talkmagic.co.uk

The Effect

The MagicCave description:

Crystal Method is one of the most exciting new developments in card magic for a long time. Complete with the Crystal Method gimmicks and full instructional DVD Crystal Method will allow you to...

* Transfer signatures from card to card
* Create duplicate initialed cards
* Perform never before seen “in their hands” effects
* Stun your onlookers with impossible mentalism routines

Plus much much more we simply can't mention until the official release!

Pre-order your copy now – you won't be disappointed. Crystal Method will feature ideas and routines from some of the UK's top close-up workers including....

* James Brown
* Angelo Carbone
* Steve Dela
* Lee Hathaway
* Neil Henry
* Darius
* Daniel Young

First 50 copies ordered will be signed by all creators!


Cost

£20 from magiccave.co.uk - speed of delivery dependent on whether or not you're called Iain.

Difficulty
(1=easy to do, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)

The method is so varied that it wouldn't be fair to give a rating here. You could use the gimmick in an incredibly simplistic way, or you could use it in an incredibly difficult way. The only realistic limit is your own skill with playing cards.


Review

Observing the ethical rules on exposure, this is going to be a difficult review to write. I'm attempting to give my opinion on a product that is based around a very versatile gimmick, but if I describe the gimmick I'll be in trouble. Lee Hathaway's uncanny resemblance to Gordon Ramsey also makes me even more wary of saying anything I shouldn't!

The main advertising drive (YouTube, etc.) for Crystal Method seemed to be based around having a selection signed and then moving that signature to another card, or "melting" it through the card to the other side. Actually there are way more things you can do with the gimmick, as the DVD shows in detail.

These are some of the effects taught on the disc:

Omni Potent

As you might imagine (assuming you've been to MagicCave.co.uk before), for this effect you also need to purchase the Omni-Deck, which is a solid block of transparent perspex in the shape of a deck of cards. This isn't provided with Crystal Method but if you buy it at the same time you get a discount.

This is more of a finisher to a routine than a stand-alone effect. You hand a spec the deck with their card face-up on the top, and either tell them to put it under the table or under a handkercheif. They then take their selection an place it somewhere in the middle. They're asked to show the top card, which is magically still their card. They're again asked to place it in the middle, at which point the deck becomes transparent, all except their card, and soon after becomes a solid block of perspex.

I'll probably never use this. It sounds amazing but it relies on either your spectator having no clue what a deck of cards feels like or enough misdirection that they momentarily don't question why they feel different. Assuming most magicians generally perform to people they've never met before, this is a risk I'd prefer not to take. The level of "Wow!" you'll get from a spec if this works can easily be eclipsed by other effects that don't require you to hand them something that isn't a deck of cards and hope they just assume it is. Nevertheless, the performance was very good.

Card to Mouth

Again, this is a finisher to a routine. There's a handkerchief and a pint of drinky-poos. Water, cider, bromide - whatever. The magician shows the signed card on the face of the deck, hands the deck to the spectator, gets her to hold it over the beverage, and drapes the cloth over. He then tells her to take her card under the hanky. He retains the rest of the deck and tells her to plop her card into the watery depths. The handkercheif is removed, there's nothing in the glass. Cue coughing, and the folded card is found to be in the mouth of the magician.

This I like! I won't go into detail - because that would expose the gimmick - but it's very cheeky, very cute, and so easy that someone who had never even held a deck of cards before could do this (bar the mercury fold, of course, but the card doesn't need to go into the mouth - if it appears anywhere other than in the glass of liquid you're still going to get people's jaws dropping. Very nice effect.

You Will Name This Card

A spec is asked to name a card at random. That card is shown to say on it "YOU WILL NAME THIS CARD" and the rest are shown to have nothing written on.

I can't help but think that this effect is a scenic-route version of Jay Sankey's handling of the ID where he draws Xs on the faces. This does not require an ID, of couse, just the Crystal Method gimmick, but for the extra effort involved you might as well go with Sankey and have exactly the same layperson reaction. Although, as with all the demonstrations on the DVD, the effect was filmed more as an example of another different way to utilise the CM gimmick, so quite obviously you could create a completely new and different effect with the same described technique.

Signature Transpo

This demonstrates how to duplicate a signature and get it onto another card from a situation where a card is fairly signed with a Sharpie.

Blind Vision

This is my favourite routine on the disc. Using the CM gimmick you can get a spectator to take the deck behind their back or under the table and sign the face of the bottom card (which they have not seen). They then take the card and bury it in the centre of the deck. They're asked to think of a card, and the magician spreads through the deck to show that the card they named was spookily the one they signed.

I have a feeling I will be using the pants off this idea, it's extremely clean and the handling is not only natural, but a great deal of it happens in the spec's hands. You can't hand them their signed card, though. It's unexaminable, but that's the only down-side to this idea. I'll be brainstorming some decent excuses as to why I can't give them it - perhaps I'll perform a further miracle where I vanish the signature from their card using my palm as some sort of fleshy eraser and then run away and climb the nearest tree.

Overall

As you will have already gathered the performances on the DVD are there simply to demonstrate and then teach some of the various ways in which the CM gimmick can be used to create different effects, so each explanation can be built on, changed, reverse engineered or completely ignored as you see fit, and the real fun starts when you've finished taking in the DVD and it's time to start coming up with your own effects.

I'm quite happy with Crystal Method; it's got plenty of pros but it does have a few minor cons, too... and one big con:

Firstly the minor cons: From the advertising I was expecting the signature transpos to be a lot more examinable than they turn out to be, but I suppose I can't complain too much about that because you have to buy a product before you can learn how it works.

A card gimmicked with the Crystal Method does not feel the same as a normal card, which limits how open you can be about handing them out or even using them secretly in an effect. If you're performing for someone who is familiar with playing cards and handles them regularly - plays poker, for instance - then it's going to be hit-and-miss for certain effects whether they go "Why does this card feel/look different?" etc. The majority of spectators don't really know what cards feel like, though, so as long as you approach the right people this shouldn't be a major problem, although it is a concern for me as I'm deciding to what extent I want to involve the gimmick in my repertoire.

Finally the big con - I don't know if I was just unlucky or whether this is going to be something that a lot of people end up being irritated by, but my gimmicks came vaccuum-sealed in celophane and crammed into a plastic card-box that is too effing small for them. As a result of this, about a third of the gimmicks are completely unuseable due to being permanently bent and warped out of shape at the edges. The remaining two thirds are useable, but they are also slightly warped, too, so in order to use them with a regular deck, you must first prepare the deck by bending it in your hands until it's the same level of "concaveness" (is that even a word??) as whichever gimmick you're using. Not a single one of my gimmicks is completely flat, and I noticed on the DVD that the ones used in the demonstrations are flat, so there's a doin's a happenin'!

I'd suggest that any further manufacturing runs of these gimmicks are supplied in a loose container so that they remain the shape they're supposed to be. When I say the moulded box they came in is too small I'm seriously not exagerating - I'd post some photos to show clearly what I mean but that would amount to exposure of the method. I literally can't fit them back into the box after I got them out for the first time! They're currently sitting in it at an angle and the box lid has to stay ajar!

If it turns out in other reviews that I'm the only person who has this complaint then I'll edit this to get rid of these last few paragraphs because I have no intention of bringing attention to something that was a one-off rather than a common problem.

I think that about covers everything I wanted to say. Brilliant concept, huge amount of possibilities for varied effects, well produced DVD, decent and clear tutorials, but a questionmark over the quality consistency of the gimmick's manufacture.

Oh! And if Lee Hathaway is reading this (I know he's posted on talkmagic recently) are there any plans to do refills for the gimmick, because if I ever run out I'd sulk like a three-year-old if I had to buy another copy of the DVD just to get some more of them?

if you read the small print on the site, it does actually state that if you're unfortunate enough to be called iain you'll also get a very mild chaffing around the buttocks within 48hrs of delivery...its true...

mine should be with me tomorrow - in your face!

Can this be used in a normal close up working environment or is it angle sensitive?

How quickly is it to reset if you were table hopping?

I know the effects sounds great, but how would it hold up in the real working world?

Cheers

I've just come back from a long read on another magic forum (the web designer is rather fond of green) about Crystal Method and it's getting some rather negative publicity over there.

I have to come clean and admit that I've not yet tried it in a real-world situation, so I can't really comment too accurately about how it would fly for specs, but some people on the other forum are reporting that specs are spotting the gimmick. However, there's a lot of petty squabbling about the effect's name over there too, so I'm taking all the negative comments with a pinch of salt.

Taffy: It's not particularly angle sensitive, but depending on the lighting you might possibly have a few problems if you were thinking of using this for all and sundry. I think it would work best in a softly lit room and used by someone with a good working knowledge of how to misdirect by keeping the hands in motion. If, during your patter, the hand holding the deck was ever so slightly moving then you would reduce the chance of someone potentially spotting the gimmick enormously, but this is by no means something you could put right under someone's nose and invite them to scratch, lick and sniff.

Think of the limitations of the Crystal Method gimmick in the same way as you think of the DL. The DL is one of the most fabulous moves in card magic and no magician would scoff at the move just because you can't hand one out for people to examine!

Hi Queenie.

Thanks for that, I appreciate it

Thanks for your review.
It will be awaiting me when I get back home from holidays

(Hopefully... as my name is not Iain)

mine came today - hoorah!

and it was signed by everyone too (not everyone in the world, that would be silly - everyone who put the dvd together...)

too lazy to put the dvd on at the moment, the gimmicks are a little warped for maybe 8 or 10 kate if that helps...i think just somewhere warm with say a few books on top should iron things out...

IAIN wrote:mine came today - hoorah!

and it was signed by everyone too (not everyone in the world, that would be silly - everyone who put the dvd together...)

My Crystal Method is also signed up all silvery and nice. That always amuses me. I also have a copy of "Tricks" by Dan & Dave Buck that came signed by both of them for no apparent reason. Like I was supposed to wet myself when I opened the package and saw it.

Isn't it weird how people who are not even slightly famous sign stuff?

I'd like to see green grocers take out Sharpies and sign oranges and bananas as you buy them, winking at you as if to say "Don't mention it, babe".

i'd like doctors to sign the baby as they deliver them too...

working up the energy to watch the dvd at the moment, but im too busy playing with that heirloom deck i mentioned elsewhere...

i hope its good - I'm already eyeing doing this with some small blank index cards instead...and maybe if i can be arsed to do it tomorrow, make up some small wallet sized photos and set to work on a autographed picture effect...

I feel I must apologise for signing the DVD's. I was told to do it even though I did explain that it would bu**er up the resale value!

Personally I have no idea why anyone would want my signature, the first time a magician ask me for it at a convention I laughed before I realised it wasn't a joke.

Humbly

James Brown

theboss wrote:I feel I must apologise for signing the DVD's.

Hehe, I don't really have a problem with it, it's just a trend I find strange. Although if you'd signed the outside of the DVD case instead of the paper you could have claimed it was some sort of wry comment on the Crystal Method itself

thanks for your comments everyone..
Bear with us and the first 50 DVDs were sold out and we have more coming of the press at the beginning of this week.
With regards to some of the boxes being a little small on the cards, a few of them have this fault. It should be minor and if cards have been warped, we will replace them free of charge- the manufacturer sends his apologees if you were unlucky..

Some great routines from people that we never thought of!

All the best

Darius

Gordon Ramsay????

I've received my replacement Crystal Methods today from Lee. They're much better - thanks!

Hey Queenie!

I'd have hoped to have seen a few more reviews of this on here by now, so I could get a more rounded opinion of the effect, but just wanted to ask how much you've performed this for real specs so far?

From all the original hype, I was gearing up to buy this, but am concerned about comments regarding lighting etc., and the true versatility of the effect.

In some ways, I'm hoping for some negative points, so I can really weigh-up whether to finally take the plunge with this.

Hope you can help!

Rob