Tricks for Beginners.
Floating Credit Card
£13.95 from
www.emagictricks.co.uk
http://www.emagictricks.co.uk/product_i ... ts_id=3541
The Effect.
You place a credit card in the palm of your hand and make it levitate up to about an inch without any (or at least very little) movement of the hand.
You can then wave another card over the top and even underneath – to show there is nothing holding it up from below or above.
With a wave of the wand/hand the card will gently float back down and you can put both cards away again.
Difficulty. 1/5
1=Even I can do it, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)
Very easy, although there are angle issues (It only really works if viewed from above) and it needs to be held in the hand just right…
Review.
My first impression of this trick wasn’t that great. You get two identical credit cards, one gaffed one not. They are very “toy townish” in appearance so in my mind immediately look cheap. In saying this it is fairly easy to move the secret on to an old “real” credit card, which personally I think is a must.
The gimmick also looks very obvious to me. I admit this could have a lot to do with my lack of ability – but even so it only works undetected when viewed from above – and by viewing from above you lose some of the levitation effect. I am also not totally convinced that the right hand photo (
http://www.emagictricks.co.uk/product_i ... ts_id=3541) hasn’t been edited in some way. I hasten to add though that this is surely unlikely and could be me needing more practice with using it.
As it comes it is not really examinable – well not examinable at all, however I suspect that by using a little magicians wax and a real credit card it could be. I haven’t played with this idea yet (no wax) but I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t work.
I’ve come to change my feelings a little on this. I think that if it is switched to a real expired card – and magicians wax is used it not only looks more like an every day object, but it can also be examined afterwards (hopefully).
I don't think that I will be generally using it as part of a performance (and I use that term very loosely indeed
) but rather in a more "off the cuff" way in a restaurant – or a pub, or somewhere where the credit card is out anyway so it can be done in a much more casual manner.
I still need to experiment with the wax idea a little – but you know if it works – it could conceivable be done with a borrowed credit card – which could make it a whole lot more usable.
Rating. Effect/item: 6/10, Quality of goods: 7/10, Value for money: 6/10
Bottom Line.
Will I still use it? Probably – I certainly am going to experiment with it some more as it would become much stronger if it could be used with a borrowed card.
The bottom line is I still don’t think it is great value for money. When you consider you can pick up a floating match effect for £3.95 (
http://www.emagictricks.co.uk/product_i ... ts_id=3084) which incidentally I think is a truly wonderful effect (makes me wonder why I didn’t review that instead) and is very cheap (and contrary to what it says, it does come in Bikes).
Talking of floating matches – I read somewhere (on this forum I think) that “Cosmosis” is the one to go for, and cheaper versions should be avoided – Well, am very happy with my cheapo version (and I couldn’t find anywhere that sold Cosmosis at the time), but I would be interested if someone knows the differences…
(looks at Seige "the font of all magic knowledge" expectantly)