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The Effect:

The spectator selects a card, remembers it and places it out of view. A second spectator also selects a card and remembers it. With your hands in FULL view, the first spectator takes any lighter. You could use a candle or anything with a flame! Now pinch your thumb and finger together in the flame whilst the spectator thinks of their card.

A BLISTER appears on your thumb and finger in the shape of THEIR chosen card!

You can also give the spectator the Sharpie to draw the shape of their card on a piece of paper. They fold the paper into four and set fire to it. Placing your finger and thumb into the flames, the blister appears on your thumb and finger in the shape of their card!

You now show the word "Sharpie" printed on both sides of the marker they have just used. You ask the second spectator to think of their card. Take your fingers and rub them over the Sharpie writing. Visually, the name "Sharpie" smudges into the name of their chosen card!

(The writing doesn't have to smudge, it can simply change into the name of their chosen card in an instant. The choice is yours!).

Cost:

£21.66 on Merchant of Magic
http://www.magicshop.co.uk/p20888/Sharp_Impression_(DVD_and_Gimmicks)_by_Richard_James_-_DVD/product_info.html


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)

Difficulty is 1-2. Most basic of force can be used and there’s only minimal tidying to do for full clean ending.

Review:

Usually I’m not a fan of gimmicks unless it’s obvious I will want to use them again and again. I felt like purchasing a few ‘tangible’ items for myself for my birthday and this was the first. I, as I’m sure like you, prefer items which are easy to carry around and do not take a lot of prep work, this is what appealed to me with this gimmick.

The item is very simple and upon opening I at first thought this might be something I would never use again. However after watching the DVD and making a few minor adjustments which I felt made the trick flow more and gave a cleaner ending, I can actually see myself using this. It’s not exactly going to take up much room as you only need your standard deck and a (an extra) sharpie.

There are two spectators involved and this is very important, I feel if it was only with one volunteer it would be average to poor. The fact that you can go from the first reveal nicely into the second reveal (especially if you use the same thumb you just used) makes a lot of sense and is a nice finish.
I would point out that you should think about the use of the sharpie. The DVD at first merely suggests having them sign their cards, but this really doesn’t make any sense as the physical cards become completely irrelevant as soon as they commit their ‘choice’ to memory. Instead this would be better performed with them using the sharpie to write their card onto a piece of paper which will later to be burnt in an ashtray (as seen later).

With a simple swap out, which should be done as early as possible, rather than at the end of the performance as suggested, means this ends very cleanly and of course adds to the overall effect.

Overall:

The quality of the gimmick is very professional and can be used as a reveal for a completely different effect if needed.

I feel the cost is slightly too high though. Although the gimmick is fairly special, it feels a lot for a pen. The effect is adequate but would benefit from being used in conjunction with another lighter or sharpie performance to add the emphasis it partially requires. However I feel this would be perfect at any seated smoking area outside a bar just by itself.

A very clean effect and extremely simple to do. The force used could easily be changed to something more convincing or elaborate if you felt the need, so that takes care of that aspect.

A nice effect, simple but fun. Maybe falls short on the cost, but still a nice thing to carry around.

7/10.

It looks like a pretty cool effect, I wouldn't want to blister my fingers though If you were to recommend 1 pen gimmick, would it be this one??