talkmagic.co.uk

Hi.
Does anyone know of any Illusion Builders in the UK?
At the moment I have got a Sword Box Illusion. But I want more adventurous illusions...
Anyone Help. BTW I have a great assistant who also wants to me a bit more adventurous with the illusions?

Help???

Anyone?

No?

I know that there are some builders on that side of the pond but sadly, the top builders seem to be based here in the states.

I would suggest that maybe you look at MagicAuction.com and deal with used props, most of which are in decent condition, but you can save a good chunk of cash while building up your own inventory.

The other thing I'll pose is "What are you looking for?" when it comes to effects... I've helped more than a few here at TM in creating pieces just for themselves... non-commercial "signature" type pieces... one of which is on the verge of seeing the light of day in the not so distant future... we've been monkeying around with the idea for several months though... (that was a clue)

The point is, if you have some ideas then perhaps we can help you make them reality.

I just want something that would make the audience go 'OOOOOOHHHHHH Wow!'

But I don't quite know what would make that happen- Lol

Well I do happen to know one illusion builder here in the UK, but you'd have to be a bit more specific with your needs lol.

He's based in Bristol, just in case you were wondering. Do let me know if you're interested and I'll pass you his contact details.

It's not the illusion that gets you that reaction, it's YOU and how you handle the effect.

When Kirkham was still doing shows we did two solid hours of amazing magic featuring the most famous illusions in history... not reproductions, the real props used by Thurston, Dante, Kellar, Blackstone, et all... they all got fantastic reactions but it was the simple Orange Bowl routine that everyone remembered, clamored and talked the most about when the show was over.

It was a valuable lesson for me which is why that same piece stayed in my shows as part of my tribute to my teacher.

What you need to define is exactly what I tell all young people
1.) What Kind of General Effect Works Best For You? A Levitation? Cutting? Vanish? Production? Transposition? Metamorphosis? What's going to fit the idea you have for your act?

2.) What Sort of Effect Best Fits the Style & Theme of Your Show?

3.) Which Version of This Effect is Going to Prove Most Practical to Your Typical Performance Setting?

If you are going to pay thousands and potentially tens of thousands of dollars for something, you'd best be able to know the answers to these few questions or else you are wasting your time and money. Buying a major illusion is more akin to buying a new car, not a new trick at the magic shop. As such, you need to know it's going to fulfill your needs and in contrast, you can fulfill its needs i.e. storage, maintenance, transport cases for protection, logistics report for contracted transport as well as Union House Load In/Load Out fees, etc. (believe it or not, some houses do charge the act for such things based on weight... then you have all the other Union headaches that get in the way). On top of all this you have the assistant to think about; if he/she is going to fit and if they are comfortable doing the bit in as quick a time as is required.

My suggestion is that you visit sites like MagicAuction and Bill Smith's on-line "catalog" as well as Owens Magic Supreme so you can take a look at what's out there and thus, better define your vision before throwing your money away. Grand Illusion is a serious field that epitomizes the BUSINESS side of the Show Biz idea. It's not a game and MUST be taken very seriously from start to finish... trust me, I've made and lost more than a few fortunes working that side of thing for most of my youth (from 1969 into the early 90s) What I'm passing on here, is what I was taught by my mentors; some of the best and biggest names in that world, so please take it to heart, it's not just my experience that's speaking here.

Your Next Step Should Be to look at what you have and where you want to go as a performer. You may want to look at how you can take your SWORD BOX and put a twist to it vs. buying a brand new effect... personally, this has been one of my favorite pieces over the years and I find it sad, that it is so rarely seen in today's world. Such a step means you need to invest more into books that deal with Illusion design and method rather than a new prop. I'd suggest you start with the Paul Osborne collection and likewise try to get a copy of the Byron Wells Illusion Plan books (an industry standard) along with the Rand Woodbury and of course Jim Stinemeyer books... these will allow you to better see what is possible, you'll have the plans for building your own but more importantly, this knowledge will allow you to stir up those creative juices within your mind that will help you better refine your dream and work towards making that your reality vs. just buying another prop that will most likely, fall short of your expectations.

Think about it...

Craig I have a question and I'm afraid of the answer. About 4 yrs ago my wife and I were traveling through vermont and stopped at one of these road side 'antique' shops. In one was a large black steamer trunk, on the sided in large faded letters were the words 'BLACKSTONE" We were really rushed, there was nobody around who could unlock the trunk or say where it came from. There was no way we could take it home. I remember thinking that when I got home I would call...(drawing a blank, not Johny Gaughn but somebody of his ilk, you will know the name, big illusion collector restorer) and just let them know what I saw just in case.
Stupidly life got ahold of me and I never made that call and I always regretted it. My question is do you know if all of Blackstone's stuff has been accounted for. Or is there a possibility that I stupidly may have let something slip through my fingers?

The Blackstone Crates for shipping his props (and most everything had a crate) had a pumpkin orange base with black stencils... as to a trunk of that sort, I'd have to see it. Many of Sr's pieces got scattered prior to when Kirkham & John Daniel rescued the collection from the jerk who had it in his backyard allowing his kids to (as an example) use the Girl in Cannon as a sliding board to their swing set and hung sets from the show as lawn tents.

Chances are if the trunk was huge and heavy it either belong to the old man or Dante... they both had to have the biggest and heaviest props going it would seem. With Thurston there were just a couple exceptionally large heavy pieces, most of which seemed to have "vanished" in a mysterious manner (I refuse to admit as to how, when or where... or which dump they went to). Much of the Blackstone stuff now belongs to Ron Pasquoe in Indiana but I lost track where everything other than the 18 or so pieced that went to Paris (Robert Houdin Museum) are at... as Chuck became ill I found myself with family and living in Vegas... out of touch... long story.

But Bill Smith and John Gaughan are the main two that have restored most of that stuff, they and maybe Willie Kennedy would be your best bets outside of Leo Benkhe (I think he's dead now) who was running the Copperfield Collection or maybe Alan @ Owens (used to work for Abb Dickson and Blackstone, Jr.)... those are the guys that may know better than I on that trunk of yours. But know that many an aspiring mage glued such posters inside their trunks as a kind of affirmation.

I don't remember orange on the trunk. And I pretty much figured it was just somebody who put the name across the trunk.

As usual thanks for your response.