Price$20.00
Media TypeTrick
CategoryMentalism
Date AddedMay 07, 2009
Unleaded
Txema Gico and Devin Knight
(Based on 1 review)
A sheet of paper is torn from a pad, and you give the paper and along with a toothpick to a participant. You ask him to try to write his initials with the toothpick. Nothing shows up because there is no lead in toothpicks. You tell him you want him to mark the paper so it can't be switched. You hand him a REAL pencil and he writes his initials on a corner. This lets him see what real pencil writing looks like on the paper and also lets him see its just a normal piece of paper. A card is secretly selected and left face down on the table. NO FORCE. Nobody looks at it yet.
You ask the person to remove any toothpick from a box of toothpicks and to make sure there is no secret writing device concealed in it (such as lead). You claim you will channel a spirit who will cause the toothpick to act as a real pencil and write the name of the unknown card.
Performer closes his eyes and holds the toothpick against the paper. As he moves it, REAL PENCIL writing (automatic spirit-writing)appears on the paper. Remember the person's initials are right above the writing that appears. Finally the complete name of the card is written, say 5 Hearts. The face down card is turned over and seen to be the same. The Spirit has apparently channeled the name of the card and caused it to appear in penciled spirit-writing.
Remember there is nothing concealed in your hands and the spectators see the toothpick causing pencil writing to appear. There are no secret writers, chemicals of any kind, carbonless paper, carbon paper, nail writers, double writing, etc used. NO GIMMICKS of any kind!!! Your hands can be shown freely at anytime, and no amount of hand-burning will reveal the secret to an astute spectator.
B
BONUS: With UNLEADED you can do most any effect involving a nail-write WITHOUT using a nail-writer. All you need is a sheet of paper and an empty hand (really.) Yet anything can be predicted and shown to have been previously written on the paper.
Again NO GIMMICKS of any kind to do this.
Reviews
(Top ▲)
As a fan of spirit writing effects, I was excited when I saw the packaging of this effect. The cover illustration for this effect says, "A Nu-Way to Create Modern Day Spirit-Writing Without Chemicals."
Well, not exactly. There are no chemicals for us personally and physically to mix and use but this does not mean that the effect is not achieved through the use of specially (chemically) treated paper. (One wonders if words have lost their meaning.) The special pad has 48 sheets and so the effect can be performed 48 times.
The creators in their advertising do not seem to appreciate the difference between spirit writing, on the one hand, and automatic writing, on the other. The first is writing written by the spirits. The second is writing, inspired by the spirits but written by the medium/performer. Need I add that the performance of automatic writing, if not played for laughs, demands considerable acting ability. How would you act if a spirit had suddenly taken possession of your body and mind and was now writing a message through you? Do you think you could, as we say, pull it off?
The effect here, then, is not spirit writing but, instead, writing produced by the performer/medium using a toothpick as a writing tool. The creators confuse the two effects because the toothpick writing on the paper does (magically? supernaturally?) produce dark writing - and this is claimed to be a spirit effect. Yes, but this still is not writing by the spirits. So if you are thinking that the spirits will here be writing without the performer's assistance in forming the letters on the paper with a toothpick, you will be disappointed.
I must add that this could be an amusing novelty - as with the effects discussed in the first part of the instructions. Especially if played for laughs.
But as a serious spirit effect, I have to be honest: If I were watching this, I think my first guess at a method would be that this is a special paper that makes black marks when a toothpick is used to write on it. And, alas, I would be right.
Well, not exactly. There are no chemicals for us personally and physically to mix and use but this does not mean that the effect is not achieved through the use of specially (chemically) treated paper. (One wonders if words have lost their meaning.) The special pad has 48 sheets and so the effect can be performed 48 times.
The creators in their advertising do not seem to appreciate the difference between spirit writing, on the one hand, and automatic writing, on the other. The first is writing written by the spirits. The second is writing, inspired by the spirits but written by the medium/performer. Need I add that the performance of automatic writing, if not played for laughs, demands considerable acting ability. How would you act if a spirit had suddenly taken possession of your body and mind and was now writing a message through you? Do you think you could, as we say, pull it off?
The effect here, then, is not spirit writing but, instead, writing produced by the performer/medium using a toothpick as a writing tool. The creators confuse the two effects because the toothpick writing on the paper does (magically? supernaturally?) produce dark writing - and this is claimed to be a spirit effect. Yes, but this still is not writing by the spirits. So if you are thinking that the spirits will here be writing without the performer's assistance in forming the letters on the paper with a toothpick, you will be disappointed.
I must add that this could be an amusing novelty - as with the effects discussed in the first part of the instructions. Especially if played for laughs.
But as a serious spirit effect, I have to be honest: If I were watching this, I think my first guess at a method would be that this is a special paper that makes black marks when a toothpick is used to write on it. And, alas, I would be right.