Columnist:
Ted Lesley

"Teleport Professional"

(Ted Lesley)

A BRIEF HISTORY:
This, like many of Ted Lesley's items, is an untility prop. Baldly stated, it is a special two-compartment switching-envelope, but it has some remarkable features. Many years ago, in 1981, Ted described an early version of this envelope in the German periodical "MAGISCHE WELT" but we have never seen or heard of another mentalist or magician using it. This once again proves the old magical adage that the best way to hide a good idea is to publish it!

To construct one "Teleport-Envelope" was a very time-consuming affair, but over the past years the basic idea was taken many steps further and it was only a short while ago, that Ted found another way to construct this versatile gimmick, which takes, with practice, less than two minutes.

With the "STARTER KIT-PACKAGE" you'll get the following items:

  1. 50 Envelope - sheets printed
  2. 50 Envelope - inserts
  3. 1 Tube rubber-cement;
  4. 1 Glue-stick;
  5. 1 Sample envelope.

To construct ONE "TELEPORT ENVELOPE" You'll need TWO of the included sheets, (one printed, one unprinted) and proceed as follows ( See Fig. 1):

  1. From one of the unprinted envelope-sheets you need the "adress side" with the top and bottom flaps attached only, so you must cut along both long edges with a sharp knife. We will call the remaining front (address) side the "insert". Don't discard the bigger flap. It will be useful later. (The new set comes with the envelope-inserts already cut!)
  2. The "insert" is now ready for use!
  3. Coat the entire top flap of the insert and an area roughly half an inch long below the fold line with a coat of rubber cement. When you apply the cement, use a piece of paper to mask the lower portion of it, so that the edge of the glued area is perfectly straight. (See Fig. 3)
  4. Take another (printed) envelope sheet and put it address side down on the table. Unfold the small flap at the long side and insert a letter sized piece of paper between the bigger flap and the inside of the sheet. Next, neatly apply a thin layer of cement to the back of this flap, (See Fig 5) coating only the area covered by the top flap, when it is folded down. Again you can use the already mentioned piece of paper to help guide the application of the cement. Before you assemble the envelope for use, let the cement dry completely.
  5. After the rubber cemented areas have dried take the protective paper out of the assembly and unfold the bigger flap towards the left. Next, put the insert on the sheet in such a way, that both creases of the bottom flaps are perfectly aligned (See Fig. 2 and 3).
  6. Apply normal glue to the smaller long side flap, then fold the bigger one to the right. The smaller flap is now folded to the left, that it adheres to the big one. Now apply glue to the small bottom flap of the insert and fold it upwards, that it also sticks to the back of the now nearly finished envelope. Do the same with the bottom flap of the the envelope, thus entirely concealing the smaller flap (See Fig. 4; 5 and 5a)
  7. Now you have a normal looking envelope with the difference, that it has TWO flaps at the top! The object, what has to be switched or that is destined to appear is inserted between these two flaps. (See Fig. 6) You than glue the flaps together - sealing the item into its secret compartment - and carefully trim away any overlap that may result at the edges.

The sealed "Teleport-Professional" looks exactly like Fig. 7a.

I recommend that, to save time and trouble, you make up a number of Teleport Envelopes at one sitting.

At this point I suspect that you'll fully understand, how this envelope works in performance:

Once the envelope has been constructed, you put it in an apropriate pocket of your jacket. When it is needed in performance, simply take it from the pocket and hold it with the back of the envelope up, so that the double wall can't be noticed. Press on the sides of the envelope, bowing it open and let the assisting spectator clearly see, that the envelope is completely empty. Than hand it to him and let him seal it. In all innocence, he has just done the compartment switch himself, because this natural action securely seals the first compartment while simultaneously opening the second (secret) compartment.

When the time comes to have the envelope opened, give the spectator a pair of scissors and ask him to cut the envelope open along one of the dotted lines.

One final note: The scissors you hand the spectator should be short, with blunt ends. This avoids the possibility of your helper using them as a letter opener to slit the flap open rather than snip off the end! The blunt ends have another advantage also: They can't damage the pockets of your clothings!

Final notes:
The prepared envelopes should be stored in a "Zip-Lock"-type of plastic bag, which keeps the envelopes nearly airtight. This makes sure, that the rubber-cement doesn't dry out prematurely!

IMPORTANT!!!
We have again improved the Kit for our "Teleport Professional" . The "INSERT" is cut already to the right size. So the steps "1" and "1a" (see drawings and text) are not needed anymore.

We want to thank our friend and fellow mentalist/magician Michael Gerlach - Styx, who made the exellent drawings for this trick. He and his wife Tina are always at hand , if help is needed. We want to thank both for their kindness and continued friendship.