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Souvenir

White, Henri

World Magic Shop

(Based on 2 reviews)
"Beautiful, Elegant & Totally Impossible"
Nicholas Lawrence - Sensor Magic

Henri White Presents The Souvenir

A chosen card is signed by the spectator.

The centre of the card is torn out.

The very same card is then visibly linked onto the stem of a borrowed wine glass.

The linked card and the glass can then be fully examined.

No Duplicates - Simple - Elegant - Truly Baffling

Reviews

Doc Johnson

Official Reviewer

Feb 24, 2016

PROS

This is a beautiful routine with an awesome method!

In the routine, a participant selects a card. You fold the card in half and tear out a small center piece. The card is placed on the stem of a wine glass and like magic it becomes permanently linked to the glass.

The routine is true to the ad copy. You really do link a selected card to the stem of a wine glass, and the card and wine glass can be examined.

The method is excellent! It will take a few minutes to prepare the gimmicked card in advance, and there is a force of the card. However, the card is signed on the face and the face is completely normal and the spectators casually see the back of the card and it looks completely normal. There is a relatively simple sleight involved in showing the card on both sides.

The effect can’t be done completely surrounded, but you can have the audience in a near 180 degree arc in front of you and to the sides.

The difficulty level is pretty simple. Anyone who can do beginner level sleights can do this with just a bit of practice.

CONS

This does require creating a gimmick card in advance. He says he can make one in a minute. I would say it takes around five minutes. It’s not difficult.

The other potential problem is that if you perform at a restaurant or bar or at a wedding ceremony, you have just created an incredible souvenir, as the effect title implies, but the only way for them to take this home with them is to steal the glass! If you are performing at a wedding, the bride and groom may have their own engraved champagne glasses. However, check out the suggestions section in case you would like to leave them with an awesome souvenir that does not involve a wine glass.

VERDICT

Excellent routine with an awesome method that creates a most astounding souvenir!


Suggestions

This is an awesome effect with a fantastic method! However, the biggest drawback is that if you are performing this at a restaurant or a bar, it is not really a souvenir unless the participant steals the glass. I tried a slightly different idea that worked so well, tears were streaming.

So, here is the idea to leave the participant or participants with an awesome souvenir just might be better than anniversary waltz! Place the gimmick card on the bottom of the deck. Make it a number heart card. In the middle of the deck place a corner cut key card with a number heart card above it. Select a couple from the audience. Take a pinkie break above the key card. You riffle the deck and have one of them say stop and you separate the cards, showing the force heart number card in the middle of the deck. Cut the deck so that the selected card is on the bottom. Turn the deck over. Have them write their first name on the top edge of the face of the card. Fold the card in half and tear out the inside of the card, leaving a frame. Unlike the DVD, you are going to tear out a rather large portion of the card, around half the card, leaving a frame that is around ½ inch thick. You can experiment with wider or narrower frames. Fold the card lengthwise and even out the tear or pretend to even out the tear. Set this aside. Feel for the gimmick card that is now in the middle of the deck, and take a pinkie break under it. Have the other participant say stop as you riffle. Separate the cards at the gimmick card and cut the deck so this card is on the bottom of the deck. Turn the cards over and have the other person write their name on the top edge of the face of the card. Fold this card down in half and tear out roughly the same center amount, leaving a frame. Fold it lengthwise and even out the tear a bit or pretend to even it out. Unfold the card with the gimmick side up in your hand, hidden from view. Take the other card and link it to the first card under the cover of your hand. Complete the link and show the two cards “apparently linked”, with your fingers covering the point of the link. The audience will think you have just pretended to link them.

If this is a couple on their wedding night, you have an opportunity to leave them with something they can use the rest of their lives by saying something like: “You are two individuals, but now you are also a team, with an inseparable bond. Throughout your lives together, you will face challenges. Some of those challenges will try to pull you apart. When that happens, I want you to remember this magical day that brought you together to stay strong and united as a team…”

Let one card drop from your grip, revealing they are really linked. Hand them the linked cards.

The reason I think this is stronger than Anniversary Waltz is they can frame these two linked card and see both of their names. During difficult times, they could come back to these as a reminder of the magic of their bond as a strong united team.

In fact, if you would like to present the bride and groom a more significant gift, you can get a nice frame, perhaps with a heart shaped matt and place the linked cards into the frame.
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Josh Burch

Jan 19, 2016

I carry a wine glass at many of my walk around gigs. I feel like it adds to the elegance of the magic and gives it a real stage that is visible to a large crowd. For this reason I hoped that Souvenir would fit my performance style.

For those who aren’t aware in this effect a card is signed, a hole is ripped in the middle of the card and it is impossibly connected to the stem of the wine glass. The wine glass is completely normal, it can be borrowed and I imagine that the there are many other things that you could link the card onto. You could link it to basically anything that had a long thin piece for example a chain link fence, a handle on a bag or drawer, a necklace and so on.

The method is solid, it is something that has come into popularity in recent years, Adam Wilber has work with this principle as well as Ben Williams. This gimmick isn’t a wild new concept, but the effect and presentation are fairly original.

You will have to make your own gaffs, this is the hardest part. The instructions to do so are straightforward but it is still a difficult, even frustrating process. It will take a lot of practice if you plan on doing this a lot.

The second hardest part is the actual performance. There is a bit of dirty work you must do in the open, Henri performs it beautifully. Mind you it will take a little practice as well. The idea here is to leave the audience with a beautiful impossible object but there are times where the quality of your gimmick may leak some of the method.

I think that this would be best if magicians could buy a set of refill gaffs. The gaffs aren’t impossible to make yourself it just will take some time. This is a beautiful, professional looking, reputation making piece of magic. It will take a professional amount of preparation to get perfect as well.
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