity being the mother of invention, you just kind of, you know and what I've tried to do with the plans is give you enough information where you can be successful. But and I'm not gonna sit here and challenge anybody to say that they won't find a situation where I was, oh, maybe a little vague in terms of what the solution will be. But, you know, that's part of the challenge of the fun and and the interest of folks that do this kind of work. You know, if it was easy, more people would do it.
Adrian Tennant [:Indeed. Well, you were kind enough to send me a PDF of the pre-publication version. Craig, what will the book's binding be?
Craig Beytien [:Harkening back to my experience with the Paul Osborne series, I always thought of it as a workbook. And so, I decided that what I wanted to do is really high quality thick paper so it would hold up and then have it comb bound so you could literally fold it up onto the page that you're on and be able to refer to it and so on and so forth. So I look at it as a work text, if you will, and I think that lends itself for use in the workshop. I'm hoping people build these things, not just read them or admire them, but actually go into the workshop and do them.
Adrian Tennant [:In addition to the plans, you've also included asides on magnets, finishes, and other production tips. How did you decide what additional information to include?
Craig Beytien [:Well, once again, I'll use the word “organically.” As I was assembling the collection and reading through and revising, it occurred to me that, you know, when I was starting, if someone had given me a couple of tips about finishes, you know, “When the spray can says do not respray for 48 hours, you need to wait 48 hours.” And I've made that error more than once. The use of magnets and the evaluating the strength and the use of magnets, very important. We mentioned finishes. There's a few other topics. It just came to me that, gosh, could we take a moment? And then I remember one in particular that I really enjoyed writing, which was something that I see a lot of magicians who are just starting out, or they're enamored with the trick or the apparatus. And it's the idea of not just the what, but the why.
Craig Beytien [:The context. Why should someone watching this care? Have you given them something to connect contextually to why this trick matters? And I think that the most compelling performers are those that can tell a story, sometimes even if it's half-truth about their lives, or bring them into this story, a storytelling opportunity that brings context and meaning that gives the reason why the individual should care. And I think all too often, young magicians are like, “Let me show you a trick.” That's a difference between, in my mind, between magic and a trick, is that magic is that thing that inspires, that leaves them with some sense of wonder, not just “How did I do the trick?” But you gave me a context. You gave me a story. You gave me a reason why I should care. And so I I actually spent a few paragraphs talking about that because I think it's critical. As enamored as I am with an apparatus, it's simply a tool in the hands of a seasoned and a compelling performer.
Craig Beytien [:I think that it's all about the story, the personality, the context of the effect, not just the effect itself.
Adrian Tennant [:Yeah. It's amazing to think that Eric Lewis wrote about this topic in his second book called “Magic Mentality,” published in 1934. Writing in “A Choice of Miracles,” Eric noted that many buyers assumed that it was a book of mental tricks, which, of course, it was not. It was, in fact, based on Eric's theory that to be successful, a magician has to develop a unique way of thinking about magic and performance - that is a “magic mentality.”
Craig Beytien [:Well, you know, at the end of the day, we are obliged to be entertaining. And to me, you don't achieve that by simply going for my next trick. You need to transcend that. And I can't say that I'm perfect at it, but it's certainly something that I think a great deal about when I'm performing.
Adrian Tennant [:How do you see the role of books like “Petite Magia” in an age of video tutorials and instant downloads?
Craig Beytien [:Well, I guess I refer to them as being semi-permanent in the sense that nothing lasts forever. But, you know, I, like many, I'm sure of my peers, have done downloads and purchased a video and have a key to it. And so there's something just transitory about that that does not endure. And so in my way of thinking, if I'm going to build something, I need something in front of me that doesn't flicker or go down if there's a power outage, or I can't find the access key. To me, that tangible book that I can refer to, I can make notes on, I can stick things into in terms of notes and so on and so forth, or sketches is paramount with this kind of a text. And that's why I have kept my own library all these years. And I refer back to these things. I look back at “Okito on Magic.”.
Craig Beytien [:I look back at “Greater Magic.” I look back at the Trilogy series from Eric Lewis, and there's just something about that being tangible and present that I think, particularly in a work of this nature, is absolutely critical.
Adrian Tennant [:Today, some illusion plans are available online as downloadable CAD files. What are your thoughts about these and, relatedly, 3D printers?
Craig Beytien [:Yeah. For me, it’s if you go to the workshop, and I guess it's maybe I'm a bit of a snob. I just like that idea of building something from scratch rather than seeing it being built behind a box that has a 3D printer. But look, as new technologies emerge, what I say here, “Gosh, you shouldn't use a table saw, you should be using a handsaw.” No. We take advantage of the technology that's available to us. And a lot of my work most recently has involved laser engraving to do design work and such. So, you know, use the tools that are there.
Craig Beytien [:But again, the nature of the work that I'm doing, the nature of the publication that I'm coming out with, I think lends itself best in that format. But use the technology that you have. It doesn't take the creativity away. It may make the job easier. It might make it more compelling in some respects. Yeah. I guess that's my answer to that.
Adrian Tennant [:Well, this is The Magic Book Podcast. So, Craig, what is your most cherished magic book and why?
Craig Beytien [:Well, I certainly have a great deal. That Trilogy series still continues to inspire me. I go back to it frequently. I always have “Okito on Magic,” that one certainly. “Greater Magic.” Hilliard was just incredible in that compendium of magic. You know, I didn't discover Tarbell until years later, and I've never owned any of the Tarbell books. I don't know if it's too late for me, frankly, but I would say, yeah, I would say that the Trilogy, because it was a gift from an octogenarian magician who was divesting himself of his library and wanted to give to people he knew that would give care to them. So to me, it has a real sentimental value that he would, number one, call me out of the magic club because he saw my passion and love for the art and say, “I wanna give you something.”
Craig Beytien [:And to give me something that I knew he treasured, that is a permanent part of my library, that means a lot.
Adrian Tennant [:Are there any upcoming projects or future plans that you'd like to share with us?
Craig Beytien [:I really appreciate this opportunity to share information about the book. I am already thinking about a shorter work that would focus primarily on the history, the derivation, and the artistry behind the Chinese Checker Cabinet. I reached out to Ms. Nielsen. I've asked her, obviously, Norm actually had tools that were owned by Okito. They're known for producing that effect, the Abo estate. So I've started to pull back some layers and gather information about the history. It's inconclusive, at least based on what I know now, that the Okito, or the Bamberg dynasty, which goes back five generations, somewhere within that period of time, the Chinese Checker Cabinet came to be. And so I'd like to figure out and suss out how that came to be, and I think that's probably a writing project with illustrations and a lot of contributions.
Adrian Tennant [:Is that in the first of the Albo books?
Craig Beytien [:There is a good deal of information there. I'd like to take it from that point forward, and I think it's an effect that when I talk to the average magician, they've never heard of it. But when you introduce it to them and you say how it lends itself to story and to creativity and to presentation. I've had people, many of whom have purchased one from me, because they see the value of the effect. It's a brilliant effect, and it's a complete story. It's, in some sense, self-contained. And so it's just been a kind of a point of fascination for me.
Adrian Tennant [:And Eric Lewis was the author of the first Albo book, “The Oriental Magic of the Bambergs.”
Craig Beytien [:Exactly.
Adrian Tennant [:Craig, if the listener is interested in purchasing “Petite Magia: Crafty Plans for the Tabletop Wizard,” where can they find more information or place an order?
Craig Beytien [:Yeah. The simplest way to do that is simply email me, and that's my first initial ‘C’ Beytien, and that's B-E-Y-T-I-E-N at Hotmail.com, and I will send them information on how they can order it. I just sent an update to the current list of buyers, those who have pre-ordered, and that the book will be out in the middle of October and will be shipped in late October. We're coming up on it pretty quickly.
Adrian Tennant [:Perfect. Great conversation, Craig. Thank you so much for being my guest on The Magic Book Podcast.
Craig Beytien [:Adrian, a real pleasure. Thank you.
Adrian Tennant [:You've been listening to The Magic Book Podcast. In this episode, we learned about Craig Beytien's journey in magic from his early inspirations to his current role as a creator and author. We explored the development of his new book, “Petite Magia: Crafty Plans for the Tabletop Wizard,” and gained insights into the process of miniaturizing classic illusions. Craig shared his perspectives on the importance of acknowledging influences, solving creative challenges, and the enduring value of magic books in a digital age. You'll find a transcript for this episode on our website at The Magic Book Podcast.com. There's also a blog post with timestamps and links to resources we mentioned. If you have a question or would like to suggest a topic for a future episode, please contact me, adrian@themagicbookpodcast.com. Thank you for listening to The Magic Book Podcast.
Adrian Tennant [:Until next time. Goodbye.
