Four By Huron Low: Four different torn and restored card effects that will suit any one.

(I will go over the Gimmick, then the method)
(There are to ways to view the explanations, from the front or a P.O.V, I will just review the front view, there arnt much different, except Huron may give tips in only one view, like Huron says, it best to watch both)

What you will need: Craft Knife, Glue, Tape, Deck of Cards, Sharpie (There are some extras needed, but I will say what they are in the Gimmick part)


Angel.
"The angel at the back of a signed bicycle card is colored a solid black with permanent ink. With a gentle wave, the ink on the angel visually fades away, morphing back into the angel" (Ok this is the only non-TnR)

The Gimmick.
Ok, the gimmick I am not able, really to make this at the mo because you will need some double backers. (that shouldn't be exposure, cause you don't know how many you need or what you have to do with them) And I don't have any at the moment.
The Gimmick, like FiTH is easy to make, like Ive said in all the other gimmicks on FiTH you wont have any trouble making it, unless you don't have to stuff I told you to get.

Handling:
The handling for this is very easy, no misdirection needed, all you need to know is one easy move, (simple move) and how to use the gimmick, which again is very easy. All the moves are natural and everything is well hidden away, without the use of difficult cover.
And when you fade away the ink, you only need to do one move to end clean in your hands and hand the card out. You will also need one more move if you want to hand the deck out, but if you've already handled card gimmicks before, then this should be no problem.

Extra Idea
Huron give you a suer cool way to "Ink Morph to Card Value", basically, the Black spot changes into words that say "4S" (4 of Spades)


Angel Redux
The angel at the back of a signed, freely selected bicycle card is clearly sliced out by a pen knife, leaving a circular hole in the selection. With a gentle wave, the angel visually and gradually regenerates in full view, making the card whole once again.

Gimmick
Pretty much the same gimmick as Angel, except for one small difference. You can easily make this gimmick, if you can make Angel's gimmick, you can make this no sweat. Yes, you will need some double backers.

Handling
Pretty much exactly the same handling as Angel, except you show the piece being removed from the card. Easy.

Extra Idea:
Different Handling for removing the cut out, very easy to do. ( I need a better word than easy)

$
Hotspot
A signed card is folded in half and has it's middle ripped out. First the ripped out piece teleports from the magician's pocket to the destroyed card, fully restoring it. Then the piece is ripped out again, and placed in the magician's mouth. He spits it out at the torn area, visually restoring the card, with absolutely no cover.

Gimmick
The gimmick is simple to make. ( See I didn't use "easy" :P ) You will need some tape for this, and there is no pre ripping cards or anything like that, its nice and easy (D'oh!)

Handling
Ok, this handling is very natural and all the moves done have a reason behind them. The gimmick is easy to use, there are only two moves to learn and a clean up. This effect is the second hardest effect on the DVD (I reckon), but Huron explains the handling well and is easy to follow. This is effect and Making Ends Meets are the only effects that have a sort of big clean up (well bigger than the Angels, sort of like FiTH). If you have Torn (or probably any other TnR) you should be alright with the clean up. Not really sure what else to say.

Extra Idea.
Huron just shows you a way to make the effect more convincing.


Making Ends Meet
The First "mismatch" style piece by piece ever.....A signed card is clearly ripped up, and mismatched at every phase of restoration, correction itself as it goes along..... until the end. There's even a phase where a wrongly restored piece steadily slides by its fibers over to the correct side.For the finale, the last piece is that the piece the spectator has been holding the whole time, suddenly changes in color , permanently mismatching it from the rest of the card.

There are two versions of Making Ends Meet, A 3/4 version with a mismatch piece (detached), Huron Explains on the DVD, why he stops at a 3 piece restoration, and he reason are dam good. There is also a full restoration with a mismatched piece (attached)


3/4 Restore Handling
(Note, you will be losing a few cards when you practice)The set up. The set up for this involves bringing out a gimmick. Now if you own Torn, you should have no troubles with it. Of you don't, then its not hard to do, if you know some basic misdirection, or if you just act natural, no one is going to call you on it.Ok, for those of you who own Torn, I think this method will remind you slightly of that. (For one move).

First Move. Bringing the Gimmick into play. This move is not hard, but will take some practice for it to look smooth. Its not that hard, so shouldn't take that long. Second Move. This is the second tear. This looks very clean, and again its easy to do, but will take some practice to make it look smooth. Which I think this effect is all about, looking smooth and clean. Third Move. Third tear. Extremely easy to do, you should have no troubles with this.

First Restoration. Now this is where I got reminded of Torn. If you can do Torn, this move is as easy as pie. If you don't, then it's not that difficult to do, it just requires the right finger placement. And again, smoothness.Second Restoration. This is the piece that first gets restored wrong, and then fixes it's self. This Restoration is probably the easiest, not much really to say on that. To get the piece to fix it's self is easy, but to make it look good will take some time. There are two ways to fix the piece, one is a slow movement to the other side of the card. The other is a quick snap. Both methods are done using the same principle, they are just done at different speeds.

[B]Clean Up[/B]The clean up reminds me of FiTH. Basically, like Ive said before, if you've got experience in ditching gimmicks (this one is very small, about half the size of a playing card) then you should have no troubles with this, if you don't, then you will need to practice this.


Ok so there is my review of FOUR. I still need to do the full restoration. Which I don't practically feel like doing now because I'm ill. Will do it later.

This DVD isn't really recommended for complete beginners, you need to have some magic time under your belt first. Ask questions and I will answer.

Cheers, Tom

:O Excitement to the max! At about 4:20pm, my mum came in my room with a package for me! I rip it open and inside was my TnR Project DVD from Huron Low. I pop it open an inside fell out "0630".

The first DVD I pop in is FiTH. Menu loads up. Heres what you can select (-> what comes up after you click on it
*Introduction --> Intro, Advice On Learning, What is Fire In The Hole

*Performances -->Fire In The Hole, No Fire Restoration-> No Fire V1 and 2, No Cover Restoration

*Explanations --> Gaffs, Front View Explanation, Back View Explanation. (Note, there are 4 gaffs altogether, Time bombs, Basic Gaff, Advance Gaff 1, and Advance Gaff 2)

*Ideas and After thoughts

*Extras -> Trailers, Credits, Thank yous


:O excitement, but I came across my first bad point, there is no "Play All Button" So after every scene you have to keep starting and stopping. Another thing as well (this is my last bad point, I think) There are no street performances of this, except the bit we see in the trailer.
Ok, Now I have watched the DVD I can now go into a little more detail.

What you will need to perform Fire In The Hole
A Deck of cards, A Pen, A craft/pen knife, Tape, Glue Optional: Flash Paper, Cutting Board.

Basic Gimmick

The construction of this gimmick is extremely easy, I dont think there is anyone on the planet who cant make this. Huron doesn't go into to much detail because, well its that easy to make. Not much more I can say about it until the method of Basic FiTH. (For this one, only one spectator can sign the card on the back, and then you sign the other signature)
UPDATE: I made my first basic Gimmick today, it was easy to do, no troubles, I just need to practice doing the RSM move with this gimmick.

Advance Gimmick #1

This gimmick is slightly different from the Basic Gimmick, but again very easy to make, the reason it is different is so the effect is more convincing. The only downside to this gimmick is that it might not last as long as the basic one. But it can still be put through a few performances (It all depends on how well you look after it really, like I guess the Distortion Gimmick)(For this one, only one spectator can sign the card on the back, and then you sign the other signature)

Advance Gimmick #2

This gimmick is (accordingly) the magician fooler one, it is pretty much exactly the same as the AG#1 but it has 3 small differences. Again, very easy to make, have I already said that? (This is the gimmick which allows 2 spectators to sign the card, and they choose which signature to cut out.)


Handling/Method

Ok, for the handling/method, on the DVD there are two ways to watch it, from the front, or from Huron's Point Of View. Each view basically goes over the same thing, but there are some things that are only said in one of the view (like small tips) and also things that you might not have been able to see. As Huron says in "Advice on Learning" it is wise to watch both views.(Of course, the 3 different non-fire methods are included as well as the 3 fire methods, so there are 6 methods of FiTH )

Basic Handling

The basic handling goes over the set up, going into the routine and how to do the move (Reverse Spider man). This section of how to do FiTH is the most detailed so you might be watching this a few times, even if your doing the other 2 fire methods. Yeah, basically this goes over everything to perform this effect.There are no major sleights accept for the RSM move. At the moment I cant really do it well, but I think its cause I'm using really old cards, so I need to whip out a fresh pack.
UPDATE: I spoke to a friend who also go this today and told me how he does the move, and now I can do quite easily, if any one need any help PM me.

Advance Handling #1
"This handling is more of a subtlety with a really nice convincer, rather than a change in handling". This handling is very, very nice. For this one, you actually get to see the piece being pulled out from the card. Basically, the method is exactly the same as the basic method, but with the extra bit of holding up the card and taking the piece. This handling also uses the RSM move.


Advance Handling #2
"This is the thing that fools everybody, fools all the magicians" This is the hardest handling, but it allows you to let 2 spectators sign the card and let them choose which signature they can cut out. The beginning of the trick is the same, until it gets to the signing part. Its pretty easy until just after you ask which signature they want to cut out. There is a certain move that you have to do so that they can check that the cut out piece is their's. The move can be broken down into to parts, the first is really easy and doesn't take much effort, the next part will require a small bit of mis-direction. The move isn't obvious as it is hidden under the misdirection, I highly doubt you will get caught doing the move. (Its really hard to describe this move without exposure, but before doing this method, you will need to try something out on your friends/family first).

Lets move on. Once you do this move, after that it is exactly the same as the other advance method. Not much to it besides that move up there.

Cleaning Up

As you know this effect needs a gimmick and yes you will need to clean up. The clean up is done in 3 simple moves. The Fold. The Brush. And The Ditch. (Huron doesn't call it that, but I do) Their not hard moves to do, although it will require some work, lie checking in the mirror, video camera, or how ever you check a sleight when you practice it. Anyone who owns a card gimmick will probably not have much trouble with this as Ive seen this clean up/moves in some other routines.

No Fire Methods


No Fire Method #1 (With Cover)
This is extremely easy to do, this is the easiest handling of FiTH. The only thing you will really need to practice is the clean up.(see above). So basically its the same start as what ever method you choose to use, until it gets to the fire bit, then you do the one extremely easy move, then you do the clean up and thats it.

No Fire Method #2 (Less cover than #1)
If you can do the RSM (Reverse Spider man) then your pretty much sweet for this routine, again, same start up and same clean up.

No Fire, No Cover Method
This is what you see right at the end of the FiTH Trailer. This method uses the Advance Gimmick #2 , but there is an extremely small change to how the gimmick is made. Extremely easy is you have the stuff I said to get. So basically, go into the same start up as Advance Handling #2. So you show the piece with the spectators signature, and then very slowly fuse it to the card. How is this done? It uses the same move in the No Fire Method #1, easy. Then the clean up is slightly different from all the others, and Huron reckons its slightly harder. The change is in the Fold Move (See Clean Up), its not a big change, and you should be able to cope. After that, do the clean up as normal.



Ok, so that pretty much it from me for this review, I will keep updating the FAQs and tell you how I'm going with my practice. I cant really give it an overall rating yet because I haven't performed it yet, but if your looking for a TnR, this is the way to go. Why? Because its so much more visual and different from all the other TnRs, it steps over that creation line. All the TnR out there look the same, but just rely on different methods.


Stay tuned for my FOUR review and 0630, plus updates on FiTH
Cheers. Tom

This is long over due....

Title: Witness
By: Lee Asher
Where: http://www.theory11.com/

(This is a review of the Witness Download)

Description:
After having a card selected, your spectator holds a zip lock bag with Joker sealed inside. The Joker, held securely between the spectator's palms, 'transforms' into the selection! Never once is the bag opened. Everything can be handed out for examination. (Note. There can be another card instead of the Joker)

The Intro.
We get to see a full performance of Witness, unfortunately there is only one performance :( but it doesnt matter much. You do get to see the end though, or the after thoughts of the trick from 3 other groups of people

After the performances, Lee goes on to talk about how the effect came to be what it is today.

The Set Up.
Yes, there is a set up. But once your set, you are ready to go, the only problem is that the restart cannot be done in front of your spectators. Ok, back to the set up. This is extremely easy to do. There is something you will need but I can 100% guaranty that you will have this. Oh, and of course you will need a ziplock bag. Lee explains all this very well, and it is very easy to follow.

The Move #1
Most of you that have been into card magic for a while now will know this move. If you havent Lee teaches you to very important Sleights that you can use for this routine. These Sleights can also be used in any other routine you have. The Move is very easy to do. One is slightly hard than the other, but is more convincing. (It isnt as hard as lets say, a pass.)

The Bag.
Lee goes over the handling of the bag, how you can let the audience see that the Joker (or what ever card your using), is definitely inside that bag. Again this is very easy. Lee also goes over some subtleties that will help improve the effect.

The Move #2
Lee goes over the other move you will need to know in this effect. Again, as Ive said many times before, its extremely easy. Lee goes over important subtleties that will make the move as natural as possible, no one will catch on to this. I have never been called on it. Once you have done the move, the rest of the effect is just presentation, which is where you come in....

Presentation.
Lee goes over some basic presentation, he doesnt give you a set of lines to follow and read, thats not the point. He wants you to go out there and make this effect your own, present it your own unique way. Lee talks about how you can build this effect to make it more powerful and hard hitting.

Final Thoughts.
Lee goes over a few last tips about the revelation to, again, make this effect hit hard.

This whole DVD/DL is pretty much is about taking something simple and making it one of the most hard hitting effects you own. I highly recommend this, for beginners and Pros. This has gone straight into my routine as one of my closers. And one more thing, one of the best things is.... You are completely clean.....

Cheers, Tom