I recently met Edward Boswell briefly at the Magifest convention in Columbus, Ohio. He showed me a few effects that I really liked, but the one that left me scratching my head the most was his amazing production and subsequent vanish of a card box around a deck of cards. One moment he was holding a deck, and spreading it for a selection. Then, with a wave of his hand, the box suddenly appeared around the deck. He tilted the deck up so I could see that the card case was actually surrounding the cards. Before my senses could recover the box faded away as if by magic. It looked like trick photography. He then proceeded onto his next effect as if it was all part of the journey. Here is the demo:
Our time together was brief so I was never able to coerce him into tipping the method. However, the first thing I did when I got home was to type Edward’s name into Google. Luckily for me, I found that he HAD released his work his magical looking sequence with the card box. In fact, it was being marketed by Theory 11. It took me all of about two seconds to click “Add to cart” and within minutes I was greeted by an instant download video of Edward teaching his effect, Rapture.
I stood on pins and needles hoping that the method was going to be reliable and workable. The fact that I had already seen him do it live gave me hope, but I’ve been burned by my fair share of magic effects that look great in certain situations but don’t stand up in most real world environments. Was this going to be another instant download product that I would watch once and never think of again?
Luckily the answer was a resounding “No.”
Rapture is an outstanding effect from a young man who I predict we will be hearing much more about in the future. The gimmicks required to create the effect are fairly easy to make and Edward explains their construction quite clearly. I was so enamored with the trick that I made up a few sets of gimmicks in one sitting. It’s something I definitely anticipate using.
After a bit of arts and crafts time, you’ll be left with the tools necessary to assault your audience’s senses. However, you certainly won’t be performing this straight away. I wouldn’t say that the sleight of hand required is difficult, but it is a bit knacky. Basically, you’ll have to learn how to handle the gimmicks naturally which will take a little getting used to. Luckily, this is the kind of trick that’s actually fun to practice in the mirror. In fact, it looks so good that, even after you know the method, you’re likely to spend some time just watching yourself do it over and over again.
Overall, I have to say that this is a fantastic offering. If you put in the limited amount of required work into this, your spectators (and even other magicians) won’t stand a chance. This is a one-two punch of clever gimmicks and sleight of hand. It’s only a brief moment of magic that is over in a blink of an eye, but if your audience members are anything like me when I saw the effect, it’s something they’ll be thinking about all the way home after your performance. Highly recommended.
- Available from Theory11.com for $19.95
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