talkmagic.co.uk

Señor Mardo Eggbag

Available from: my-magicshop.com

They say:
"Nowadays it seems that the egg bag of choice is the Malini Style. I offer my variation of the Senor Mardo bag in my lecture as an alternative. My reasons for preferring this style bag are threefold. It is easier to handle, the (you know what) is invisible even upon direct inspection, and far more effects are possible, as well as some novel moves. I also prefer the brighter coloring. Expert seamstress Gladys Lewis makes these bags and I believe them to be the most practical and deceptive egg bag available."
-Martin Lewis

Includes complete illustrated instructions and hand-crafted egg bag.

Related items:
The Señor Mardo Egg Bag DVD by Martin Lewis

Difficulty: 1-2 Needs a bit of practise in front of the mirror but nothing too serious. The DVD helps a lot but costs another £12.

Cost: 39,00 EUR or about £25 at today's rates

I say: I really enjoy doing this. It's not heart stopping magic but it has a charm of its own. You can do a whole routine of appearences and disappearences of the egg with the bag, involving audience participation if you like, as demonstrated on the DVD. I'm not familiar with other styles of bag but this one seems to serve very adequately.

My only small gripe is that the bag does not come with an egg, and this is not made clear on the web site! I did experiment briefly with a real egg but quickly ordered a Eggs-Actly Egg - no hole (Large size) from cards4magic.co.uk at £8.50.
"Eggs-actly are real eggs that have been lined inside with a plastic skin" and for me this has proved to be the perfect partner for this egg bag.

So quite costly altogether, but I still like it.


Overall: 7/10 - only marked down slightly because of the cost.

Thanks for the indepth review. I believe that you are right, most people never even consider anything other than Malini when contenplating buying an egg bag, so it's nice to see that there is an alterantive worth thinking about.

The price is high, but the egg-bag is such a classic of magic that it is unlikely that you will buy one if you aren't going to use it on a very regular basis and if you are going to buy one, why not buy the best?

So for that I would say it is actually very reasonbly priced. The good Malini's are not far off that anywy.

The effect is for many, (and I use these words very sparingly) a reputation maker. Just ask anyone who has seen Mike Austin do this effect .

How long whould you say you would need to practice this when you get it to make it good.

as long as it takes. Every magician has a different practice technique

I must say that the video does look impressive - just the type of magic that I like to perform and can't resist.

Good review.

levi wrote:How long whould you say you would need to practice this when you get it to make it good.

I practised for a couple of days in front of a mirror. My wife is a therapist and in the world of therapy talks about doing 'reflective practise'. So when she comes into the back room and sees me doing my stuff in front of the mirror, I say 'I'm just doing a spot of reflective pratise dear' and she smiles weakly.

But to the point. It really is pretty easy to do. The practise is really to get the routine and the patter in order. Once you've done that it makes for a nice multi-phase trick suitable for kids and adults alike.

Its worth getting the accompanying DVD though as it makes the whole thing a lot clearer.

Well, what can I say other than a big thank you to Martin for bringing this gem to my attention as I'd not heard of an egg bag until I read his review.

I got my Mardo bag yesterday along with the accompanying DVD. The bag itself is of an extremely high quality as stated, and I'm delighted with the purchase. The instruction booklet is well written and nicely produced with diagrams to illustrate particular points where needed. I found it just as easy to learn from the booklet than from the DVD, although it obviously takes a little more time to digest the information from the written format. The performance section of the DVD contains no extra's that are not also included in the booklet (other than a very brief histroy of the egg bag itself).

I did my first performance for the family today (who look far more closely than the usuall spec) and their reactions were worth the cost of the bag and has whetted my appetite to show it as part of a performance!

What the review didn't mention is that the DVD also provides the instructions on how to make your own egg bag to the same design as the Mardo, although you will need to be, or know a very good tailor or seamstress to achieve the same standard. However, this may still be of interest to some but if you're not planning to make your own Mardo design bag then I would recommend that you don't buy the DVD and save the £15 to £18 that it's sold for.

AS for the egg, I have used a hard boiled egg to practice and dropped this on a few occasions but otherwise have found this be more than adequate and at a fraction of the price of a fake egg. I can't comment on the Eggs-Actly egg but would worry that if this was dropped, then the outer shelll may break (if this is possible) and your money is then wasted. I would still buy an Eggs-Actly egg myself but will wait a while until my dealer has one that I can examine before hand.

Finally, the DVD and booklet suggest a surprise load to end the routine and a lemon is used on the DVD. I'm thinking that a real, unboiled egg would make a great ending if cracked into a small glass - any thoughts on this or would you think that something that is different to an egg makes for a bigger surprise?

I would agree with Martin's 7/10 rating and it is a routine that does have a charm of it's own. I would rate the DVD at 3/10 to 4/10 at most and NOT real value for money.

I would have given the bag a 10/10 had the DVD been included for the same price or for a slight increase of a couple of pounds - say £25 for the bundle.

Oh - and thanks again Martin - nice one!

The Eggs-exactly egg is a real egg, blown and then lined inside with plastic, I believe, before being resealed, so it looks just like the real thing, (because it is the real thing), only lighter. I have dropped it a couple of times when practising, onto the carpet with no worries so I feel sure its going to last a few years of normal use. I do get a bit nervous when a spec examines it though, in case they try to tap it on a table and crack it. I'm not sure what would happen then, given that its a real shell.

I don't know if the lightness of the egg helps with the presentation or not. It may make bulging and folding of the material less obvious if you use a lightweight egg but hey if it works with a real egg - go for it and save yourself £8.

i have but one question for you martin if the Fake egg is lighter dont the specs notice it being lighter?

and i think i may have to give in to my CUPS

Pcwizme

Pcwizme wrote:i have but one question for you martin if the Fake egg is lighter dont the specs notice it being lighter?

and i think i may have to give in to my CUPS

Pcwizme

Sure - they will notice it being lighter when the spec reaches into the bag and pulls out the egg in the final phase but whether the egg is an original one one or a blown one is not really pertinent to the point of the trick. You can just state its a blown egg if you feel you need to.
If you could blow an egg yourself and repair the hole then you could make your own blown egg - the plastic inner just gives it a bit more resilience in case you drop it, thats all. To consider it a fake egg is a bit of a moot point - as most of it is still real. You could alternatively buy a wooden egg and use that perfectly adequately I'm sure. My point was that there might be some advantage in using a lighter egg when it comes to concealing what you are doing. It depends on whether you are prepared to shell out another £8.50, or not, to use the recommended egg.

I'd agree with Martin on the egg - it's down to choice and cost but it is definately not the point of the trick and routine. It's worth remembering that spec's handling of the egg when he/she reaches into the bag at the end is only one of the options open to you.

Whilst the instructions teach the routine as shown on the video, once you know the secret of the bag and become proficient in handling it there are a wealth of different moves, swaps etc. that you could also do - assuming that you have a little imagination. To me, that's part of the joy of the bag.

You can also buy a rubber egg and drop this on purpose, you could do a swap with a golf ball, lemon, tangerine etc. etc. etc.

Don't worry about which egg to use - get the bag first!