Month: June 2016

One of Richard’s most intricate, but also amazing, creations.  As I find myself adding a few select effects to my collection that I missed the first time around it is hard to ignore this amazing beauty from the master engineer and designer himself: Richard Gerlitz.  The first time you set this up you have to take it slowly and read the instructions two or three times.  It almost seems impossible that this could work so smoothly, but once you have set it up and run through the sequence everything happens as it should and you are left with one damn fine illusion!  Once you have set it the first time it gets much easier and with practice you could do it in five minutes or less.  If you break this item down there are three main magical moments:

• You begin by showing three ornately decorated blocks from all sides and clearly show that the ribbon goes through all three.  You can pull the ribbon from end to end or in between each block.  There is no doubt that a single ribbon goes through all the blocks.  And there are no funny moves either.
• You then separate the blocks and cleanly cut the ribbon attached to the center block.  Again the ribbon is most certainly cut in two places.  This block is placed on top of the other two and every one can see the ribbon sticking out of the top block and the bottom two.
• You snap your fingers and the ribbon in the top box vanishes (effect #1).
• You then pull the ribbon from the left hand side and the 100% severed ribbon from the right hand side travels too (effect #2).
• Finally, you pull the ribbon all the way out from the left and you again clearly have one long single ribbon (effect #3).
• The blocks are clean there is nothing added or taken away and you really have performed a miracle!

I can’t stress enough the first time I did this I was struggling a bit with how it would work.  But thanks to the Richard’s amazing engineering – it just works.  And it is perfect every time.

Highly Recommended for lovers of beautiful magic everywhere!

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I really enjoyed creating the website for the almost unknown German Craftsman Willi Wessel, I uncovered so many amazing tricks that I was not aware of.  Although Willi has retired and is no longer building magic he did make this special version of his Paddle Waggle for me as a thank-you for the site.  I was very happy because it turns out this is my all-time favorite paddle effect!  If you ever get the chance to purchase any of Willi’s rare and amazing magic, jump on the chance!

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I’ve been trying to track one of these bad boys down for a while.  This is Eric Lewis’ wonderful Savoy from his book A Continuation of Miracles, built by his son Martin Lewis at Magikraft Studios in 1993.  Martin has made a few improvements to the original design, and the finished product works flawlessly and is a real beauty.  What most impressed me when I finally saw this up close was how small the unit was and how much better it is than the Mikame version (which, unlike many items built by Mikame Craft, was actually credited to Eric and Martin Lewis even though the last name spelt incorrectly).

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This is a beautiful version of Eric Lewis wonderful effect Locked Book Release from his book A Choice of Miracles, built by his son Martin Lewis at Magikraft Studios in 1993.  This version really looks and feels amazing and unlike the P&L version it uses real books instead of blocks of wood styled to look like books.  The books can be freely displayed and the pages riffled to show they are real.  This effect works using an old block release method and although I’d be the first to admit it takes a little finesse to make it smooth, when you put the time in you’ll have a beautiful effect that looks really stunning in your collection.

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It turns out that just because your wife can jump into a Zig Zag box 16 years ago, doesn’t mean she can do it again today without some practice.  So although my wife was almost able to demonstrate the full illusion when I was taking photos she could not quite make the full zag this time around.   Next time we try she’ll be more prepared, but in the meantime what a beautiful version of Robert Harbin’s finest hour this Zig Zag is.

Built by the perfectionist John Pomeroy in the 1970’s, it stands 69″ high and breaks down into two fiber cases.  John Pomeroy was a prolific Builder, Inventor & Performer as well as owner of GEM Magic Manufacturing.  His quality was equal to Owen magic and many other fine builders.  This beautiful custom built Zig Zag Illusion by John Pomeroy is one of the best versions of this stellar illusion I’ve seen and is a typical example of John’s fine craftsmanship. John was so inspired by Harbin’s Zig-Zag Illusion that he suggested 35 improvements for its construction all of which were endorsed by Harbin and the two corresponded up until Robert Harbin’s death in 1978.

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This is my first item from Walter Sheppard and these boxes are amazing!  Very solidly built, beautiful bright colors and something that really looks amazing on stage and in your collection!  These are second only to the Richard Gerlitz’s Butterfly Boxes and a lot cheaper, but it is close for sure!

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This box might resemble the standard Buddha Boston Box released by Chazpro, but it is much better!  Built by hand from a solid block of brass by the talented Omar Ferret, not only do they look and feel great, they have the amazing PLUS feature where the base has a false magnetic cover so that you can show the base whenever you feel like, and nothing will be seen.  I don’t know of any other Boston Box that has this feature, and what a neat idea!

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A wonderful classic piece of magic from the great German master Tony Lackner from the early 1980’s. The little guy just sits there headless and alone until the chosen card is waved over him them he jumps out and impales the card! Visually great and surprising to the audience!

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One of my all time favorite card impossibilities from the master inventor Rob Bromley, beautifully crafted by Magic Wagon under the watchful eye of Tony Curtis.

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One of my all time favorite Collectors’ Workshop effects and back on the shelves after a long absence. The new watch is slightly smaller than the original, but that makes it easier to handle. Still looks beautiful. A great item.

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