Whether you’re a beginner to mentalism or a veteran at this performing art, you can’t call yourself a true mentalist without perfecting this classic trick –– bending metal with sheer mental power.
The oldest trick in a mentalist’s book is bending a spoon with their mind.
Is it really possible?
Today, we’re going to show you how to bend a spoon with your mind so that you use this trick to amaze your family and friends.
Let’s start by scooping away the mystery behind this age-old trick.
History of Spoon Bending
Mentalism gained significant popularity in the 1970s when mentalists and illusionists claimed to bend metal spoons by supernatural mental power.
Mind-bending spoon bending tricks usually involve a mentalist that rests a spoon on a finger or rubs it between two fingers. As the performer appears to concentrate, the metal spoon bends with the supernatural powers of the mind.
The mentalist Uri Geller gained overwhelming popularity by creating this trick. He also bent metal keys and several objects and materials as part of his impressive act.
The iconic mentalist made waves as magicians, mentalists, illusionists, and even scientists tried to figure out the mystery behind spoon bending.
Secrets on How to Bend A Spoon with Your Mind
Since the 1970s, skeptics have tried to figure out the secret behind spoon bending.
Believers might be disappointed to know that there’s no magic involved at all.
Surprisingly, there are quite a few methods to wow audiences with the spoon-bending performance.
The main factor behind these methods is perfecting how you hold and manipulate your audience’s attention!
The art of spoon bending requires quite a lot of multitasking.
While you’re slowly bending the spoon, you’re also distracting your audience.
You’ll have to hone your acting skills, too! At some point in your performance, you’ll have to act like you’re concentrating on the full powers of your supernatural mind.
Getting Started with the Spoon Bending Trick
All you’ll need to get this trick done is –– surprise! –– a spoon.
Kidding aside, keep in mind that the cheaper the metal spoon, the easier it will be to work with.
After you’ve got your spoon, work on perfecting your acting skills and believability.
Trust us, the success of your spoon-bending act will rely on how much you’re able to keep your audience’s attention!
The 5 Methods to Spoon Bending
There are quite a few ways to pull off the spoon bending trick, but we’ll discuss the five time-tested methods to impress your audience. These are:
- Coin trick
- Pre-bent spoon
- Cut it up
- Make a distraction
Let’s take a closer look at these methods.
Method 1: Coin trick
This is one of the most effective and easiest ways to show you are bending a spoon.
For this method to work, your audience should be straight in front of you. It’ll work best when you’re on a stage quite a few feet away from your audience.
You will need a silver spoon and a silver coin in your hand. Make sure the audience doesn’t know about the coin!
Simply hold the spoon so that the stem is hidden and the coin appears to be the tip of the stem. It should look like you’re simply holding the spoon.
Next, you should pretend as though you’re concentrating all your mental power on bending the spoon.
As you’re doing so, slowly drop the handle. The tip of the coin should be visible enough to appear that it’s bending.
Quickly spin the spoon and hide the coin in your hand.
You can hand out the spoon to your spectators for examination. Quickly slip the coin in your pocket or lap.
Method 2: Gallium
Spoon tricks are typically done with pure gallium spoons, a shiny metal perfect for magic tricks and science experiments. They look and weigh just like any stainless steel spoon.
This spoon, however, melts just above room temperature at around 30 degrees Celsius.
Before your act, warm up your hand with a mug of hot coffee or tea. You can even put your hands under your armpit.
Heating your hands or rubbing the spoon between your fingers means that it will soften the gallium. From there, any weight to the soft gallium spoon will cause it to bend.
As soon as you release the spoon, it will completely solidify.
You can choose to work with a pre-made gallium spoon or use gallium and a spoon mold. Working with a spoon mold is more expensive, but you can use the material over and over.
Method 3: Make a Distraction
The simplest method of all might be the hardest one to pull off.
You’ll have to be 100% believable, so practice your acting skills for this one.
While you’re distracting your audience, quickly bend the spoon on a hard surface.
Watch how Paul Weatherbee gets it done in this tutorial:
Method 4: Pre-Bent Spoon
This trick is similar to the above method. Only, this time you bend the spoon even before going out and doing the trick.
To do this, hold the spoon on the stem right along the bend line. Holding your hand over the bend should make it appear straight to the audience.
In other words, you’ll be completely relying on illusion and sleight of hand for this trick.
Gradually release the hidden stem from your hand. It will appear as though the straight stem is being bent.
Method 5: Cut it Up
This method will require some preparation.
You’ll need two spoons –– one of which you’ll break off the stem and the other bent at a 90-degree angle.
Hold the bent spoon such that the bent stem is hidden between your thumb and index finger. Then, insert the cut-up stem to make the spoon look straight.
With the same fingers, simply release your grip from the broken stem and let it fall.
As soon as the broken stem touches the bent handle, show the bent spoon and hide the broken stem.
Bending Spoons and Minds
Which method works best for you? Try out these methods to add these classic and impressive spoon-bending mentalist tricks to your repertoire!
Who knows, your friends might have never seen this mentalism trick in person. Perfect this magic mentalism performance to blow your audience away!
To add more tricks and illusions up your sleeve, check out our tutorials and blogs at Magic Mentalism.