Having gone through an obsessive number of sandwich routines, I find myself gravitating towards sandwich effects that are simple and direct in their construction. Some sandwich routines are brilliant and are amazing but I don't see myself performing them because the plot is a little too intricate and ill suited to my own performance style. Again, when I say simple and direct what I mean is that it is not convulated and confusing. It's quite hard to follow some of these effects regardless of how wondrous they are.

In my last session post, I made mention of Darwin Ortiz's incredible sandwich effect dubbed "Beyond Sleight of Hand" and the clever use of the tabled ribbon spread hide-out. I adapted it for use in the hands. You can go through it yourself here (though you'll need to register with the site to view the video). This post, Deux Sandwich, takes that even further than that.

One of my favourite machinations after hours of potty time (seriously!), Deux Sandwich is so called because it comprises of 2 key moves: The incomplete faro control and the Joshua Jay ribbon spread hide-out (this was named by Darwin Oritz) OR some people might call it the Guy Hollingworth false shuffle bridge. Either way, it gets the job done. As usual, I am only going through the method here; you will need to find a suitable presentation that suits you.

I do not explain the Incomplete faro control. If you don't know it you can get more information on this excellent move either from Allan Ackerman's fantastic Advanced Card Control Series Vol 6 (the Faro Shuffle) or the Martin A. Nash video series - Martin Nash makes use of this to devastating effect. Either way, any serious student of card magic would do well to look through both works.

1. You begin by removing any two cards that you intend to use for your sandwich. I use the RED ACES, but you can use whatever you fancy. :)

2. Perform an incomplete faro and have a card selected via the riffle run through (below). Suppose they stop you at the 6D.

3. Perform the incomplete faro control. This will position the selection exactly where you need it to be.

4. Place the two sandwich cards face up on top of the deck (below).

5. Have the spectator cut the cards into the deck. They can make as many cuts as they like as long as they are SINGLE STRAIGHT CUTS. Multiple cuts or shuffles will ruin the order. But due to the fairness of the selection and cuts, I have never had to deal with any problems (ie spec asking to shuffle). In any case, most lay spectators believe that a cut is as good as a shuffle - very often they don't know the difference.

6. When you are ready to proceed, get a rough idea of where the sandwich cards are by looking at the side of the deck as you are squaring the cards up after the cuts. This is important: If the sandwich cards are in the BOTTOM HALF of the deck, you will need to perform an OUT FARO. If the cards are in the TOP HALF of the deck, you will perform an IN FARO. I don't bother to remember which is which, I just always sight the location of the sandwich cards and if they are in the bottom half, I perform a casual cut to bring them to the top half. Then I always perform an IN FARO. But that's me. If you feel that it's better if you do not even cut the cards after they are returned, then adjust your FAROs.

7. Take note though, you DO NOT COMPLETE the shuffle YET. Just weave the cards in place up until about the index corners. This allows you do bridge the cards in your hands. Now you perform the Hollingworth/Joshua Jay bridge of the cards which would step the two packets. Guy Hollingworth's shuffle is detailed very well in his book: DRAWING ROOM DECEPTIONS - it is fully written and illustrated by Guy Hollingworth and is truly worthy of its place in any serious magician's library of books. Hollingworth's a genius and his writing is witty (almost wry); you will find it a most entertaining read. (Below)

8. You just need to take note of which side the FACE UP ACES will end up. That is the side that needs to be spread towards the Audience. (below)

9. If you have a table (I normally perform this at the table) spread the cards on the table (Below). If you are doing strolling and don't have the luxury of a table, then use the method I detailed in the hands from my last post. It works fine for this effect too.

10. The two RED ACES are visibly together in the spread, but they conceal the actual selection (6D) between them. However, due to the genius of the Joshua Jay Hideout, the Aces only show single edges and give little clue as to any deception could have occurred. The minor discrepency of course is that the spread really only consist of HALF the cards - the other HALF are hidden under alternate cards. But after performing this so many times, the audience never notices because ALL EYES are always FOCUSED ON THE ACES.

11. Show EMPTY hands and reassemble the cards fairly. Perform some kind of magic gesture. Then spread the cards AGAIN.

12. This time a SINGLE CARD appears between the ACES. Immediately separate the Sandwich and the selection from the rest of the cards. (Below)

13. REVEAL THE SELECTION DRAMATICALLY. ;)

Have fun with this. And a HAPPY 2012!

*Video is available for registered users.