Price$19.95
Media TypeBook
CategoryClose Up, Mentalism
Date AddedAug 06, 2009
Stone Frixion Fire
Jeff Stone
Stone Cold Magic
(Based on 3 reviews)
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Stone Frixion Fire Today!
At first glance, Stone Frixion Fire plumbs the depths of what can be accomplished with these ingenious pens to entertain your audience. But it goes farther: it cultivates directions in which these pens can take your performing. The effects presented are smooth and very reachable for nearly any performer. Good, solid material all the way around.....and that'll never disappear!
With the coming of Frixion to America, now is the time to ride the wave. Stone Frixion Fire is the most comprehensive study of this fascinating new tool for magicians. This book covers every aspect of the Frixion Pen imaginable. From simple things like where to get them and how to conceal their use from the audience to things that you cannot even imagine. For just a couple of bucks at a stationary store, you can purchase a tool that will revolutionize your magic.
This may sound like hype to you, but once you read this book, you'll see how powerful this is. Imagine making a drawing on a piece of paper come to life, literally. What about turning a picture of money into the real thing visually with no sleight of hand. How 'bout a picture of a scrambled cube that can be examined. This same picture visibly solves itself, no switches. The spectator can keep it. With over 20 effects, ideas and contributions from Wesley James, Brad Gordon, Diamond Jim Davis and more, you will be richly fed with clever and original presentations and performance ideas.
If -as the saying goes- 'God is in the details' then Jeff's book, Stone Frixion Fire, is one of the more divine little manuscripts I've read in a long time. He breaks down everything from presentations to crediting with the fervor of an obsessive 16th-century monk. Best of all, he also shares some extremely MAGICAL effects!
-Jay Sankey
Reviews
(Top ▲)
As an amateur magician, I don't know all the history of magic or all the effects out there. When I look for magic, I want bang for my buck, and a jumping off point for creating my own magic. I look for magic that provides principles and ideas as rough drafts. That's EXACTLY what you'll get with this book. Not all the ideas as fleshed out, and some are. You get the secret to these wonderful pens, and thoughts on how to make drawings change in front of people's very eyes. You can make drawn objects turn into real objects and so much more. I could go on for hundreds of words about this book. Just buy it. I can't say anything bad about it. I have come up with dozens of my own handlings and original content based upon the frixion principle. What you are getting is an outline to create what to me looks like the closest you can get to real magic. If you like creating your own original effects, you'll love this book.
(Top ▲)
The oddly-named booklet "Stone Frixion Fire," is an exploration of effects that one can achieve by careful and thoughtful use of the Frixion ballpoint pen. It's an adequately produced 84-page, wire-bound half-sized booklet. Stone has applied the appropriate amount of attention to the production details, and it is better than many books that are rushed to market.
And I do feel that this booklet was probably rushed to market. There are plenty of magic books that contain untested ideas, and Stone Frixion Fire is no exception. While it's advertised as being exhaustive and solid, several of the effects are the result of "dinking around" and others are added because Stone thought them up while editing the manuscript. I do give him credit for admitting this, but still, as a purchaser I'd be happier if more effort had been made to separate the wheat from the chaff. For example, a list of words that one might be able to disguise within drawings isn't very helpful when the advice given amounts to "figure out how by yourself."
That said, there are plenty of good ideas and concepts for you to explore. If you can see past the lack of depth, and are willing to overlook that Stone admits to not doing any research until the book was essentially finished, you'll have a good time reading this book. The language and tone is very casual, and Stone's whole intent is to "stir creativity," which he definitely achieves.
If you're interesting in using Frixion-based effects that are more than just stunts or oddities, this book is worth its reasonable price, but you might find yourself wishing that Stone had applied his obsession in a more studious fashion. You probably can't do any better when it comes to this nascent topic, so if you must dive-in, this is a good place to start.
And I do feel that this booklet was probably rushed to market. There are plenty of magic books that contain untested ideas, and Stone Frixion Fire is no exception. While it's advertised as being exhaustive and solid, several of the effects are the result of "dinking around" and others are added because Stone thought them up while editing the manuscript. I do give him credit for admitting this, but still, as a purchaser I'd be happier if more effort had been made to separate the wheat from the chaff. For example, a list of words that one might be able to disguise within drawings isn't very helpful when the advice given amounts to "figure out how by yourself."
That said, there are plenty of good ideas and concepts for you to explore. If you can see past the lack of depth, and are willing to overlook that Stone admits to not doing any research until the book was essentially finished, you'll have a good time reading this book. The language and tone is very casual, and Stone's whole intent is to "stir creativity," which he definitely achieves.
If you're interesting in using Frixion-based effects that are more than just stunts or oddities, this book is worth its reasonable price, but you might find yourself wishing that Stone had applied his obsession in a more studious fashion. You probably can't do any better when it comes to this nascent topic, so if you must dive-in, this is a good place to start.
(Top ▲)
First, some disclosure is in order: I'm actually a consultant for Jeff......heck, I wrote a big ole' hunk of the ad copy you'll find touting this book. I do some copy editing for him as well as a bit of old fashioned proof reading from time to time. He compensates me with product.
So, you're thinking, "Well, you won't write a fair review." ....and I'm saying right back to ya: "Sure, I will. .....cause when it comes to magic, you don't know just how mean I can be." (at this point, it'd be fun for me to tear into this book like a toddler tears into a brand new pack of Bicycle red backs- - -but there's just one sticky wicket: the book is good).
Seriously, this book is innovative. Really....as in "exploring uncharted depths" and all that schlock. Frixion pens are clever little gizmos that make the old Eraser Mates look like goose-feather quills. This book dives DEEP into all of it: what the pens look like, how you'll have to be mindful of that, etc.
There're some real classy bits to this book: it has a gorgeous table of contents (no, that isn't a joke- -tables of contents are rarely seen in the wild these days, if you hadn't noticed). Jeff does an INTENSE literature review covering who's written what and what they did/didn't cover about these pens up to the moment of this book's publication......that is a truly classy thing that is so commonly overlooked in modern magicdom. To say that coverage is exhaustive is an understatement.....I had to take a nap after reading that section.....he doesn't miss a sentence that anyone has written about using these pens.
But, here's the great news: as of this writing, the pens are so new, Jeff's book is huge compared to others' writings. He goes into how heat effects the ink and how cold affects it also.
The actual effects are so simple, but entertaining....you'll have fun just doing them alone. Great magic has a certain "Everyman" appeal to it......it speaks to a roomful of 10 year-olds as readily as to a theater full of middle-aged adults...this book runneth over with just those sorts of things. These are the kinds of effects that will spawn 20 additional effects in your own imagination. Jeff Stone might become the Aristotle of magic with Frixion pens.......there, I said it.
Sankey calls Jeff's fervor for these pens "obsessive".....I call it beautiful. You need this book. That's why I wrote this review. Great magic can never be erased!
So, you're thinking, "Well, you won't write a fair review." ....and I'm saying right back to ya: "Sure, I will. .....cause when it comes to magic, you don't know just how mean I can be." (at this point, it'd be fun for me to tear into this book like a toddler tears into a brand new pack of Bicycle red backs- - -but there's just one sticky wicket: the book is good).
Seriously, this book is innovative. Really....as in "exploring uncharted depths" and all that schlock. Frixion pens are clever little gizmos that make the old Eraser Mates look like goose-feather quills. This book dives DEEP into all of it: what the pens look like, how you'll have to be mindful of that, etc.
There're some real classy bits to this book: it has a gorgeous table of contents (no, that isn't a joke- -tables of contents are rarely seen in the wild these days, if you hadn't noticed). Jeff does an INTENSE literature review covering who's written what and what they did/didn't cover about these pens up to the moment of this book's publication......that is a truly classy thing that is so commonly overlooked in modern magicdom. To say that coverage is exhaustive is an understatement.....I had to take a nap after reading that section.....he doesn't miss a sentence that anyone has written about using these pens.
But, here's the great news: as of this writing, the pens are so new, Jeff's book is huge compared to others' writings. He goes into how heat effects the ink and how cold affects it also.
The actual effects are so simple, but entertaining....you'll have fun just doing them alone. Great magic has a certain "Everyman" appeal to it......it speaks to a roomful of 10 year-olds as readily as to a theater full of middle-aged adults...this book runneth over with just those sorts of things. These are the kinds of effects that will spawn 20 additional effects in your own imagination. Jeff Stone might become the Aristotle of magic with Frixion pens.......there, I said it.
Sankey calls Jeff's fervor for these pens "obsessive".....I call it beautiful. You need this book. That's why I wrote this review. Great magic can never be erased!