Month: January 2014

Another Perfect Utility Item!

Well it seems that I’ve received a great streak of perfect electronic marvels recently and Vapr is no exception. I remember when I first received the Marcelo Contento New Generation Smoke Machine how impressed I was. That was twelve years ago and although it was great for its time, this new system from Sans Minds, is light years ahead.

This item is like a product that Apple would produce – everything from the packaging, refill cartridges, charging, hook-up and the smoke device itself is amazing. I’ve never really considered using any previous smoke device in a close-up situation, but with Vapr I most definitely am. The cartridge and power will easily last for an evenings performance of walk-around so once I come up with the perfect effect I will be adding this for sure.

It is small and sure-fire and really can enhance the magic, without any messy chemicals or complicated set-ups. I can’t imagine any improvements to this system and am sure Steve Jobs (may he rest in peace) would have approved.

Click here for more information.

Perfection Never Looked So Small!

So I’m a big fan of Craig Filicetti’s work – it is all very reliable and well thought out – but I must say how particularly taken I am with MD Mini. This is just perfect to me and the walk around magic I find myself most frequently doing these days.

Firstly it is tiny – really tiny. There is nothing to find on it even if it is examined closely. But, and this is key to me, people don’t bother to check it that thoroughly if you introduce it correctly and treat it just like a simple key chain – it is too darn small to be anything else. I blab on about how the old Rubik’s cube used to drive me crazy in the 80’s because I could never get them back to looking new and this is the only size I have found that I can’t screw-up, but to make sure I even glued the sides so it wouldn’t move at all. This gets a mild chuckle.

Because this item is so perfect the other thing you have to be slightly wary about is doing it without giving them a reason to look elsewhere. So it helps if you introduce some other items to the routine to take the heat off of the cube because if you just use the cube they are eventually going to have to suspect it as nothing else is in play – I have some colored cards that I get another spectator to choose and they end up choosing the same color.

I’m still working on the routine but I tried it on my wife tonight and she really loved it – and she’s hard to please after 22 years of watching me screw things up!

This is just beautiful.

Highly Recommended for Collectors and Performers. You will really use this one!

Click here for more information.

The Search for the Perfect Spirit Bell is still OVER!

So now I have the set! The one thing to remember if you want two or more bells is if you want to control each bell individually, please tell Cesar before you order so that he can change the signal used for the second bell. Otherwise you will have two bells controlled from the same remote – which is perfect if that is what you want.

I’ve see quite a few spirit bells over the years, but this one from Cesar Alonso at Cesaral Magic is easily the best. I chose the Antique Finish which really makes the bell look like a beaten up piece of junk but it works amazingly well – really clear ring. And ZERO signs of how it works. Even the ringer looks innocent. The size is perfect too – it just looks like an old bell you’d find lying around rather than a high-tech device. If you are going to use electronics for anything – they need to be this well thought out.

Yes the bell is electronic and can be recharged just by plugging the adapter in the wall. There is even a green light to tell you when it is charged. How nice of them.

This bell is 100% under your control and what is even more impressive is there are various modes that add a time delay to when the bell rings, so you can press one of the five buttons on the small remote and 5 or 10 seconds later the bell rings. There is even a programmed mode where it sleeps, rings, sleeps, rings, sleeps, rings, sleeps, rings. Really great idea. You could literally press one button then do your routine.

Truly amazing!

Most Highly Recommended for Collectors and Performers who want to amaze!

Click here for more information.

Beautiful Wallet + Great Routines

You can always tell the high quality wallets – the leather is smoother and much more supple. I have owned lots of wallets and the biggest difference between all magic wallets is not so much all the pockets and gaffs, but rather the feel and suppleness – give me supple every time.

This wallet from Michael Weber is one of the finest quality wallets I own. It is basically a Shogun Wallet with three wonderful routines and because the wallet is such a fine quality one I’ll keep this wallet for sure.

In fact, I was planning on selling Max Krause’s amazing Supreme Serial Killer, but this wallet is perfect for that so now I’m keeping it!

Highly Recommended for all Wallet Lovers!

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A Perfect Opener for my Walk-Around routine

This deck I first purchased as "The Phanto Deck" from Ron MacMillan and his International Magic in the 70’s living in ht UK. When I moved to Texas in the ’90’s I found it again in Bicycle cards but it was called the Chameleon Deck by Buddy Anckner from Tannen’s. I’m not sure who invented it originally, but I am very grateful. I always open up my Walk-Around routine and many of my close-up routines with this effect. It is the Perfect Opener: easy to understand, very visual, and very magical to the lay person.

The routine I use is as a portable breathalyzer test and I breath on it first to show a normal deck of cards with blue backs. Then I get my first reading and a red back shows up, but I get a second reading just in case of a false-positive. Then I continue by showing all the deck all reds and all the same card. After this I go to the other side of the audience to get a different reading and the cards to all blank. "Boy, I don’t know how you’re standing – that is truly Magical!"

I love this effect and many people have told me it is their favorite effect.

Highly Recommended.

Click here for more information.

Surely This is the Ultimate Brainwave?

If you are a lover of the Brainwave effect I don’t think anything gets cleaner than this version from Card-Shark. You can clearly show all 52 cards and any card they chose you can pull out and place directly on the table face up. Now you show very cleanly the backs of all of the cards – they are all blue. The only card with a red back is the one they selected. They don’t see 26 cards but 52 face-up and face-down.

This IS the Ultimate Brainwave and I’m done searching for a better version of this classic.

Love it!

Highly Recommended for Strolling and Close-up Performers and anyone who loves clean card miracles.

Click here for more information.

Great Idea, Not quite as sturdy as I would like

So this table from Creative Magic is a great idea and it works well. However the table is not quite as sturdy as I would like. It will hold props for sure but anything heavy – say this beautiful Sesme Drawer Box from Milson-Worth – will cause the top to bow a little. It will still hold it, but there certainly is a small sag in the middle.

It would have been nice if they had found a way to make it more rigid when it was open – kind of like the Spider guys do.

Even so it is still a worthy attempt and I can see it being a great time and space god send for those wise performers who don’t need too many box like props in their shows. And if you think along the lines of Tony Griffith you’ll love it!

Click here for more information.

A Great Little Prediction with Olde World Runes

This item is surprisingly effective. The runes themselves are really well made and clearly they were not run off quickly. The routine is also a fooler. There are six runes with two outs and through a clever and effective method of selection they will always end up with one of the outs.

But the outs are strong and I really do like this routine. I was told that this was going to be a dealer item, but the cost became too high so the project was dropped. Which is a shame because this is much nicer than a lot of similar prediction effects.

Click here for more information.

A Really Great Version of Koran’s Medallion

So this is one of the best El Duco items I have seen. It is a really great version of Al Koran’s Gold Medallion effect from his book Professional Presentations.

The props are well made and unlike some versions this is something I could see myself doing. It works well for close-up and platform too.

Even though El Duco (Christer Gustavsson) passed away in 2008 I am still finding some of his gems that we were lucky to be left with.

Highly Recommended for Magicians and Mentalists – this is something you will use!

Click here for more information.

The Search for the Perfect Spirit Bell is OVER!

I must thank Mark Stevens of Stevens Magic for getting this to me over the holidays. It is phenomenal!

I’ve see quite a few spirit bells over the years, but this one from Cesar Alonso at Cesaral Magic is easily the best. I chose the Antique Finish which really makes the bell look like a beaten up piece of junk but it works amazingly well – really clear ring. And ZERO signs of how it works. Even the ringer looks innocent. The size is perfect too – it just looks like an old bell you’d find lying around rather than a high-tech device. If you are going to use electronics for anything – they need to be this well thought out.

Yes the bell is electronic and can be recharged just by plugging the adapter in the wall. There is even a green light to tell you when it is charged. How nice of them.

This bell is 100% under your control and what is even more impressive is there are various modes that add a time delay to when the bell rings, so you can press one of the five buttons on the small remote and 5 or 10 seconds later the bell rings. There is even a programmed mode where it sleeps, rings, sleeps, rings, sleeps, rings, sleeps, rings. Really great idea. You could literally press one button then do your routine.

I love this so much I have just ordered the non-antique version – I can’t imagine spending the cash on something else that I know won’t come close.

Truly amazing!

Most Highly Recommended for Collectors and Performers who want to amaze!

Click here for more information.