Andy Martin

Nicely made and clever.

This is a nice piece from Joe Porper. It comes in the easily identified hard wood case and is made in Joe Porper’s popular anodized aluminum style.

The effect is simple enough. You show the nut in the box and ask a spectator to thread the bolt into the nut. It clearly is very solidly threaded into the bolt.

You have the spectator unscrew the bolt and then you show them how using magic you can thread it instantly. And this is what you do, one minute it is not threaded on the bolt and the next second it is – no covers or anything to hide. The whole unit can be examined both before and after.

The box is a mechanical gem and has great potential too fool you. The only real problem I have with this effect is: why do you need the black box at all? Why can’t you just thread the bolt on the nut in an instant without the box? Of course that would not make for an expensive collector item, but it would look more magical. But enough of this heracy – the box is beautifully made and the mechanism is clever.

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Beautiful Dice Cup

If you are into dice stacking or you just like pretty utility items then this Dice Cup from Joe Porper is sure to please. This won’t make it any easier to actually do the Dice Stacking, but at least you will look good trying.

It is tall enough to handle 6 dice comfortably, made with polished silver metal, and wrapped with genuine alligator skin, and lined on the inside.

If you saw Fred Kaps do his simple Dice Stacking on his recent DVD you’ll know how cool and amazing it looks. And with a Porper cup how can you go wrong?

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Professor Hoffman your Coin Wand is here!

Ever since I saw the Coin Wand in Hoffman’s Modern Magic (page 203 in my edition) I have always thought this was a cool utility device. Until this baby arrived I had never actually seen one up close.

The wand is nicely made and works very smoothly. It allows you to vanish and appear as many dollar sized coins as you fancy – without any difficult sleights or moves.

The choice of a Dollar coin as opposed to a Half Dollar is interesting: on the one hand the coins are clearly visible from quite a distance, but the downside is the wand has these unusual slightly flared ends to accomodate the size of the coin. I do most of my magic in close-up and parlour settings these days, so I would have preferred the smaller sized coins with less of a flare. However, if you are using this in the bigger venue then you probably won’t even notice the taper and you really benefit from the bigger coin. It is probably a small point, but worth mentioning.

Otherwise, this is another fine magic utility from Joe Porper.

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For Collector’s Only

This is probably the worst effect in the current Joe Porper Line. The effect holds great promise, the box is well made and looks nice.

The premise is you show the black box, with hole running through the middle and show a bolt that goes through the hole and then you add a full deck of cards and clearly demonstrate that the bolt cannot go through the deck. Then after the magic incantation you ask the spectator to push down on the bolt and it goes all the way in penetrating the deck. You can then pull out the bolt and hand everything out for examination.

However, it has some serious angle issues and takes some real talent to pull this off without exposing the method. I found the box just too difficult to seriously use. I also found it strange that although there is a hole running from top to bottom you cannot show the bolt coming out of the bottom after the so called penetration.

Anyway if you are collecting the Porper Line you’ll have to get this, otherwise I really think you will be dissappointed with it.

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Slightly Dark but Unique Art!

This set of prints from the talented artist Kreg Yingst are wonderful for the magic Den. He has 52 different designs and if you are looking to create a new Rainbow deck then contact Kreg as he would love to work with someone in the industry who could spearhead their publication.

He has some other amazing paintings and magic related artwork on his website. Be sure to check them out!

He’s a real nice guy too!

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Wow! This is incredible!

One look at the Collector’s Workshop Spirit Cabinet from Master Craftsman George Robinson makes you fall in love with beautiful magic all over again!

What a rare treat to open up a box and be totally blown away by the craftsmanship. Not only is this little cabinet incredible to behold, it comes with a box full of goodies too, with 9 pages of instructions and 7 routines. Talk about incredible value for your dollar.

This has to be one of the best buys in magic on all levels: value, sheer beauty, number of routines. I honestly don’t know how George can produce these at such a low price. You should get one before they run out.

I’ll post a longer review when I have studied the detailed instructions that come with this. In the meantime, if you have any doubts that Viking/Collector’s Workshop are producing some of the finest magic today – just buy this single piece and you will understand.

So very highly recomended, it hurts!

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Perfect Match – Every Time!

I love this effect! It is based on the same principle used in one of the phases in Larry Becker’s Casino Royale, but this effect is much more impromptu.

You basically talk about how you’ve been collection matchbooks for each hotel you stay at and clearly show a bag full of different books. You pull out a few of the books to show they are all different and to wax and wane fondly about what you did at that hotel! The spectator then has a free choice out of any of the matchbooks and of course it matches the door key that you were left with.

Reset is instant and it is very easy to do. There is no switching of matchbooks or using clear forcing bags or any such madness! This makes a lot of sense and is a wonderful effect.

Highly Recommended!

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Very nice watch, and surprising revelation!

This watch looks like a nice quality dress watch. But it has the wonderful property of behing able to make a selected card (forced of course) appear beneath the watch face.

It works very quietly and smoothly and is a great utility prop that can be used at anytime in your act. Seeing the card on the watch face is a real surprise and fools them everytime!

The only downside is that you cannot use the watch to tell the time. This is kind of a silly thing, but that is how it goes I guess.

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This looks like hard-core Sleight of Hand!

This is a great matrix like effect with 3 coins and 3 cards. It looks like you are a very accomplished sleight of hand expert, but it is very easy to do. Reset is easy too. It does need to be performed on a close-up mat.

You could even do it with one hand, which is the way Wayne Dobson demonstrated it to me at the recent TAOM convention, and it totally fooled me.

What a talented and truly nice guy Mr. Dobson is!

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If you like Big Red you’ll love this one!

This is a simple but surprising revelation of the spectator’s (forced) card, using a picture of a flasher!

The wallet that comes with it is specially made such that it appears that you really are pulling out the "unexposed" view of the flasher, but it allows you to switch it for the full frontal version.

Very easy to do, and makes a nice break from the other heavy magic I’m sure you are performing 🙂

This is not offensive, and comes from the fertlie mind of Wayne Dobson.

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