Count me in

Tim,
That's a great idea.....count me in!


Patrick,
My thoughts exactly!

:)

This would be the best of all possible scenarios, in my opinion. While I am not the biggest fan of having people sign face cards, it can be done. This type of approach addresses all sorts of concerns (availability, price, doing it multiple times when performing strolling at parties, and so on).

Count me in as well. As mentioned, I have 50 refills but I think it's worth it to have more, esp. at this price point.

Great idea. (Just got a Zippo lighter for this effect.)

Robert

The full Red deck at approx $25 would be a winner.....

Plus each time you perform the card is different. Great idea Tim.

Count me in! I'm good for at least 2 decks.

If we do put out a Twilight Angel Deck it will have all of the various cards in a normal deck with red Bicycle Twilight Angel backs. What else would you like to see in the deck (in lieu of the ad cards and/or the jokers)... it could be two double backers and one or two normal cards OR it could just be 2 double backs and the jokers are also Twilight Angel Cards OR all 56 could be Twilight Angel cards (no double backers). Please advise. You feedback is appreciated. It can probably come in in the $20-$25 range.

Tim

How about two decks (one red, one blue) for $40?

I would spend $40 on that. $25 for one deck seems a little pricey when Bicycle doesn't have to even change the face of the cards, and can print the same back to every card in the deck. (For example, the UltraGaff deck, in which almost every card has to be a special print is only $30.)

What about ordering in greater quantities from Bicycle? Would that help lower the cost and allow selling for a lower price?

You can always use another double backer, so one or two of those would be great. As for the other two, I'd love to have two more unique gaff cards. Perhaps two Twilight Angel cards without the second angel? Or one without the second angel and another with something new and interesting?

I think a double-backer with a Twilight Angels back on one side...and a regular back on the other has some interesting possibilities.

Totally agree. That'd be a nice one to have and would an easy one to print. Basically, I'd just love a couple of cards that expanded the functionality of the effect in some way or opened up new possibilities.

All that would allow you to do is a more complicated handling of Twilight Angels and they wouldn't get a neat give-away at the end. I don't find any reason to have a double backer with one side gaffed for Twilight Angels. Am I missing something?

A good observation Patrick...and I agree that "a more complicated handling of Twilight Angels" is not needed...and a double-backer makes a REALLY bad giveaway. We would prefer that the whole idea of a card with two backs never occurs to the general public. But then since people were saying what "extra" gaffs they might like in an entire DECK of Twilight Angel gaffs, my comment was that I would find the double-backer interesting as an extra. Partly because it is different than all the others. The ones that are the same will tend to be used in the same way...the different one may lead to something unexpected. I would not be trying to do Twilight Angels with it...since Paul has already pretty much perfected it as it is. In fact, I have no idea what I might do with it...and that is the fun of it for me. I'd play with it. Play is an important part of the creative process, and often it has no real goal in mind. It is a sort of discovery activity, and often where it ends up has nothing to do with where you started. And sometimes, when you get something, like a particular gaff, into your hands you discover things that would not occur to you in its absence. In fact, I like to leave the materials of such play lying around my house...because getting your hands on things tends to spark more ideas than just sitting around trying to visualize the next miracle.

We can just play the "what if" game...suppose you have your entire deck of Twilight Angel cards..with a double backer at the back showing an ordinary back...face up Hindu shuffle, flashing the regular back (ala 'Joker Poker') double undercut the reg. back to the back of the deck (back where you started) Run a thumb across the edge of the deck and back-slip the card to where a spectator stops you...cut that stock to the top...turn over a double (reversing the double backer and setting up a freely chosen card for Twilight Angels) turn your wrist to conceal the TA side of the double backer as you table the deck face-up...do TA with the card you pushed off from the face-up double. Set the mirror on the tabled deck as you show the card to the spectator (oops I should not have done that..)or maybe just wave the TA card over the tabled deck...and you can ribbon spread the deck face down to show all the backs have acted in sympathy with the selected card (which you can still give away)

Certainly that idea is not as simple and pure (or nearly as good) as the Twilight Angels effect alone...but who knows? Some laymen might even like the punchline. Things have to be played with and tried out in the world...they work and grow or they don't. Behind all creative people is a trail of discarded failed ideas. It is a bit like panning for gold...you have to go through a LOT of muck and mud to find a few nuggets. The TA set (along with many other works by inventive individuals) has handed out a lot of nuggets with the mud washed away by years of work.

In any case, there is one idea for such a gaff off the top of my head...so there must be other things that might come up if I had it in my hands. And if not...well, still plenty of mud and muck out there.

best regards,
Patrick Snowden

You always have amazing posts...

What I meant by the give-away was not the double backer, it was the card that would have had the angels moved and then moved back (I was assuming that if you had a double backer with one side gaffed, that you would pretend that card is their face down signed card and you would perform the effect with it and then switch it back for their signed card after and change the angels back and give that away. That's what I meant by it'd be more complicated and they wouldn't get a nice give-away (since it's a normal card).

Patrick Snowden does have amazing posts! And how about Tensegrity, I could listen to Patrick explain things all day long. Such a wonderful sounding voice.

Agreed! Patrick should be doing voice overs in Hollywood.

One of those Twilight Angel decks for me also! A whole deck of these gimmicks for 20$ sounds like a great deal.

-Aleksi

In for one, here too!

I was utterly stunned to hear that most people didn't think much of Twilight Angels until this set came out . . . I've had the original trick for several years . . . and while it does have a powerful effect on women as Paul humorously points out in the Art of Astonishment books (one of them anyway) . . . I showed it to a couple of magician buddies locally a few years ago when I first bougth it and they were equally captivated by it . . . they kept staring at the card afterward like whoa . . . that's so neat.

You really would need a full deck of those to do a giveaway, which is something I've thought about. But being the crazy devil may care soul I was when I first bought it . . . must have been 2005 I guess and I was working in a McDonald's . . . showed it to one of the girls there who liked my magic . . . I actually tried to give it to her because her response was so strong . . . thinking I would order another one in the future maybe . . . or that I would just stick to using the mirror for the Twilight coin trick from then on . . . but she wouldn't take it . . . she was like, oh no . . . I don't want to take your card . . . but that really does get the strongest reactions of just about any trick I've ever done. It's amazing. To me it looks like a beautiful work of art . . . it just has that feel to it.

This may be an unpopular view . . . but I think the original handling might be the strongest to a lay audience . . . the handlings on the DVD set are impressive, but the original method as I recall was simply to have the gaffed card on the bottom of the deck, to get a two-card break and lift off the deck showing that double . . . and then to replace the deck on top . . . sliding that single bottom card out just a little bit at an angle so it looks normal and then proceeding with the mirror.

Odd thing . . . last time I was at Wal-Mart I couldn't find a Zippo lighter . . . and they told me they no longer sell them . . . I wonder why. I thought that was an ingenious way of giving the reflection.

But borrowing someone's cell phone and letting them see the reflection in there . . . although it is not as clear as a pocket mirror or whatnot . . . it's still a pretty strong effect.

I would buy a couple of full decks of all different faces of Red Backed Twilight Angels. That would work with the way I perform. Thanks.

ACE