3 Stars

Abe Creekmore  made some good quality and interesting magic.  This item I wanted to really like, but although I can make it work it is not working the way I expect.

What I expect from this type of candle is you press a release and then the candle slowly falls down.  Something like Chaplin’s Candle by Collectors’ Workshop. However, try as I may this one does not appear to go down on its own.  You have to use a lever from beneath the tray – it can still all be done out of view, but you need to be holding the tray.

What is perplexing is that there is a spring mechanism which you’d think would drive the motion, but I think that is primarily do dampen the fall and not to activate it. But reading the instructions that is not clear at all.

Anyway, your mileage may vary and maybe I’m missing something really obvious, but as far as I can tell, when you release the catch the candle will be stationary until you pull a lever under the tray.

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This is a really great idea and it looks amazing. The prop is well made and really does pack small.

But for me the prop is just too loud for any sort of performance I would make. Please watch my video to hear how really loud this bear is!!!

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This is basically the same effect released by Jack Hughes’  called The Roamin’ Rabbit by Johnny Geddes c. 1979, but performed with a dog instead of a rabbit. Jack’s version is detailed in Volume two of his wonderful World of Magic series. Paul Howard’s version is not made as well as the Hughes version. Unfortunately, I don’t have one on my site though I did own an original back in England before I moved to Texas.

However, even though the build quality is not up to Jack’s standards it is a fun routine for the young ones, and I’m sure you’ll have them all screaming with this one.

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Mark Lee has created a fine close-up version and this effect joins the Merlins growing Premier Range though this is the most expensive of that line, the other items are a little more reasonable.

For my money the size of the bottle opening is a little too small as it makes it quite difficult to get the silk inside the bottle without some effort, which you can see a little  in the video demonstration.  And in my practices it was sometimes more pronounced.  If the bottle was a tad wider these problems would go away …

I’m not sure what other effects Mark has planned for Merlins Premier Range but now he has created a few it would be good to see some new ideas or at least some innovations on existing ideas.  The quality of Mark’s work is solid but it is not at the level of Louis Paul, Kent Bergman, Alan Warner, Eddy Taytelbaum, Colin Rose, etc.  so if you are going to be creating some classics you’ll need something to keep the collector’s satisfied 🙂

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I have no real information about this effect.  It works and it easy to do.

There is no forcing, but you do use up 2 envelopes each time you perform it.  The coins can’t be examined  and I’m not sure how convincing it is with the envelopes.

I think if I wanted to perform this I would use a 4 way wallet and the Miller Miracle Wallet would be perfect. This would make the effect more convincing, instantly repeatable, and you would not need to keep making up envelopes.  Also I would replace the coins so that they could be examined.

But frankly I’m not sure the effect is worth the effort, so I’m leaving it as is 🙁

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I thought this was going to be a pretty nice budget priced wand. But this one has what look like vice marks on the tips – which is a shame and detracts from an otherwise fine budget priced wand ?

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Here is a mini version of UF Grant’s Strat-O-Sphere using a clear tube on a base.

After playing with the item this afternoon there are two issues that came up that the larger version does not have – in the MAK Strat-O-Sphere version that I had the large balls were fairly light and it was reasonable to have to push them down into the tube.  But the small balls this version comes with are small power balls and are quite heavy and you can hear them land on the bottom of the tube – so why do you need to push them down? Also due to the small ball’s weight if you are not careful you can end up with four balls instead of three as momentum wins out so you have to handle the tube quite gingerly 🙁

The final issue with this version is that you loose the simple red, yellow, green colors of a traffic light and particularly the colors on the front of the tube.  I took this version and made a few changes to resolve these issues and you can see the finished version here.

This seems like a nice idea but I don’t think it was thought through as far it could have been and is a far cry from the original.

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