Threshold

The fifth installment in the Camirand Academy's Masters of Magic series, published in 1981, Threshold is Gary Ouellet's distinctive approach to the classic torn-and-restored-card plot. A card is freely chosen, signed on the face by a spectator, then signed on the back by the magician, whereupon a corner of the card is openly torn off and given to the spectator. The remainder of the card is slowly, deliberately torn into four pieces, which are then squared and given to a spectator to hold. When he opens his hand, he sees that the pieces are now fused back together. He unfolds the signed card and holds the missing corner up to its old location, showing them to match.

At the core of Threshold is The Ouellet Switch, a sit-down technique that is similar to Ed Marlo's propelled lapping move. 9 years after the release of Threshold, in Close-Up Illusions, Ouellet wrote: "When I first published Threshold... the book included something called the Ouellet Switch (a mistake to name anything after yourself) which was - is - one of the best card switches you will ever find. Mechanically, the move is related to Marlo's propelled lapping, just as a Chateau Lafite is related to a Vosne Romanee - but it substitutes a dumping move for the forefinger flick. In retrospect, I now think the move is definitely an improvement because the flick is NOT invisible... In any event, I offer it to you today as my opinion."

Ouellet also performs and explains Threshold on The Very Best of Gary Ouellet, Volume 2 (L & L Publishing, 2003).