talkmagic.co.uk

Name: Ghost Glass/Spirit Glass

Manufacturer: Viking MFG

From: Merlins, Wakefield http://www.merlinswakefield.co.uk/

Price: 12.99

Level: 2+

What you get: A plastic wallet containing a 3.5cm diameter glass disc with bevelled edges. single-sided A4 instruction sheet containing 3 short routines.

What it does: The disc is removed from the wallet and used for one of three routines (or one of your own). Here is a very quick summery.

Routine 1: A spectator chooses a card from the deck and holds it to heir face to 'breathe in' the essence of the card. The card is shuffled back into the deck and the disc is placed on top. The spectator breathes onto the disc and an image of the chosen card develops

Routine 2: As above, except the spectator writes their card on a piece of paper, crumples it up and places it on the disc. They set fire to it and the chosen card appears scorched into the disc

Routine 3: As above, except the spectator holds the disc in their closed hands to reveal the card

Overall:Good points
1) Its a very nice effect, especially for the bizzare performer
2) £12.99 is a great price for a well-made and portable prop
3) The glass disc is completely transparent before the trick and can be handled by spectators
4) In routines 1 and 3 , the image quickly fades again so it can be repeated for table hopping or street magic within minutes
5) Includes 2 different revelations!
6) Can be used for any card revelation trick, not limited to the routines included
7)Only 1 disc used-NO switching

Overall:Bad points
1) The plastic wallet looks flimsy and poor quality, im putting my disc into a small velvet drawstring bag (like used to hold crystals or jewelry)
2) Maybe not for every performer or audience
3) Obviously, its glass! be careful of handing this one out to drunk people in pubs!!!

Overall 9/10 from me

I have a picture of this to post but im getting error 'the maximum filesize of all attachments is reached' can anyone help me. The photo is only about 2" by 4"

Message from Mods: Is this any good?


Thanks for the help mods!

I assume the choice of card isn't as free as the spectator may imagine?

..you can buy the ghost glass fluid on its own too...i'd recommend that definately..plenty of fun to be had...and obviously you design your own symbols/signs etc...

You can likewise get the Ghost Glass liquid via most reputable dealers so you can customize the word or idea being forced... I've used this in my Seance shows for years.

kartoffelngeist wrote:I assume the choice of card isn't as free as the spectator may imagine?

You have a choice of two different revelations, one on each side of the disc. You need use a force method (sorry if thats too much info mods)

is this anything like ghost card?
ghost card is £30 and seems a bit pricey for something that runs out but does sound like a freaky effect.

andy

Havent seen ghost card, do you have an internet link and i'll tell you. this is only 12.99 and reuseable

Here is the link for the Ghost Card.

http://murphysmagicsupplies.com/catalog ... CARD2.html

Ted

kingofthehill wrote:Here is the link for the Ghost Card.

http://murphysmagicsupplies.com/catalog ... CARD2.html

Ted

This looks like some kind of 'thing' that you apply to your own piece of glass/tv/mirror whatever

The one i reviewed actually has a gaffed glass disk in it that does the work

Does the image of the revelation actually look like it does in that photo?

Not even close!

Think of what it looks like when you write on the fogged up mirror after a shower or when moisture forms on a window during the winter.

Thanks, Craig; just as I suspected. I can't believe they can use that photo to advertise the effect when it is blatantly false. Very disappointing.



I think I will look into the Impromptu Ghost Glass II liquid as a more flexible alternative.

There's a TV ad for cosmetics on in the UK at the moment and, whilst the close ups of perfectly applied lippy are displayed, the small print across the screen says, 'Enhanced in post production'. Sounds like Ghost Glass uses the same advertisers!

This is just the kind of thing that gives magic a bad name. Blatant false advertising like that does no one any favours. Makes me think it's a con, which in the case of Ghost Glass, it obviously is. Having said that, if someone has purchased it and is happy with it, then fine. But if I had seen that photo first, ordered it only to discover the photo was a complete fabrication, I would have been none too pleased.

I'm assuming it was Viking who released that photo - if that is indeed the case, they should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves. What a sad state of affairs.

Replicant wrote:This is just the kind of thing that gives magic a bad name. Blatant false advertising like that does no one any favours. Makes me think it's a con, which in the case of Ghost Glass, it obviously is. Having said that, if someone has purchased it and is happy with it, then fine. But if I had seen that photo first, ordered it only to discover the photo was a complete fabrication, I would have been none too pleased. What a sad state of affairs.

While I agree in general, I have seen this particular effect demo'ed (granted he mis-forced the card so it wasn't quite as impressive as it could have been) and I think the actual product is better looking than the ad.

The actual product does not have color and the one I saw didn't show a corner of the card but a picture of an entire miniature card (which could be used with a mini-bicycle deck for some added fun). The image is crisp and a little eerie. Like Craig says it looks something like drawing on the mirror when it's foggy, but it's really somewhere between that and ... well, imagine if you had a picture in frosted glass in the middle of a glass lens.

One other thing the magician at the shop ran into was that when he breathed on it, it wouldn't fog. I It seems that there must be some temperature difference between your breath (about the temp of body heat) and the temp of the glass. Probably best if you're in a situation where you can leave it lay on the table and then hold it by the edges, rather than in some pubs where you would have to keep an iron grip on it to keep it safe.

Hope that helps.