Reviews

Magic Hands have a very good track record with their Silk Pistols.  They released their first one c. 1974,  this amazing beauty c. 1979, and their final one c. 1984.  So when I finally sat down to understand how this worked I was quite excited to see what they had achieved.

Well although the pistol looks amazing and is very collectible as it is,  I don’t think this blunderbuss style is even close to the functionality of their other two pistols.  It is designed to work with another product released by Magic Hands called: Gorden’s Silk in Balloon II where you can supposedly  shoot not one but two silks from the pistol into a balloon.  That sounds great but as a Silk Pistol this actually only vanishes one silk and the second one is done by subterfuge.   Worse the first silk is not actually vanished either a switch is made so that instead of vanishing a full silk just a small corner is vanished. So rather than actually vanishing two silks this pistol actually vanishes a small corner.

To add insult to injury I am unable to set this up so that it even vanishes the corner 🙁

As it stands this pistol vanishes nothing let alone two silks!

The way it is supposed to work is:

• You show the pistol.  Load the first silk down into the barrel of the gun and supposedly let a small part of the corner of the silk hang out (this is in fact the switched corner). The switch is easy enough to do (you simply push in the first silk and let fall out the fake corner in its place), but the vanish is a far cry from a full silk vanish as with other silk pistols.
• This corner is attached to a thread inside the barrel and when you fire the gun the first time the thread is meant to be pulled up and vanish the silk corner and of course then the silk appears in the balloon. 
• Then you load the second silk – there is not even a pretense at hanging out from the barrel this time just load it in the barrel and fire.
• And the second silk appears in the balloon.

So even if this works perfectly as designed at best it would only vanish a single silk corner.  Could it give the impression of vanishing two silks – yes I think so as long as the appearance into the balloon looks effective it could.  However, there is no doubt to the spectator where the silks are as the audience saw you push them inside the barrel and of course you cannot look inside the barrel.

But if you purchased thinking you’d be vanishing two or even a single silk as you would with other silk pistols (as I did), you are going to be disappointed.

Bottom line this is deceptive magic advertising at its best 🙁

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A high quality silk Pistol that is very reliable and looks and sounds like a real pistol. This was the first design by Magic Hands and was changed later to this style.  As long as you use a 9″ silk it works perfectly and it easy to set.  I have tried 12″ silks and the diagonal cut ones but 9″ is definitely the best and most reliable to vanish.

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I was born in England in the 1960’s and it wasn’t until 1990 that I emigrated to America so much of my early magic dealer experience was with Ron MacMillan, Supreme Magic Company, Jack Hughes, and Alan Warner.  I hadn’t really heard of U.F. Grant or MAK magic before I came to America. But it didn’t take long after I arrived in Texas before I started to purchase the classic MAK and U.F. Grant magic.

I found the DVD’s talking about Grant very fascinating and particularly enjoyed the various Demos that Grant performs in various formats.  It is clear U.F. Grant was doing Speed Demos decades before I began 🙂

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This effect was invented by Jack Hughes’ c. 1947 as The Lady Vanishes.  Jack based it upon an earlier similar effect with a glass he also invented called Back Stage Beaker Vanish c. 1946. Both of these effects have been widely copied over the years with the names often switched (as in the case of the Viking release).

Sometimes the manufacturers have credited Jack Hughes (for example Abbott’s), but often not. Viking’s instructions say that this effect is based upon Aldini’s Backstage c. 1975, but Aldini’s effect is clearly the same as Jack’s The Lady Vanishes.

That being said I don’t think there is a prettier or better made version than the Viking release – bright colors, smooth vanish and easily attached drape.

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This beautiful item was created by Owen’s c. 1973 as a limited edition. It is a truly beautiful prop and an amazing production item. In essence this is a oversize version of the classic Bran Vase first described by Ponsin c. 1853 and later described in Professor Hoffmann  c. 1876 (The Bran and Orange Trick). The effect was improved by Paul Fox c. 1930 as the Paul Fox Candy Bowl.

The challenge for me was not only finding some suitable confetti and a sensible load but also finding a container that I could reach into to add the confetti. Due to the size of the bowl you need a fairly large container to hide the action.  I settled on a 12″ x 12″ x 12″ black gift bag which packs flat when not being used and provides plenty of room to load the confetti and doesn’t look out of place in your act.

I have included instructions for a Bran Vase routine from Tarbell and Thayer but now that I have gone to the trouble of getting the necessary equipment it is easy to piece together from my Demo.  The Speed Demo should be here soon. 

You’ll probably never perform this but it will look amazing in your magic collection 🙂

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Another beauty from the Dutch magic dealer and craftsman Harry Keyl.  This is a wonderful piece of mentalism that fits neatly in your pocket and is always ready to go.  It does not require any memory work or special moves.  You follow a simple procedure and can predict the chosen number every time. It looks very convincing and the spectator can chose different numbers each time and yet the prediction is correct every time.  Also, the final prediction can be different each time too if you desire.

This effect is a very clever version of Bob Mason’s Predicta Total but to be honest you probably won’t even realize this even if you are familiar with Bob’s effect because Mental Tiles is so clean and simple to use, it hides the method even better than the original effect.

Harry Keyl’s work looks very similar to the work of the Dutch master Eddy Taytelbaum and are very rarely seen these days.

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As a teenager this was my favorite close-up trick. I performed it more than any other item and just loved it. The final change from three colors to all yellow always amazed them – it changes right in front of their eyes!

Finding the orignal Tricks Co. versions is difficult these days.

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This is a great looking item produced in a limited edition of 24 units from the new craftsman Damir Djanis released by George Robinson at Viking Mfg. It uses a clever and unique mechanism which allows you to show any of 6 numbers on the die in the box.

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Another great classic Tricks. Co item that looks very clean, is easy to do and can be fully examined before and after the effect.

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You have to love these early items from Tricks Co. They are easy to perform with unique ideas and well made.

Another classic effect from the now hard to find Tricks Co. line with original box and instructions.

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