Tonight on World news Now, a new toy called, "Sqand" Sand was demonstrated. It is sand that is dry outside of water and can be formed in a pile in water. comes in various colors for children. Get it at any toy store like Toys R Us. Sells for around $15.00. This will be under the Christmas tree for many young children.

Looks like Sands of the Desert has come to an end of life as a magic effect. Science has brought a feature trick for many famous and not famous magicians to an end.

Yes, this product has been around in kids toy shops for years. I remember it being sold as 'Magic Sand'. As it was a relatively unknown sort of toy it didn't stop the 'Sands of the Desert' being performed but if it's relaunched and getting a lot of publicity it could do to the 'Sands of the Desert' what the 'Trick Stick' did for the 'Dancing Cane' in the UK in the late 70's and 80's.

I know there was other toy products previously, but this stuff looks even better. It is finer sand, instantly becomes solid as it hits the water and streams like silly string in the can. Very cool to see the instant transformation when it hits the water. The demonstration person had the sand in a plastic squeeze bottle. Said it could be reused and be put back in the bottle.

Don't need a room full of kids yelling I got that at home, and I can do it. So the magician says, Okay, you come up and remove the sand. And they do!

Well it looks like the kind of thing that could easily catch on and become the next 'thing to have' for the kids... in which case it might well be curtains for the Sands of the Desert trick for a generation or more. Performers who have this trick as a feature in their set will presumably be hoping for more reviews like this one below from a Walmart customer, that I stumbled across when googling Sqand, in the hope it doesn't catch on!

Terrible 7/7/2016
Customer review by Proudmom8
1.0 stars by Proudmom8
My daughter received this as a gift two days ago. Says on the box that the sand comes out of the water dry...not true. Also says on the box, " no mess and easy clean up". Also not true. If you accidentally spill sand into tank above the water it just floats there and looks a mess. If you try pushing it down under the water in hopes it will fall to the bottom it just sticks to whatever you're trying to push it down with. This was pretty much worthless. Hoping my daughter can use the tank and cute mermaid as a fish bowl or something like that. Don't waste your money on this product.

I can't imagine this being a typical review though. But what I can imagine is kids pestering their parents to buy this... but the toy market is a hard one for any product to crack so it'll be interesting to see how this one penetrates into the market and how it affects those that perform the Sands of the Desert trick. I can see the novelty of the sand coming out the water dry and the shapes you can make it into underwater having a very short interest span for most kids.

I remember thinking the Sands of the Desert was likely disappear as a trick back in the 1980's when Magic Sand came out... but just in this past year I've seen several magicians get a pretty good reaction from it

Either way it's good that this has brought this to magicians' attention here on the Café as it's always helpful to be ahead of the curve regarding any 'secret' that might be about to seep into and install itself into public awareness.

This stuff has been out in one form or another for over twenty years. It's never really caught on as it's a really messy toy with apparently limited appeal.

First time my wife saw this effect performed on TV, she knew exactly what it was and said some of her makeup stuff is made of that.

You can make your own with a bag of colored sand & a spray can of Scotchguard.

Steve

Some clever magician will use that principle in a different way and fool all those who knew how it worked.


David

Sqand didn't satisfy me. What can be used best?

I believe there is a description of making it from sand and paraffin wax in "Greater Magic".

It is best to buy the magic effect. Then you know it works. Problem is shipping is a lot more then the trick because of the weight of the sand.

I tried it as a young teen, with sand and paraffin, It was messy. I would not recommend it if you're doing three shows a day!

I've only seen it done successfully ONCE, by Harry Blackstone Jr., BUT, he had assistants to pack it, etc.

Doug Henning did it in one of his TV specials.

Doug Henning performed it in his first TV special, starting at 27:37

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4jIdz8WzLc