Random I-Tunes Song of The Moment: Swingin' by John Anderson

Spinnerets by Steven X Review:

A dozen disposable thread reels, a whole bunch of wax pellets, 1 DVD, and $40 bucks. Is it gem or is it rubble? Stay tuned to find out.

Effect

Levitate stuff; animate stuff, etc.

Method

Invisible thread. Basically, as pointed out in the ad copy, you get twelve mini-reels. There are several problems with this method. First, the reels are disposable.  The reel can only be used once. Due to the nature of the reel, not only is it disposable, but you have a very short period of time to use it before it becomes useless.

Other hook ups require you to put the reel inside of the object to be levitated. In these cases, the reel may be reusable, depending on what the object is. Further, many of the hook ups require you to wear glasses. But it's not as simple as just wearing glasses. You have to hook up the reel, then put on the glasses. So when you're about to do a levitation, you have to openly put on your glasses  after you set up the reel.

Further, I tried multiple times to get the floating bottle to work. It never worked. The bottle just kept falling off of the thread. There are additional problems, but I'll bring those up in the ad copy integrity section below.

Ad Copy Integrity

The written ad copy claims that you can levitate cake, ice cream, meatballs, grapes and more. None of those objects were shown or taught on the DVD. Frankly, I don't see how it's possible. Further, the main gist of the ad copy is that this is the kind of thing that you can carry with you any where and be ready any time to perform these effects. This is simply not true with many of the effects shown on the DVD and the ad trailer.

The floating cigarette requires some pretty heavy gaffing of the cigarette. Further, there seems to be a portion of the explanation missing, because based on the explanation, I'm not entirely sure how the levitation will work. Further, the levitation starts by having it float vertically out of the cigarette pack. Then, in the trailer, it shows it spinning horizontally.

What's missing from the trailer is that you have to grab the cigarette openly and adjust the gimmick in such a way that I can't see how you'd hide this from your audience. The floating water bottle requires you to prep the water bottle. They claim you can do this naked. Are you truly naked if you're wearing glasses? Also, you need to be carrying the gimmicks somewhere, so you need a pocket.

The only food levitation shown was a strawberry which you had to previously hollow out and put a Spinneret inside of. Then, during the performance, you have to pull the thread all the way out until you reach the end of the reel. It doesn't cover how to do this or how to anchor it. He simply openly pulls the thread out and holds one end of the thread with one hand, and uses the other hand to manipulate the thread. Further, since these are disposable and dissolve in moisture, they can't sit in the strawberry too long before they start to dissolve and become useless.

Again, his major concern when creating this product was that he wanted freedom and he didn't want the restrictions of traditional thread work. In my mind, most of this stuff is more restrictive.

Product Quality

The DVD is well produced for the most part. Most of the effects are explained well. However, as mentioned above with the floating cigarette, there are pieces of the explanation missing. The cigarette is loaded with a Spinneret. Then, during the explanation, they cut to him with a Spinneret in his mouth. Does it use two Spinnerets? How are they connected? I have no idea.

Final Thoughts

The only real positive thing I can say about this product is that some of his hook ups are pretty clever and allow some interesting levitations and animations that are pretty clever and unique. These hook ups can work with traditional thread, so that may be a point of interest for some of you. The problem with this product is that it's disposable, and has nowhere near as much freedom as he claims.

Final Verdict:
1 Star with a Stone Status of Rubble.

6 Comments

  • Stephen Black says:

    OH NO !!!! Mines on its way as i really liked the floating bottle and i saw a review that quoted Marc Oberon as saying the hookups were ok it does not sound that way and i dont wear glasses!!!!!!!!!!!

    Thanks as usual Jeff just 24hrs too late!

    Best Wishes Steve.

  • Stephen Black says:

    Hi Jeff,

    Just to let you know my supplier had not dispatched the order so i have substituted an other item.A close shave me thinks!!!

    Many Thanks,

    Steve

    • Jeff Stone says:

      @Steve – Whew! Close call. I’m glad I could save you. I’ve been seriously considering putting a list or something of upcoming reviews on the site. That way people can see what’s coming and maybe wait until they see the review first.

  • Martin Lester says:

    After watching Craig going on about this on the WPR

    it is very clear he simply has not used the product or tried to use it in the real worrld

    Thanks to Jeff for posting a honest review and telling it like it is basically this is a piece of crap !

    • Jeff Stone says:

      @Martin – I saw that review, and I was quite surprised by it. They did get one thing right: the hooks ups are very clever and original, and would work really well with your regular thread work. But the gimmick itself is terrible.

  • Carmelo LaMantia says:

    The video trailer looks doctored (sped up) and shows demonstrations and not performances. This leads me to believe the effects won’t look as good during a real performance at real speed. Thanks for you thorough (as usual) review.

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