talkmagic.co.uk

Daryl's Amazing Acrobatic Knot
Updated version of Daryl's classic Jumping Knot of Pakistan.

Available From:
UK - Alakazam Magic - £22.99

http://www.alakazam.co.uk/cgi-bin/sh000001.pl?REFPAGE=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2ealakazam%2eco%2euk%2facatalog%2fsearch%2ehtml&WD=daryl&PN=Daryl%2ehtml%23a1522#a1522
US - Elmwood Magic - $39.95

http://www.elmwoodmagic.com/?nd=full&key=2787

Difficulty - 2-3
It doesn't require a TON of sleight of hand skill, but you'll need to know some of the basics. There are one or two tricky moves that require a good amount of practice to get down, but once you have it, the effect is truly powerful.

What this effect relies on - is both presentation and flow. You need to know everything cold. No stopping to think about what comes next, or the effect is lost on the audience. Your presentation and patter needs to be polished. Alongside that, you also need to know the moves by heart. This effect isn't a quick trick, but it runs at a good pace. As such, the entire routine needs to run a specific way to have full effect. I recommend practicing this for a while, before stepping out in front of an audience.

Effect:
Magician pulls out a length of white rope. Pulling it straight, he shows it to the audience. He explains how he used to perform a trick using two pieces of white rope, but as time went on, he realized no one could follow what he was doing. To prevent that from happening, he now uses two different colored ropes. From his pocket, the magician now reveals a length of red rope. Displaying both ropes openly, the magician takes the white rope and explains that in order for the trick to work, he must make a knot in the white rope.

Tying a knot he lets it hang in full view of the audience. He then says for the magic to work, you must twirl the ropes so they wrap around each other. Grabbing up both ends of the rope, the magician whispers the magic words and suddenly, when he drops two of the ends the knot has magically jumped from the white rope, to the red rope. A WHITE KNOT IS NOW CLEARLY SHOWN ON THE RED ROPE! As the audience takes it in, the magician says this is no ordinary not. With a little squeeze on the knot, it actually becomes a sliding knot. The magician now visually SLIDES the knot down the length of the red rope. And with a sudden jolt, he actually plucks the knot OFF of the rope.

Magician now casually tosses the knot in the air and catches it. Before the audience even knows what hit them, he suddenly tosses the knot back at the red rope and it instantly appears back on the red rope!!! Magician now explains how he actually uses pixie dust to make the knot move. Taking some dust from his pocket, the magician sprinkles it on the knot, and then visually makes the knot slide up and down the length of rope. This can be repeated a number of times. Finally, Magician says that with a snap and a bit of a squeeze, he can dissolve the knot. With just a little squeeze, he know shows that the white knot has untied itself and FUSED to the red rope. The magician now openly hands out a red rope with a small length of white rope in the center!

Powerful multi-phase routine. Packs a hard punch for just two lengths of rope. this will baffle any audience you perform it for, though it's obvious the kids will love it more.

What You Get:
2 Ropes - one red, one white, the special gimmick, and an instructional dvd.

The dvd is bare-bones here, which is nice. The dvd offers two handlings - a basic presentation which uses minimal sleights, and the complete routine as Daryl himself performs it.

The basic handling is a bit lackluster, but for what it's meant to be, it works. It's a good introduction to the props and it works as a good stepping stone. Once you have mastered the basic handling, you can easily jump into the advanced routine.

The advanced routine is well described and taught. The teaching method is clear and detailed. Daryl covers every aspect of the effect completely and with a thorough attention to detail. As a performer, Daryl is top-notch. His teaching style is no different.

The dvd also comes with bonus handling ideas. There isn't much here, as the effect doesn't really lend itself to much expansion. However, he does offer an alternative to the reattachment of the knot to the red rope.

Overall:
Naturally, this would appear to be more of a childrens' show effect - but I have seen it work just as well on the adults. With kids, I get the loud screams and "YAYS". With adults, you get the crooked head and the "how did he do that"?

One thing I truly admire about Daryl's products, is how accessible he makes them. He has a way of streamlining his effects to be well within realm of possibility. Very few of his Fooler Doolers effects are difficult to perform, but that ease of handling and streamlining of sleights in NO WAY diminishes impact on the audience. He's found a wonderful balance in this line of products, and I for one am very happy with my purchases, thus far.

If you're looking for a strong effect to use at a kids' party, this is the perfect choice for you. Personally, I think the price is a bit high, but it's not too big a deal for me to advise against picking this up.


7.5-8/10 - Powerful effect, not too difficult to learn. Geared more towards children, so probably not a purchase for anyone who performs only for adults. It's a bit pricey but worth it.

I don't agree that it's geared more to children, I do this table hopping and it works well with adults.

I too use this for adults and it is indeed perfect for table hopping. Don't dismiss this as purely a children's trick

Agreed - hence my "Naturally, this would appear to be more of a childrens' show effect - but I have seen it work just as well on the adults" -comment.

I too, have had fantastic reactions to this from people of all ages. I would hardly say I've dismissed it, and I think I was clear about that. My apologies if it appeared that way to the both of you.

A fascinating review.

Thank you !

Piers.

( It makes me see ropes in a new light now )

I've seen this performed and liked it.

Could this be performed using normal rope and the gimmick, rather than the ropes supplied?

I'm afraid not. Which is actually a possible issue as I'm wondering how the rope getting dirty may affect things and with a lot of handling it will get dirty quite quickly.

A friend of mine used to do rope magic, and it was suprising how quickly the ropes became grubby with use.

He didn't do any effects that required gimmicks, to my knowledge, just basic sleights and knots, for kids shows mainly.

It would be a shame if you had to re-buy this effect if the ropes became dirty. Can you wash the ropes? Even with clean hands, the white rope is going to get mucky sooner or later.

You could always wear cotton gloves I guess.

I'm sure it can be washed but imagine you had a pair of white socks and wore one every day for a month and the other once a week for a month and then washed them both. Would they be the same colour? probably not and this could possibly be an issue. Not sure has haven't had to try washing it yet. Maybe it won't be too bad only time will tell.

Would it be feasible to dye the white rope if it gets too grubby? Assuming this doesn't cause problems with any other 'items' used which can't be similarly dyed, there are some very good and easy to use cold water dyes available these days.

Could be a bit tricky.

Ah - in that case, forget I spoke!

Why not get a bit of normal ungimmicked rope and test that
(a) in the wash
(b) with a dye
to see the effect that it has, if successful, then it's probabaly safe to do it on your effect, if not, I don't know what you would do.

I'm just getting into rope magic after buying the Fibre Optics DVD, I might have to consider getting this.

Just guessing but, from Happy Toad's comments, it's not just a question of suitability of the rope for dyeing. Any more info than that will probably border on exposure so, until I rush out and buy this one, I'll say no more .

Quite right Mandrake and it's well worth getting.