Magic tricks where something passes through something solid

What a penetration is

A penetration is one solid thing passing through another: a coin through a hole smaller than itself, paperclips that link themselves, a whole child stepping through a sheet of paper. They feel impossible because everybody knows solid things cannot do that.

Several are puzzles as much as tricks, and the secret is a fold or a cut the audience never sees. They make strong closers, because the last picture, a hole you can walk through, is the one people remember. Hand the paper out to be checked afterwards: it is the best part.

By level, 2 Apprentice (works the first try) and 3 Conjurer (a little practice). They come off 3 shelves of the shop, most from The Paper and String Drawer (3) and The Everyday Shelf (1). What you need most often: paper (3), a coin (1), a rubber band (1). 1 trick has a step a grown-up does (something hot or a bright light), and 1 trick carries the choking note for brothers and sisters under 4. The quickest to learn is The Hole in Your Hand (1 minute); the longest is The Escape Loops (15 minutes).

Every trick there is falls into one of eight kinds. How magicians do a penetration is in our post on the eight secrets behind every magic trick.