Particular Requirements on IR Project

Hello all I just joined up.

Done much research and reading but certainly no expert, and would appreciate advice from more seasoned laserites!

I have experience with lasers, have a 50mw green pen I got years ago. Nothing impressive.

My project in mind is for my magic. I'm a magician part time and I have an effect in mind. This effect requires heat to be generated without detection from a distance between me and the typical spectator(s), which is usually between 4 and 15 feet.

NOT AT THE SPECTATORS! But at their chosen card.

The full trick involves the spectator choosing a card from a fanned deck, then I ask them to put it back in. They take the deck and shuffle it.

Then after various stages of patter (magicians' bullshit) their card rises from the deck in their hand, then floats several feet above them in mid-air (illusion). I can do all of this so far.

But what it's missing is that dazzle. I want to pre-scrape my deck of cards with flash powder, just a light dusting and some flash spark powder.

The idea is, when the card is hovering I point my hand out towards it and it lights up in a dazzling array of coloured spark and some smokey fiery tails.

To do this I need to create a strong enough focussed heat from a distance.

The challenge is, it needs to be invisible and the device has to be concealed.

One of my ideas was to pre-plant a laser module and conceal it somewhere. With a digital timer plug have it switch on at the right moment, which requires good timing.

The problem with this is that it's too risky. Requires a VERY limited choice of locations where I can perform it and generally not suitable.

My idea is to build a concealed wearable laser. The form of this will not be typical.

The idea is to have the beam expander under my sleeve, its' end point reaching mid-way down my forearm, not parallel but slightly lower to avoid getting burned!

The laser itself needs to have it's components as small as possible, and connected in a way to minimize it's dimensions. The perfect form would be an entirely loose circuit embedded in my jacket, but obviously there are many technical issues with that.

Also is there a way to diverge a laser beam precisely towards the lens of a collimator? The reasoning is to reduce dimensions. For example, the primary laser module attached to my back.

Light bends, I just want to know if it can be bent in a predictable precise way without being visible under clothes.

Also, the beam expander under my sleeve should be small enough to be inconspicuous under the shadow of the garment. Which will be black and loose so as not to reveal the shape of it.

Sounds complicated, but I think possible.

The likely method I believe is to have as many components as possible on my back, and the fewest under my sleeve.

The best way for this in my view are:

BACK
--------------------
Driver
Diode
Resistor
PCB
Regulator
etc
--------------------
BODY
--------------------
Two wires
--------------------
ARM
--------------------
Laser Diode
Collimator
--------------------------------------------
Is this feasible?

PS: Ideally 1W. Major problem is shorting I imagine, and how to have a functional circuit on the person.

Another possibility I just thought of.

Buy a readymade infrared handheld and beam expander.

The nature of lasers travelling in straight lines and humans being mostly vertical, is that an extended arm is the only likely location.

But magicians avoid sleeve stuff it's too obvious a conclusion.

Plus it's still possibly detectable.

One way I can think of is to attach everything on my back directly under my shoulder blade.

The shoulder of my jacket has a buttoned flap thingy.

If a beam director is concealed on that resulting in the mirror bending the laser at 90deg for example, then I can have my arms free for inspection.

Aiming the beam is done by slightly bending backwards or forwards. Requires much practise but in magic, every trick does.

Are there any beam manipulating strategies that are smaller than a square inch?

Also the beam itself will be a split one, so the part has to ideally maintain the collimated beam. Does that happen? Does a mirror simply exactly reproduce the beam?

I believe to do this trick, you would need an FDA variance for each show.
You are going to need way more then 5mW and you are putting on a public performance.
Look on Magic Tricks & Street Magic.Learn Card Magic Secrets - Magic Shop
You might find a better (and less hassle-free way of doing something like this)