GHOST BILLS

This new instructional dvd by Andrew Mayne is the finest, most visual, and stunning piece of magic I have seen in over a decade.

There are 3 phases to the routine, in which you borrow 2 bills of different value. The effects are numerous penetrations of the bills.

Literally the bills melt through one another. Down right jaw dropping!

The best thing yet is the bills can be borrowed, inspected before and after the effect instantly.

The dvd is inexpensive and you will not be disappointed.

Oh, the trick is not difficult to learn. His explanation is wonderful and very detailed.
Another high quality production as well.

I highly reccommend it. http://www.weirdthings.com

Get it!!!

I just recieved mine today. What eddiekap says is true. It is one of the very few but easy impromptu illusions that you can do. Not only that but you start and end clean with NO gimmicks whatsoever. My variation on the trick is to have the people you borrow the bills from to sign them and to write down the serial #'s to have for when you finish to prove that they are really their bills. It is surely a jaw dropper to laymen.

Does anyone know where I can see a preview of this trick?

Hocus-Pocus.com

I loved this trick. Its a great impromptu trick and very easy to perform.

This got a great review at http://www.online-visions.com and I'm looking forward to purchasing it when I get some extra cash.

K.C.

I just got this 3 days ago. I have not performed it yet but this looks to be a modern day close up totally impromptu masterpiece.

No funny moves, no switches, no gaffs, no magnets, no thread, no nothing but an impossible looking effect that uses two borrowed bills and that's so simple in set up you will wonder what took soooo long for anyone to come up with this.

Congratulations to Andrew Mayne.

Ghost Bills is a nice little trick. It is not a great mystery that will have people slapping their foreheads and exclaiming aloud. It is almost a throwaway trick. Something you will do when you are caught out and someone asks you to “do a trick” and you decide that you will. It is totally impromptu and will work with any bills (Euros, Peso’s, Drachmas, Rubles, whatever!). It can even be performed using simple slips of contrasting paper.

The DVD gives you a basic three-phase routine. Mr. Mayne’s handling is fairly closed and appears cumbersome to me. After learning the principle and playing with a couple of bills for a while you will discover that the trick can be done with the hands fairly open. You will find that you don’t need four fingers to mask anything! Using one finger does all the “work” you need.

There is a little “get ready” and “clean-up” however both are built right into the handling. The get ready appears as a simple one-handed gesture with the folded bill in the hand. It is almost as if you are demonstrating to the spectator how they should fold their bill. That’s it. It takes longer to describe than to actually perform. The “clean-up” is done by simply opening the bills.

There are angles to watch while performing.

The mechanics of the trick are easy to learn. Finding the proper presentation will take a bit more time. You will also find yourself playing with the idea using other objects to pull the little illusion off. For example, I have used contrasting colored paper cut to dollar bill size, I have borrowed a stick of gum and had the wrapper penetrate the folded foil that the gum is wrapped in, and I have used a borrowed bill and a slip of torn newspaper to penetrate it.

It is a clever use of an old principle. The principle was used years ago (back in the late 30’s and still used today) for a thumb tie trick it was also used in the 70’s for a bill through rubber band trick.

Bottom line, this is a clever, always ready, totally impromptu trick using borrowed items. Once you have learned it and have built your own routine it will be with you forever.

I just received this and the thinking behind it is genius. I love it. Totally impromptu, borrow any two bills, happens right in the spectator's face, no gimmicks at all. Just you and the spectator's bills. At the last part even the spectator can hold on to one of the bills as you pull the other bill through. It's awesome. It can even be performed surrounded with a variation Andrew Mayne includes at the end. Not only that, the routine is oh-so-easy and there's just one move that needs a pretty significant amount of practice.

Highly recommended by me.

I received this last night as well...and it is everything that everyone is saying - An impromptu gem that will have a special place in your repitoire for those tough times when your caught without anything and people want to see great magic.

Andrew Mayne's handling of the effect is a bit closed up...it really looks like he is hiding something (i notice probably because I am a magician) but the moves and cover ups could easily be done with 1 or 2 fingers instead of the whole hand.

Overall - Great effect and it will be with me forever because of the fact that it's impromptu.

I've just seen the DVD and I think it's great
As others said, totally impromptu and there is just one move which requires a bit of practice but it doesn't seem hard at all.
I've tried in front of a mirror and it's wonderful

Highly recommended.

Cheers,
Gio

I must be missing something...I watched the clip on hocus-pocus.com and don't even know what is supposed to happen. Bills are placed together, then they are pulled apart. Whatever magic is supposed to be happening is pretty subtle.

The video clip does not do it justice, believe me, you won't be sorry if you get it. Plus its inexpensive!


If I were to buy it now, the reviews it has gotten would be enough to sell me.

This is indeed a nice little piece of impromptu magic, but I feel I should give a word of warning to anyone wishing to perform it with UK currency.

It doesn't work as well as it does doing it with US dollars.

I am not saying it doesn't work at all, and in my opinion was still worth the price as apart from anything else I really do like the idea, but there are two issues that make it a little suspect in places when using UK currency.

Once you know what it is about you can use almost any kind of paper, i.e., torn bits of newspaper, coupons, play money, or just about anything that has the right proportions.

Foil chewing gum wrappers work well, In fact for a mini-miracle that is totally impromptu, take a stick of gum, unwrap it, pop the gum into your mouth and start chewing it, take re assemble the foil wrapper into it’s original shape and have it penetrate the paper portion of the gum wrapper.

If you want and with just a little thought (and knowing a bit of Sanky), you can end by having the gum restored back to original condition within the wrapper (at least that is how I have been playing it). It’s the same trick, different items.

Or you can use two pipe cleaners or wire bag twist tie and finish the trick by doing a thumb tie. Oh wait! That’s been done already! That’s the old (1930’s) “Jaspernese Thumb Tie” that Jay Marshall put out and Mack King performs (using twist ties). It’s the same secret move but for different outcomes/effects.

Well I've done this with a £10 and £20 note and had no problem.

And as Harry says, once you know the effect,you aren't limited to performing it with money.

I love the effect, and it gets terrific reactions.

That said, I found the instruction on the DVD disappointing. For one thing, it's divided into so many little chapter -- some of them only moments long -- that it's cumbersome.

For another, I also found it cumbersome to learn the effect strictly from the audience's point of view. Seeing the entire three-phase routine from over-the shoulder would have been an enormous improvement in the instruction, and I can think of no reason that it couldn't have been included.

--Josh

I was recently in Canada and instead of waiting an hour to exchange my money, kept a $5 and $10 in Canadian money. One is purple and one is blue. They rock for this effect. Super visual. So if you are in Canada, take two dollars and trade them in for a canadian $5 and $10 and you are set.

I prefer the alternate handling....that is with the audience looking down as the bills penetrate. It's much more angle friendly, and IMHO the handling is much more open as the thumb is the only digit needed for cover. A great effect at a great price!! Thanks Andrew!

Cheers,
Harv

I envy all who has this effect. I'm getting this effect soon..

http://www.weirdthings.com