There has been a lot of buzz about this project recently. Many Sankey fans were disappointed with Jay's recent release 'Bending The Real', which I actually liked for what it was, so I'm sure there are quite a few people who are a bit cautious about hitting the Add To Cart button on this one. I'm here to put those fears to rest.
The Gimmicks Lab is easily Jay's best release of 2011. The amount of care and thought put into this project surpasses anything else he's put out this year. You are supplied with a DVD that is over two and a half hours long, as well as a multitude of gimmicks. These gimmicks, simply put, are wonderful. They have been beautifully crafted and are of a very high quality. My personal favourite of these included gimmicks is Maximum Capacity, for which the thinking behind the Omni Deck has been adapted to a Tic Tac box. Everything is nicely packaged and put together. I smiled when I got a peek at almost every single one of the gimmicks.
The DVD itself shows even more just how much work and effort Sankey has put into this project. At a running time of two and a half hours to explain 13 effects, he literally leaves no stone unturned. Every effect is explained excellently, and each one has at least a handful of different handlings. There will certainly be a handling that suits everyone's needs and styles. One minor quibble with the DVD: While it is beautifully detailed, I believe Jay would have benefited from a cameraman. He does the entire DVD on his own in an empty room, and instead of having a cameraman to pan up and down, Jay has to grab the camera and pull it around to pan down to the table or up to his face. In doing so, his hand briefly covers the microphone and the sound is briefly muffled. This does not really detract at all from the learning experience, but it's worthy of note for those who may be bothered by such an informal sort of production. Along with his careful explanations of all of the included effects, Jay also includes thoughtful and inspiring theory segments that discuss the psychological and social aspects of performing with gimmicks. I particularly liked the segment on "The Borrowed and the Found" which dissects the strenghs and weaknesses of using 'found' objects for magic as opposed to borrowed ones.
Here is a brief overview and my thoughts on each of the effects within The Gimmicks Lab:
Unholy- This gimmick is the perfect companion to Jay's famous effect Holy Moly, as it allows you to vanish the hole off a metal washer with no sleight of hand or funny moves. Jay has essentially taken the principle of the Chinatown Half coin gimmick and applied it to a washer, for which it works beautifully. In my pre-order set, Jay also kindly included a complete set of Holy Moly washers, and explains the handling of the effect which incorporates Unholy on the DVD. This gimmick is machined by Roy Kueppers and is beautifully made. It will last you forever. I think this is a beautiful, striking alternative to the original Holy Moly effect.
Maximum Capacity- Easily my favourite gimmick included in the set. In performance, a Tic Tac box is emptied of it's contents, and surprisingly transforms itself into a solid block of clear plastic like an Omni Deck. This gimmick is gorgeous. Again made by Roy Kueppers, it looks IDENTICAL to a normal box of Tic Tacs until you remove the lid and show that it is in fact a solid block. My mind has been running wild with ways in which you can use this, and Jay has many handling ideas on the DVD... some of which draw focus to the Tic Tac box for a magic effect, and other's in which the magic occurs in a casual, non-performance setting. Either way, I'm extremely excited about this and I think you will be too.
Scar Tissue- In this, a corner is torn off of an old taxi receipt out of the magician's wallet, and the corner is impossibly fused to the back of the receipt! The corner has melted into the fibers of the card and it can be completely examined. Jay includes 5 specially printed taxi receipts that are printed on very thick high-quality stock and look totally legitimate... he even leaves all the spaces on the back of the card blank for you to fill out your own information. The taxi receipt is such an unassuming, normal, organic object, and the payoff of this effect is strong. The amount of handlings for this that Jay explains on the DVD is very overwhelming. You can tell he's put a ton of thought into this one. Only the 5 receipts are included, but most of the handlings Jay explains allow you to use the same card over and over again. You'll want to carry this one in your wallet immediately.
Metamorph- This is a gimmick that accomplishes a super visual change of a bill, playing card, or other paper object. Before I received The Gimmicks Lab, I had a sneaking suspicion of how this effect was accomplished, and I was correct. It is very useable and practical, but I can see many people being disappointed by the method. The method seems like a bit much for a bill change, but it is incredibly visual and leaves you completely clean with a completely examinable bill. While the method is a bit fidgety, Jay has provided many easy and practical ways of getting in and out of the effect. There are some clothing considerations, but these considerations will be no problem for most workers. At a first glance, I'm a bit underwhelmed by this one, but I'm also more than willing to give it a try and test it out. The gimmick has obviously been given some careful thought. Some of you will love this one, some of you won't.
Infiltrator- This gimmick is included as a bonus with The Gimmicks Lab and it's explained on the DVD as well. You are provided with a small starter pack of a new gimmick, co-created with Jeff Stone, that allows you to load any small object into a completely examinable sugar packet. I didn't expect what I got, and I was admittedly a bit disappointed at first... but then I watched the DVD, and it made me unbelievably excited to work this. You will use up one gimmick each time you perform this, but it's totally worth it. This is practical, workable, and devastatingly cool. The amount of powerful possibilities for Infiltrator are extremely exciting. As I stated, you do use up one gimmick each time you perform this, and you get a very small amount, but I'm sure there will be refills available on Sankey's website very soon. You can do everything from load a coin, ring, or folded card into the sealed sugar packet, to turning the sealed sugar packet inside out by magic without spilling a single grain of sugar, and so much more. Creative thinkers will have a field day with this one.
The Gimmicks Lab is easily Jay's best release of 2011. The amount of care and thought put into this project surpasses anything else he's put out this year. You are supplied with a DVD that is over two and a half hours long, as well as a multitude of gimmicks. These gimmicks, simply put, are wonderful. They have been beautifully crafted and are of a very high quality. My personal favourite of these included gimmicks is Maximum Capacity, for which the thinking behind the Omni Deck has been adapted to a Tic Tac box. Everything is nicely packaged and put together. I smiled when I got a peek at almost every single one of the gimmicks.
The DVD itself shows even more just how much work and effort Sankey has put into this project. At a running time of two and a half hours to explain 13 effects, he literally leaves no stone unturned. Every effect is explained excellently, and each one has at least a handful of different handlings. There will certainly be a handling that suits everyone's needs and styles. One minor quibble with the DVD: While it is beautifully detailed, I believe Jay would have benefited from a cameraman. He does the entire DVD on his own in an empty room, and instead of having a cameraman to pan up and down, Jay has to grab the camera and pull it around to pan down to the table or up to his face. In doing so, his hand briefly covers the microphone and the sound is briefly muffled. This does not really detract at all from the learning experience, but it's worthy of note for those who may be bothered by such an informal sort of production. Along with his careful explanations of all of the included effects, Jay also includes thoughtful and inspiring theory segments that discuss the psychological and social aspects of performing with gimmicks. I particularly liked the segment on "The Borrowed and the Found" which dissects the strenghs and weaknesses of using 'found' objects for magic as opposed to borrowed ones.
Here is a brief overview and my thoughts on each of the effects within The Gimmicks Lab:
Unholy- This gimmick is the perfect companion to Jay's famous effect Holy Moly, as it allows you to vanish the hole off a metal washer with no sleight of hand or funny moves. Jay has essentially taken the principle of the Chinatown Half coin gimmick and applied it to a washer, for which it works beautifully. In my pre-order set, Jay also kindly included a complete set of Holy Moly washers, and explains the handling of the effect which incorporates Unholy on the DVD. This gimmick is machined by Roy Kueppers and is beautifully made. It will last you forever. I think this is a beautiful, striking alternative to the original Holy Moly effect.
Maximum Capacity- Easily my favourite gimmick included in the set. In performance, a Tic Tac box is emptied of it's contents, and surprisingly transforms itself into a solid block of clear plastic like an Omni Deck. This gimmick is gorgeous. Again made by Roy Kueppers, it looks IDENTICAL to a normal box of Tic Tacs until you remove the lid and show that it is in fact a solid block. My mind has been running wild with ways in which you can use this, and Jay has many handling ideas on the DVD... some of which draw focus to the Tic Tac box for a magic effect, and other's in which the magic occurs in a casual, non-performance setting. Either way, I'm extremely excited about this and I think you will be too.
Scar Tissue- In this, a corner is torn off of an old taxi receipt out of the magician's wallet, and the corner is impossibly fused to the back of the receipt! The corner has melted into the fibers of the card and it can be completely examined. Jay includes 5 specially printed taxi receipts that are printed on very thick high-quality stock and look totally legitimate... he even leaves all the spaces on the back of the card blank for you to fill out your own information. The taxi receipt is such an unassuming, normal, organic object, and the payoff of this effect is strong. The amount of handlings for this that Jay explains on the DVD is very overwhelming. You can tell he's put a ton of thought into this one. Only the 5 receipts are included, but most of the handlings Jay explains allow you to use the same card over and over again. You'll want to carry this one in your wallet immediately.
Metamorph- This is a gimmick that accomplishes a super visual change of a bill, playing card, or other paper object. Before I received The Gimmicks Lab, I had a sneaking suspicion of how this effect was accomplished, and I was correct. It is very useable and practical, but I can see many people being disappointed by the method. The method seems like a bit much for a bill change, but it is incredibly visual and leaves you completely clean with a completely examinable bill. While the method is a bit fidgety, Jay has provided many easy and practical ways of getting in and out of the effect. There are some clothing considerations, but these considerations will be no problem for most workers. At a first glance, I'm a bit underwhelmed by this one, but I'm also more than willing to give it a try and test it out. The gimmick has obviously been given some careful thought. Some of you will love this one, some of you won't.
Infiltrator- This gimmick is included as a bonus with The Gimmicks Lab and it's explained on the DVD as well. You are provided with a small starter pack of a new gimmick, co-created with Jeff Stone, that allows you to load any small object into a completely examinable sugar packet. I didn't expect what I got, and I was admittedly a bit disappointed at first... but then I watched the DVD, and it made me unbelievably excited to work this. You will use up one gimmick each time you perform this, but it's totally worth it. This is practical, workable, and devastatingly cool. The amount of powerful possibilities for Infiltrator are extremely exciting. As I stated, you do use up one gimmick each time you perform this, and you get a very small amount, but I'm sure there will be refills available on Sankey's website very soon. You can do everything from load a coin, ring, or folded card into the sealed sugar packet, to turning the sealed sugar packet inside out by magic without spilling a single grain of sugar, and so much more. Creative thinkers will have a field day with this one.
