The Sixth Finger

In what could be called true sleight of hand, the magician performs a bizarre effect with his fingers.

Effect
The magician explains a strange dream he had where he couldn’t quite count right. When he counted his fingers he could count ten of them, but not an equal amount on each hand. When he shows his hands to the spectators he has six fingers on one hand and only four on the other…

Method
This disturbing trick makes use of a sixth finger available in most magic shops. What sells the trick is making the finger look like one of your own fingers and not some weird piece of flesh colored plastic. I found that I could make a pretty convincing finger by lightly spraying a plastic finger with some purple paint. This more closely resembles the actual pigment of a human finger (all those blood vessels). Lightly, very lightly from a distance, apply a thin coat of purple paint to a plastic finger. It’ll take some experimentation to get it right. If you have dark skin you’ll want to try spraying the finger with a darker color first.



Start off with the fake finger over your left pinky. Explain to your audience your strange dream where you tried to count but couldn’t seem to do it right.

As you do this, bring your hands together and grab your fingers while you count. To your audience this will look like you’re reenacting the dream. What you’re actually doing is sliding the finger off your pinky and into your palm.



As you count the fingers on your right hand bend your pinky behind your third-finger. The image below show this move (note that your palms should actually be up and not towards your body as in the photo).



Your hand should look like this:



Slide the fake finger between your first and second finger of your left hand. Explain that your fingers didn’t add up right and open your hands towards the audience to see the confusing placement. I like to curl my fingers a little to help hide the fake finger. After the audience notices the mix-up, curl your fists and bring your hands together.



Pretend to remove a finger from your left hand and place it into your right hand. Slide the fake finger back over your pinky.



Open your hands to reveal that everything is back as it should be.