I was looking at a magic website recently and saw a magic trick called the 'Vanishing silk with wand.' I was wondering if any of you have bought this trick, and if so, would you recommend it?

Is this the one made by Viking Magic ? (Instant Silk Vanish Wand) .

I have it. When it works , it looks pretty good .

Sometimes it is possible to "miss" . It is also a little loud (snap) at the moment of the vanish , so you should use it on stage , not close to the audience.

The other thing to remember is it's a small silk (9" inch , maybe a 12" inch) .

There are probably better ways to vanish a silk .

I also have one and it does indeed work. However, it is certainly for a silk too small to use on stage (12" or less) and not good as a closeup trick.

As the silk importer, what I do like best is that it "eats" silks. You will need plenty of backup silks.

When you find a way to use it with a 24" silk even if it does destroy it, I'm interested. I wanted to use it for a different ending to Knots-Off Silk.

Bob Sanders
Magic By Sander

The old method was having a dowel or rod in a wand. The wand could be fatter and the dowel could be blunt and rounded and that might accomodate a 24" (as the dimension to vanish would only have to be half of the diagonal) without damaging it. Of course that's the old method.
The Viking: I happened to review that product for Robbins when Viking sent him the sample. I found it to be fairly flawed even though it was a good idea. It did eat silks and also had a failure rate of 70%.
It reminded me though of the instant silk to cane method where the "hookup" allowed you to merely touch a silk and have a cane appear. An 18" diagonal??
Now, if you could do the holdout method with a elastic and wire gimmick?

Thanks for all your input. I'm not experienced with stage magic yet, as I've just been performing a few tricks for family and friends for about a year. I think I'll hold off on purchasing this trick until I get some practice on stage.

Warren Stephens had a wand out that grabbed silk like the Viking Wand, but had the same problem of not hitting it 100 percent of the time.
In one show I used a silk on an elastic band up the sleeve holding the silk draping down from the hand and tapping it with the ungimmicked wand to make it disappear. The effect is the same but the only problem is it has to be used as an opener.

Yeah, it's one of those tricks which reads as pretty cool in the magic shop catalog , and when it works can look pretty cool (there's just something appealing about the idea of waving a wand and the handkerchief disappears instantly) but as I said before there are better ways to vanish a silk handkerchief (especially a small one ) . I purchased my Instant Silk Vanishing Wand in the grips of "magic shop fever" (watch out for that!) with the vague idea that I might use it in my magic shows, but despite it being a pretty, clever little effect to watch in the mirror I've never really found a use for it .

Did you actually mean the Instant Silk Vanishing Wand , as I assumed ? (there have been at least two models of this type of wand , one by Viking Magic, and a similar wand made by Warren Stephens as pointed out in the previous post ) . The reason I ask is because the other kind of silk vanish with a wand , the classical wand vanish that Magic Ian mentions above (you'll find it described in a lot of older magic books) is a fairly clever trick and is sure fire , though on the face of it not as flashy and visual as the Instant Silk Vanish Wand.

In the classical version the magician forms a small paper cone from a piece of newspaper and uses his wand to push the handkerchief into the cone . He waves the wand over the paper cone and when the cone is unrolled the handkerchief has vanished.

And there is another sure-fire way to vanish a silk handkerchief in that manner using a device commonly known as a "silk poke" . The effect (as the audience sees it ) is that the magician uses a small wand or a pencil to push a handkerchief into his fist or into a small paper cone or envelope . When the hand is opened the handkerchief has vanished , or the cone is unrolled and the handkerchief is gone .

For an instant , visual vanish you might want to consider a certain device which is commonly used for what has been called a "lamp chimney" vanish. ("lamp chimney" is an antiquated term, but the principle is still a good one for an instant, visual vanish of a handkerchief) . Again, you'll find this in many of the older books on conjuring. If you're new to magic you'll want to think about getting books like The Tarbell Course in Magic (8 volumes ! It's huge. You can buy them one at a time. ) or the less extensive , but excellent , Mark Wilson Course in Magic. Bill Tarr's books "Now you See it Now You Don't" and "101 Easy to Do Magic Tricks" also explains many classic principles for vanishing small objects like silk handkerchiefs.

I mention it because you said you are fairly new to magic . One of the best resources for learning magic is through good books. And one of the least expensive ! Dollar for dollar you'll get a lot more good magic from classic books like the Tarbell Course than from buying individual tricks at a magic shop.

The lamp chimney was the one I tried to describe with the holdout elastic. It is a devastating effect.
I love transition with silks, that's why I came up with Flagtastick. Utilizing two aspects of the appearing cane.
http://magicians.podbean.com/flagtastick/silk-flagtastick/

Hi , Ian,

Your Flagtastick effect is a great use for the appearing cane. Not many people walk around with canes anymore , but using it as a flagstaff makes perfect sense.

David,

Not only do I agree, but you are going to find that the top Vegas and TV magicians use it!

Ian is a genuine asset to the magic community. I love to watch him invent.

Bob Sanders
Magic By Sander

I quite agree.

Ian can do half-an-hour of magical entertainment with only the old Steel Ball & Tube trick that will blow you away. (at least it blew me away when I saw him demo'ing that venerable old trick in a magic shop one day) .

He really knows his stuff .

David Williamson has a method of vanishing a silk with a wand and a TT. It's pretty cool....and gutsy too!!!

Hello.
The 'Vanishing silk with wand' was created for Juan Mayoral, and is named 'Supersonic wand'. The effect is amazing. The vanish is in an instant, and you can do silk color changes with the wand too.
Is somebody is interested in this, I can give you the e-mail of Juan Mayoral. The supersonic wand is a great prop.
Regards:
Dany
http://www.magodany.com

I bought vanishing silk with wand from Bob Little. When I saw Bob do it I had to have have it. He did a great job of demoing it. I don't think he ever misses. Let's just say I miss a lot. I still think it is a great effect. It's actually one of those tricks that is just fun to play around with.

Mike