Year: 2018

Wow Kent’s 3D magic line is growing in leaps and bounds. The latest two items I have received are really raising the bar as what to expect from 3D printed magic today. I don’t think any of the other 3D printed items I have seen get close to the quality and effort that Kent is putting into them. If I didn’t know better Kent is trying to make you forget you even want real wooden items, whereas many other creators are just using 3D printers to get items out quicker.

What I continue to marvel at is how much thought goes into the size and shape of every piece. Kent thinks through his treasures both from a Collector’s standpoint with items sitting pretty on the shelf and a performers standpoint actually carrying and presenting the effects.

The effect for this item is clean and straightforward. You show the spectator an all white mummy resting in the sarcophagus. Then they get to choose one of six colored chips in a fair way and that chip is placed on top of the sarcophagus, which when opened now displays a mummy of the chosen color.

What is even better is that for repeat performances the mummy and chip chosen can be any one of six different colors. Although this is not a trick you could repeat to the same audience immediately.

If you are already on board with Kent’s 3D Magic Works you’ll love this and if not, this would be a perfect place to start.

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Kent Bergmann is taking 3D Printers to the next level and and raising our expectations of what 3D Magic should look like. His recent effects have just been amazing. I can’t imagine how much work and how long it takes for these bad boys to be printed, but I’m sure if you were to travel to Kent’s workshop you would hear the printers cranking away 24 hours a day.

This item is Kent’s version of the old Don Potts classic effect: The Mystery of The Pyramids that was released by U.F. Grant in 1965. A few craftsman have created their own versions each with their own twists. But what I really like about Kent’s version is that it seems to be the first one that has a really good story line that makes the props make some sense. The effect and story is just part one of a Trilogy which should get most collectors excited. I would even say that the story was so much fun that I’m looking forward to the next installment in the trilogy. Maybe not Game of Thrones, but it is a magic trick after all 🙂

This is another amazing effect from Kent that you cannot miss out on. It works very smoothly and looks great and is very solidly made.

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Recently I have become addicted to Chris Wasshuber’s phenomenal contribution to magic in the form of his vast library of magic books in electronic form at the amazing Lybrary.com. I keep finding periodicals and out of print books that I either had once and have sold or never owned. I use these ebooks primarily for research to find out about old magic items and performers, but invariably every time I open an issue I get sucked down some rabbit hole to read about some wonderful effect or magician from the past.

The price of these ebooks is so reasonable there is no excuse to not have copies of all your favorite books and periodicals. Although I warn you once you start you might find it hard to stop, and before you know it will need more disk space! That being said Chris has made all the right decisions when offering his service with PDF’s as the primary ebook format, unlimited downloads and a list of all the ebooks you have ever purchased available on your own Digital Shelf. Chris has even added a useful Magic Knowledge Base Search that allows you to instantly search all of the ebooks you have purchased from him.

Lybrary.com might look a little outdated, which I believe even Chris would admit too, but this is one example where you can’t judge the book by the cover, because there is simply nothing else like this on the web today. Most of the ebooks that Chris is offering are not available elsewhere and the contents is certainly not available on Google.

Thank-you Chris for providing such a wonderful resource for us all, I’ll be back many more times. And although I have not mentioned the Sphinx once so far, you can read plenty about The Sphinx here.

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80+ years and still going strong – wow what an achievement! And Chris Wasshuber with the assistance of Richard Kaufman, of course, provides such easy access to it all. Hard to put into words how useful and amazing having all of these back issues available at the touch of a button is. If you are looking for articles, trick effects, reviews, history, stage craft, opinion, gossip, and everything in between it is all here. The most useful resource to me when working on the History Project (https://www.martinsmagic.com/the-history-project/) is this magazine.

Read more about Lybrary.com here and Genii here.

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This is the pocket-sized version of Buma’s popular shamanistic effect: Ju Ju Man. I think the smaller size makes this more practical and easier to do too.

With reset in seconds, nothing to replace or wear out, and fully self contained this item is perfect for walk-around and table hopping situations. The little men are adorable and intriguing to lay people and this could be the perfect non-card effect you have been looking for.

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Another beauty from Magic Wagon using five really elegant mummies that the spectator can freely choose from and place secretly inside the beautiful and intricate sarcophagus. Regardless of which one they choose the performer can always divine which one it is.

And better still the performer touches nothing, there are no electronics, always ready to work with zero reset, and completely self-contained.

Is it just me or are Magic Wagon actually getting better over time? You’ll love this one!

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Another clever beauty from the prolific German craftsman Thomas Pohle. Thomas continues to amaze me with his incredibly precise and intricate magic. This is very different from normal die boxes in that there are no typical shells and or double doors, but you are still able to show the block inside the box at any time or vanish it completely! Thomas has made the gimmicks to such tight tolerances you can be watching this right up close but you’ll still not see a thing. Really beautiful work.

Now if only we could get Thomas to squeeze his demo videos down by 50% then we’d be laughing 🙂

Recommended for lovers of clever magic everywhere.

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Another rare and collectible item from 1987 by the great German craftsman Willi Wessel.  Unlike his fellow countryman, Thomas Pohle, Willi has retired from creating magic some years ago, so his magic is getting harder and harder to find.  This is one of his best items.

What I like about Willi’s routines is that he extracts every inch of magic from his props.  This set comes with a great routine translated perfectly by Wolfgang Wollet. The routine involves:

• Red Chinese tokens appearing on the paddle and doubling
• Then you raise the stakes and use Western Money which then doubles
• Then some Chinese writing appears on the paddle
• And finally the tokens change color

Willi packs a lot in to the routine!  Comes with everything needed (use your own dollar bills) and fits neatly in the presentation case.

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I’ve had quite a few Ribbon Restoration effects over the years but I particularly like this one for these main reasons:

• The ribbon can be signed at both ends of the ribbon
• The set-up is simple
• There is no cabinet and everything looks clean

So if you tired of ribbon effects I think you’ll find this a breath of fresh air.

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