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I have come up with the following effect (my First), and would be grateful for anyone’s comments as to is usefulness and effectiveness, clarity of explanation and whether it has been done before,.

The performer lays out three different coloured envelopes on the table, from left to right, he then lays out three passport photographs, one of his wife and two other unknown photographs, adjacent to the envelopes.

He explains that through time and love an invisible bond is formed between man and wife and they should always be reunited.

Whilst the performers back is turned a spectator is asked to mix up the three coloured envelopes so that they are no longer in their original order. The spectator is then asked to mix up the three photographs so that they to are no longer in the original order., when this is done the spectator is then to place the photographs into their corresponding envelopes and seal them.

With the performers back still turned and the envelopes and photographs now in a completely unknown sequence, the spectator is to mix the order of the envelops three more times.

When the performer turns round he is with the bond of love able to not only divine the envelope that contains the photograph of his wife but also the position.

This uses no marking, stooges, peeking, the performer may even be in a different room while all this is carried out.

thanks

Sounds good. When you say 'appropriate envelopes' does that mean a particular photo has to be associated with a particular colour by the spec? That would be a bit of a give away I guess so I'm assuming the spec has a free choice of which photo goes into which envelope. Is anything else used, such as a pen or pencil and does the Magish handle the envelopes at all after they're sealed and mixed again? (Just being nosey , sorry!)

No the envelopes are mixed and the photographs are mixed and wherever they end up corrosponding to an envelope then that is the one the photograph goes in.

No the envelopes nor photographas are touched by the performer and no pencil pen marking etc is used

midge - your effect sounds really nice.

It does sound very much like Andy Nyman's "Sophie" trick, which involves him finding a photograph of his wife. There are no envelopes involved with that though.

It is certainly something that I would consider using.

funny you should say that, i was reading something which made me think ah! thats how andy nyman does the sophie trick, so i went home watched it and was completley wrong. Anyway that got me thinking and has led to this

No the envelopes nor photographas are touched by the performer and no pencil pen marking etc is used

Now I'm really intrigued - let me know when it's available, please!

dont know when it will be available as i have no idea how to make something available

What are the other two photos of?

If they're two other women then the effect might not be as visually clear cut as it could be ("Was that the photo of his wife? Looks just like the other one....").

It might be an idea to make the other photos completely different.
Eg, a gorilla, plant pot, clown, potato peeler etc

not really decided on the other two photos they could be anything, just used the wife phot as a bit of a story line, to illustrate the basic effect, the effect could quite easily be murder related knife, gun etc

If you'd like one of the Mods to have a look and advise, I'm sure any one of us would be pleased to help. Alternatively, you could post the details in the MO section but that would have a slightly wider audience than just the Mods, although still not in the public area.

i will try to write it up a bit clearer with diagrams if possible

thanks

I cant help but think that , since the spectator is given a free choice of the envelope and the photo, all that mixing becomes a bit superfluous.

possibly, but does it not add to the confusion? other wise would nt it just be put a photo in an envelope and i will tell you which one it is in?

I cant help but think that , since the spectator is given a free choice of the envelope and the photo, all that mixing becomes a bit superfluous.

I agree with midge on this - there is nothing wrong with adding an extra layer of detail to give the impression of the effect being fairer than it actually is. This is done in an enormous amount of magic effects (although I am sure, sometimes too often).

My point exactly.
Why do you want to confuse the audience? Isnt it better to re asure the audience that you could not possibly know which envelope, by having them mixed just once.
That is all it needs. Also, a thought on the number of envelopes. You have a 1 in 3 chance of getting it right just by pure luck. By increasing the number of envelopes by two or three, your getting the right envelope looks much more impresive.