My very very first review feedback truly appreciated.
The Effect
Your examined, empty hand gently rubs your naked arm... A BIG BOLD TATTOO SLOWLY AND VISIBLY APPEARS ON YOUR SKIN!
Rub your arm again and the TATTOO COMPLETELY VANISHES! And if you feel like it, make a totally DIFFERENT TATTOO appear on your OTHER ARM!
Cost: $30.95 US (
http://trickmagicshop.com)
Difficulty: 1 (Some angles but seriously not really)
(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)
Review
I have no other experience with ink on skin effects. I won't be able to compare this to any other method currently out there. So there may be better ways to do this I am unaware of.
As for the effect it is exactly what it is described as. You can essentially make any number of designs, patterns, things appear on your arm. The gimmick is easy to make and cost effective.
Two things I am learning, 1) the best tricks are simple tricks, which seems to upset novices who think they get ripped off. This trick is ultimately simple, self resetting, and not likely to malfunction.
2) Magicians as a whole are expected to experiment with their tricks. The major issue with Tattoo Joe is skin color. They touch on it in the DVD briefly but in such a way that people who don't explore their options may feel the trick won't work for them. In reality it will work for everyone with a minor amount of experimentation.
As mentioned above there are some angle issues but they cover that fairly well over the DVD but you can't perform this trick surrounded. They include a lot of options for how to use the effect, Catch a thrown kiss from a spectator, have someone's fingerprints turn bloody on your arm, etc.
Lastly, clean is a relative term it appears. You are limited in how much a spectator can examine you but any minor amount of spectator management can overcome this trivial limitation.
Overall
The end result? It won't work for every style but it is a good effect that is simple to do and easy to create. Is it worth 30 dollars? I'd say so based on some other tricks I've bought in that range.
I have yet to try it on anyone still getting the motions down but judging by the perceived effect I trust there will be a strong reaction.
--Infy the Magic Noob.