Whereas most magicians learn the trade from other magicians, Jerry has developed all of his illusions himself. The author of several books and videos on card control and other close-up magic tricks, his council is often sought by magicians whose names many of us would be familiar. Jerry Andrus is one of the most original thinkers in magic and beyond. His magic and optical illusions have been featured on television shows and in magazine articles all over the world. He knew illusionists David Copperfield and Criss Angel, performed at the famous Magic Castle in Hollywood and at shows worldwide, and had spoken at Harvard and Stanford as well as other universities.
But Jerry is also well known for his remarkable eye for optical illusions and he has created new ones constantly in his shop and his home in Oregon that he called the 'Castle of Chaos'
(Unfortunately, all of us throughout the world of illusionists have lost Jerry recently,
having succumbed to a battle with advanced prostate cancer on Sunday, August 26, 2007.)
But this remarkable visionary illusionist leaves with us a rich legacy of performances, inventions, writings and occasional lectures on the subject of cognitive science.
According to Bad Astronomy , "he delighted in making people see things in a different way. It is nearly impossible for any of us to see the world as differently as he did, though. He was a true skeptic. He took nothing for granted; he looked for something different, some new way of observing things which would lead to either improving them or using them as a way of getting others to think outside their normal parameters."
"I can fool you because you're a human," says Andrus, "You have a wonderful human mind that works no different from my human mind. Usually when we're fooled, the mind hasn't made a mistake. It's come to the wrong conclusion for the right reason."
This creation was inspired by the work of Jerry Andrus to celebrate :
Gathering For Gardner 3
January 16 - 18, 1998
Atlanta, Georgia USA
Go to Grand-Illusions.com to view an illusion video of the dragon's head following your every move .
* click on any of the first 3 colored dragons below (green -- red -- blue) . . .
* print out the copy . . .
* construct yourself -- follow the instructions on the same page as the dragon figure . . .
If you've assembled the dragon correctly . . . . .
(following the direction of all the folds according to the instructions)
its face should show a concavity (hollowness) .
The folds are critical for the successful progression of the illusion .
After completion of assembling the dragon, you're now ready to perform the illusion:
Set it down on some flat surface and stand away from it about a couple of feet.
Less than 2 feet, you would be best to close either one of your eyes
(being that close, you can see the hollow of the face -- which will impede the effect).
The dragon's face should appear to have a convex form to it in the normal 'effect' of the illusion
More than 2 feet, you probably can effectively see the illusion with both your eyes open . . . . .
Affix your gaze on the dragon's face . . . . .
If at first nothing seems to be working, shift your gaze to different spots on the face . Your brain will eventually synchronize your eyes to correctly change the face over from concave to convex .
Now you can start slowly moving your body a short distance to the left, then to the right, and up or down . . . . .
This is a beautifully-crafted, highly-polished gold metal finger ring that is cleverly designed to appear to expand, and then shrink, as you or your spectator turn it in your hand.
It's as if you're watching a zipper either opening or closing, depending on what direction you're twisting the ring.
Fascinating! Ingenious! Comes in one size only (approximately a size 8).
Twist the ring and it looks like parts of it are moving in opposite directions!
The ring is solid with no moving parts and yet your spectators will swear it has moving parts!
