Criss Angel Levitation

Materials needed: One or two (depending on your height) 5 gallon heavy duty plastic buckets(walmart, lowes, k-mart)
A drill (walmart, lowes, k-mart)
A hinge that locks out (walmart, lowes, k-mart)
A jigsaw (walmart, lowes, k-mart)
Steel toe boots (walmart, lowes, k-mart)
2 pairs of the heaviest ankle weights you can find (no lighter than 10 lbs)
Some socks (anywhere)
Six nuts and bolts (walmart, lowes, k-mart)
A sharpie marker
Some elastic bands large enough to fit around your leg (walmart, k-mart, sporting good stores)
Some sandpaper (walmart, lowes, k-mart)
Two pairs of pants one size smaller than the other (walmart or wherever)
A measuring tape (wal-mart, lowes, k-mart)

A now that you have all of those supplies with you.
Making the leg brace:
first you are going to take your own personal measurements for the leg/back brace. First you want to take the width of your waist. Not all the way around, just from one side of your hip to the other. Then, measure the length from just under your armpit to your hip bone. This will be the back brace part of the gimmick. Now you are going to draw out the exact measurments of your back onto the bucket, except for this peice, and this peice only, your going to add about an inch and a half to the length. Whats going to end up happening is that you're going to draw a rectangle with the two shorter sides being the width of your hips, and the two longer sides being the length from your armpit to your hip. Cut out this rectangle with your jigsaw, and sand the edges with the sandpaper until they are smooth and have no sharp parts. Now, you're going to do the do the exact same thing (measure, draw, cut, sand), except you're going to do it with the measurements from the top of your buttock to your knee pit (the part just behind your knee), and from your knee pit to your ankle. You're going to end up with three separate pieces. Now, You're going to hinge the two leg pieces together. So, take the hinge, mark where the holes need to be on the plastic pieces, drill the holes, and hinge the upper leg part to the lower leg part with the hinge and nuts and bolts. Make sure the hinge is facing the right direction. It should be attached so that it acts as sort of a knee between the two leg pieces. (Note that the leg pieces should wrap comfortably around your own leg, with the hinge directly behind your knee, and locking out in the position your leg would be in if you were sitting down in a chair). Now, you're going to connect the leg piece to the back piece with the nuts and bolts the same way you connected the two leg pieces, minus the hinge. You want this gimmick to be attached to your strongest leg, so adjust it accordingly. Since most people are right handed (right legged?), I'll describe it from the right leg perspective. You want to overlap the two pieces about an inch or an inch and a half, the upper leg on top, and drill/bolt them together with bolts about an inch from each side. Since this is the right leg, you want the right side of the gimmick to be completely flat, and the left side to be the side that has the back brace section sticking out. You would simply reverse this for the left leg.

Attaching the Gimmick- Now, you're going put on your smaller pair of pants, and lay
the gimmick flat against the back of your leg OVER the small pants. Take the elastic
bands and wrap two of them around your lower leg, and two around your upper leg,
helping to fasten the gimmick in place. Now, you're going to put on your regular pants
over top of the gimmick, and the small pants.

Adjusting Your Center of Gravity- You need to do a few things to help push your center of gravity more towards your lower body, allowing you to balance more easily. The first thing you're going to do is attach all 4 ankle weights to your gimmicked leg. They should be stacked one on top of the other, running from your ankle to just under your knee. Walking to be uncomfortable, but for an effect like this, it's well worth it. It's going to be hard for you to walk with 40+ pounds strapped to one leg and not the other at first, but you'll soon get used to it. Then, you need to take two socks, fold each of them in half, stack them on top of each other, and place them in the heel of your right (if your gimmick is on your right foot) steel toe boot. This is going to cause you to stand sort of tiptoe on this one foot, shifting your center of gravity more towards your leg. The combination of the heavy steel toe boot, the tiptoe positioning of your foot inside the boot, and the ankle weights will be enough to shift your center of gravity more towards your legs, and allow you balance better.

Performance- Now you're ready to perform. With everything in place, have two spectators hold your hands (one on each side of you), and slowly lower you back. You want to do this very, very slowly. Not only does this give the illusion a more realistic feel, but it helps to prevent the gimmick from snapping, and not only ruining your hard work, but embarrassing you and possibly causing you SERIOUS injury. As soon as you're bent back in position and you can feel yourself being supported and balanced by your right leg, tell them to open your hands, and allow you to let go of them. Slowly, slowly, slowly let go of their hands, showing that you're suspended in mid-air. Keep this position for several seconds, and then slowly lift your left leg into the air. The funny thing is that lifting your left leg straight out actually helps you balance by shifting your center of gravity even further towards your legs. Keep this position for as long as you want, being careful to keep your balance and not fall (falling could break the gimmick, and possibly break YOU). As soon as you're ready to get up, call for your assistants to come over, grab your hands, and help you get back to your feet.

Warning

If you're a heavier performer, you may not want to even try this effect, as the brace apparatus likely won't be able to support your weight. Do NOT try this effect if you have any back, leg, or neck problems.
This effect is presented extremely well if you claim to be inducing hypnosis, or a similar trance like state on yourself. This effect is best done with a very serious tone. It is not very well suited for comedy. If you still have problems balancing, try performing on a hill or a slight incline (with your legs towards the bottom of the hill, and bending back towards the top). This will shift your center of gravity even further, and make it much, much easier to balance.