Reviews

This effect was originally called Swish  and invented by Warren Stephens c. 1969.  It was often combined with Warren Stephens other effect Bowl of Silks. This is a well made copy from Creative Magic Products c. 1974. I am not sure if they had permission or not, but this appears to be a direct copy.

Creative Magic Products was a joint venture started by Dr. Keith Rossein and Frank Paglia in Baldwin, New York, c. 1974.  They appeared to be well funded with a real mission and purpose but as far as I can tell they were only in business from 1974 to 1978. If you have more information on them please contact me.

This is a great item that is easy to do.  In the video I make the silks reappear using one of Viking’s Mirror Wine Glasses which are perfect for this effect.  I’ve had a few people comment on the video saying that it looks like camera trickery, but if you had been in the Porcupine when I took the video you would have seen the same vanish and appearance.  When I watch it back myself, it does look pretty amazing, if I do say so myself 🙂

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This beautifully clever checker penetration was invented by U.F. Grant c. 1954 and if you are familiar with other approaches this one will certainly fool you.  I know I was not expecting the props and the moves.  This is the Mak Magic version c. 1981.

If you have not seen this beauty before you are in for a real treat and a genuine surprise. When it comes to collecting magic those are the best kind 🙂

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The first version of this remarkable illusion was invented by Okito c. 1904 (Dr Albo Vol 1, pg 103).  Among others, variations have also been built by Thayer, National Magic Company, Henry Bohlen and Town House Magic (Deluxe Visible Block Penetration c. 1946), Richard Gerlitz, Mel Babcock, Magic Wagon, Mikame Craft, and Nielsen Magic.  It is performed by Dr. Albo in the Ultimate Okito.

However, not all Visible Block Penetrations use the same Okito method.  The key tell tale sign in performance is “slow-motion”: can the penetration be done slowly and visibly?  If it can then it is most likely based on the same method.  If it is visible but almost instant it is probably not using the same method.

This beautiful close-up version follows the Okito method was created by an unknown German Craftsman c. 1980 and acquired by the great German Craftsman himself Willi Wessel. When I purchased this from Willi earlier this year unfortunately Willi did not know who the creator was.  It is made very well and the small size makes it particularly useful since many of these slow motion visible block penetrations are designed for stage and parlor.

The one difference with this version is that that it uses a solid block throughout instead of a shell.  This means without some extra moves it is not possible to show the tube completely empty at the beginning.  However, you can at the end as explained by Willi in the quick video explanation he created especially for the lucky winner 🙂

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The Linking Rings were the product that gave Mike Brazill’s company it’s name. In 1969 Mike Brazill started making some beautiful Chinese Linking Ring sets in his basement in Jennings, Missouri – in his first year alone Mike and a helper turned out over a thousand sets of his “new design” Linking Rings.  The following year Mike teamed up with Harry Montieth and they designed a new set of metal Cups and Balls. Miss Sandy Byrne was also hired to take care of the Office while Mike ran the Plant, Sandy’s passion for keeping the orders flowing and the customers happy was only matched by Mike’s talent for metal craft. That year the organization produced nearly three thousand sets of rings, six hundred sets of cups and over a thousand dove pans. They were now making “Rings … and things.” By 1972 Mike Brazill incorporated the fledgling company and officially named it: Rings ‘N Things Magic Co.  (Jay Malbrough – Genii Magazine, November 1977)

This is an amazing set of Liquor Multiplying Bottles from the Original Rings ‘N’ Things and 47 years later they still look amazing after all these years.

The tubes are typical Rings ‘N Things quality with no seams to be found, rolled rims and accents, Mike Brazill’s exclusive epoxy-baked miracle finish, realistic labels, basically they’re perfectly made. You won’t find any passe passe bottles better than these.

The Liquor Bottles were more plentiful than the Bubble-Up (7-Up copies) but both sets are rare, meticulously made and are minor miracles. These bottles are pure perfection.

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The electronics work of Marcelo and Victor Contento is second to none. If you are looking for 100% reliability then their brand will never fail you. Their version of the Jumbo Rising Cards is regarded by many, including myself, as the best version ever created. It is very reliable, with advanced features and incredibly easy to use.

You press a single button once to go up and a single button once to go down from almost anywhere in the room. The cards will then rise or fall to the right height and automatically stop. This was the model that Billy McComb used for years and two of his routines are featured with the instructions.

What I really like about this model is how reliable it is.  That being said over time the cards themselves can get worn out. When this unit arrived the cards that rose were in a pretty bad way and would stick sometimes.  As long as you replace them with the old style, thick bicycle Jumbo cards you should be fine.  The other thing to keep an eye on is how many cards you need to place in the houlette. It has a clever spring in front to maintain the correct tension, but you still must make sure you don’t over fill it with cards, otherwise they can stick.  If you read the instructions, which I know is tricky sometimes, it tells you precisely the right amount of cards to use so this is not hard to achieve.  But if you are having issues it could be because your cards are dirty or you have too many cards jammed in front.

The routines that Billy supplies come with a decent deck switch, which is easy to do and works well, but even Billy himself stopped using the switch over time and just used a small deck for the selection.  This streamlines the operation even more.

The routine I am using is a combination of Billy’s and Marcello’s and I’m very happy with it. So much so that I might even feature this routine for my Holiday shows this Christmas 🙂

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I love this little plastic top 🙂

This was released by Sam c. 2008 and it was based on an earlier device (quite possibly this one) but Sam did not invent it.  He modified his version slightly and thought it would be more useful with colors rather than numbers.  I agree 100% with him, there are plenty of dice you can use to force a number from 1 to 6, but when it comes to colors your options are limited.

When you need to force a color this could not be a simpler approach – just have the spectator spin the top and it will end up on the color you want every time.  It is instant to set and can be handed to the spectator to spin without worrying that they will figure anything out.

When I need to force a color this is the perfect little device I know you will love, thank-you Sam Dalal!

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