The Cocobolo King!
When Doug arrived this week at my home I was very intrigued by the heavy case he brought along with him. As he set the custom table up for his wonderful new effect "Skulduggery" the wood looked amazing and that was when he told me the whole outfit was made out of Cocobolo Wood. Well you normally see this wood used for wands or paddles but to see so much beautiful wood in one place takes your breath away.
This one of a kind piece by Doug is certainly his most ambitious to date, and I must admit to being very impressed. I remember the first time Doug visited my home back in 2001 and he showed me some of his work.Those early attempts were good, and certainly better than anything I could create, but they lacked the refinement of someone who has been working with wood for many years. Over the years he has become more and more confident and these days builds some very fine pieces. This confidence shows in this wonderful new effect: Skulduggery.
As with most of Doug’s work it comes with an interesting and amusing story, but the basic effect is as follows: you show 3 skulls and ask a spectator to remove any skull and place it in the small box, while covering up the other two with the larger box. This is done while your back is turned. Of course without touching anything you can always deduce which skull was placed in the little box. This can be repeated as many times as desired. On the final attempt they again make their selection (there is absolutely no force), and this time you are unable to discern the color. When you look inside the small box on the table, the skull has vanished and when the R.I.P. box is lifted there is a figure standing there, and the color of his eyes matches the missing skull. This is a great surprise ending to an already impressive routine.
The table does all the work for you using some impressive electronics and it is very reliably made. I’d like to see one of these is a smaller close-up setting and think Doug would then have a real winner on his hands!
Keep them coming Doug!
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