Random I-Tunes Song of The Moment: Crying by Don McLean
Propel by Rizki Nanda Review:
One DVD, one gimmick, one relatively painful arts and crafts project and $35 bucks. Is it gem or is it rubble? Stay tuned to find out.
Effect
A dot of sharpie ink drawn on your finger visually moves from finger to finger and then is transferred permanently to another hand.
Method
A special gimmick and really poor lighting conditions, and possibly an audience of where " . . . the one eyed man would be king . . ." No matter how I tried, I could not make the gimmick invisible, and I could not get it to look like a dot of ink. Finally, when I turned off the main light in my office, the "secret" became invisible. Then if I held my hand really far away and squinted, the "thing" looked like an ink dot on my hand.
Based on this method, this is NOT a close up effect. Also, the construction of the gimmick is a little bit messy. I got black sharpie and the "special something" all over my hands and fingers. Further, the gimmick is a bit of a pain to manage. It's not easy to keep track of and load in and out.
Ad Copy Integrity
The ad copy is inaccurate. It claims that you can do this inches away from your spectator. I guess that technically, several hundred inches is still "inches" away from the spectator, but I digress. Further, it claims that you do the effect with "nothing but the ink and your skin." That's not true either. You are using a gimmick in addition to the ink.
Product Quality
The DVD itself is well produced, etc., but the gimmick is the problem. You are supplied with everything you need to make the gimmick, and the materials you get are all good quality, but they don't actually work as cleanly as you need in order to perform this effect.
Final Thoughts
If you are doing a stand up show where there is some distance between you and your audience, and you can dramatically manipulate the lighting, then you may have something worthwhile here. As it is with its claim of being a close up trick, it just ain't happenin', folks.
Final Verdict:
2 Stars with a Stone Status of grubble with the "g" hanging on by a thread . . . an invisible one that's about to break.
5 Comments
Hi Jeff,
100% right.While Sans Minds do have some superb material i think at the moment there is a huge amount and alot of it is poor.I would suggest less would improve the quality.A reputation takes along time to establish but is trashed really easily.
PS Loved the book 793.8. I give it 5 Stars!!!!
Best Wishes
Steve
@Steve – Thanks for the feedback, and I’m glad you’re diggin’ my book. 🙂
Thanks Again for honest review , it looks to me sans minds need someone to Q&A the products that come out some are good but of late a lot have been nothing but dross , how the other review show ( WPR ) gave this 84% is beyond me!
@Martin – I’ve noticed that too. There’s been quite a few where I gave something a good rating and WPR gave it a hate rating, and vice versa. I’m not sure what’s going on.
Hi Martin,
The WPR show has is in the last few weeks presented such bad reviews that i no longer listen, it makes me wonder what their motivations are! If you have time check out Alakazam weekly V Blog, They do live performance and specials in the last 2-3 weeks they have done specials on wallets, book tests and mentalism.They also dont just push their own products.Their service and advise line are superb!! I should say they are my best magic supplier!
Best wishhes
Steve