Price$10.00
Media TypeTrick
CategoryClose Up
Date AddedJun 28, 2024
Silk to Frog
Alan Wong
(Based on 1 review)
Magician (You) bring out a small green silk. Ask the spectator to think if a small green animal from a pond that starts with the letter 'F'
Most people will say FROG and then you push the silk into the fist.
Cup your hands together and peep in between your fingers pretending you see something is changing.
Ask spectator to blow on the hands and then open them up to show the silk has changed into a little toy frog.
Adult optional opening : Ask someone to think of a four letter word which begins with the letter 'F'. You can make up the rest using your own creativity.
Scarf Dimensions Approximately 8" x 8 1/4" (20.32cm x 20.95cm)
Frog Dimensions Approximately 2" x 1 1/4" (5.08cm x 3.175cm)
Reviews
(Top ▲)
Overview
This is a weird one. I'm essentially reviewing 7 products at once. They're all they same effect just different props. Most of the review will be identical between all 7 versions, but with slight differences where warranted. Is it / are they gem or is it / are they rubble? Stay tuned to find out.Effect
The magician tucks a silk into his hand, and it changes into a toy animal that can (theoretically) be handed out. What animal you may ask?Sure, a pumpkin's not an animal, but like all animals, you can eat it, so close enough.
Method
Well I just say this, you're supplied with two duplicate animals. One is examinable, and one is not. The method is a non-wearable common way one might vanish a silk. Stuffed duck is delicious. Wink, wink.Then you have to make a little (secret) trade.
The problem is that in all cases there not real method for the swap is really taught. More in the product quality.
The vanish works great, and is effective, but you'll likely have to come up with your own method of allowing things to be examinable.
Product Quality
In addition to the two animals, you're also supplied with a silk that matches the color of the animal, or in the case of th pumpkin, you get a black silk, but an orange pumpkin. Also, the panda silk is black and white and a bit larger. The other silks are the same size as typical TT silk.All of the silks are the same quality as the aforementioned TT silks.
The plastic toys are great. The only issue I had was with the rabbit. It doesn't squeak like it's supposed to. The instructional video shows it squeaking. Mine does not. Otherwise, the quality of the props is great.
The issue, however, in all cases is the instructions.
Duck, rabbit, frog, and panda all have 2 ish minute videos.
Pig, and puppy have a one page sheet of images with no text.
Pumpkin has a video link, but the video doesn't work.
The videos show a walk through from the performer's perspective. They show the gimmicked toy being palmed, but in some cases, poorly. Then in all cases, "vanishing" the silk and revealing the toy is awkward looking and not magical looking. There is no speaking, just video, so no explanation is given.
Then after revealing the animal has appeared, they show the performer pick up the non-gimmicked toy off the table and openly put it into finger palm in preparation for one of the worst looking / worst "taught" shuttle passes.
Anyone new to magic would be lost. We can assume that the intent was to secretly get the non-gimmicked one into finger palm from a pocket or something, but the timing, and handling of this is critical, and nothing of the sort was taught.
The ones with just paper (no video) "instructions" are even worse. If I didn't know what a shuttle pass was already, I don't think I would have any idea what the paper was trying to say. In fact, had I not seen a shuttle pass attempted to be shown in some of the videos, I'm not sure that even knowing what a shuttle pass is would matter when looking at the paper "instructions."
Ad Copy Integrity
The ad copy on these is weird. The rabbit and duck claim that only one animal is supplied which would lead one to believe a different method is employed than what is actually employed which can mislead a customer into thinking the trick looks better than it is. Otherwise the rest are solid. In fact, some of them (frog, panda, pumpkin) have some quasi-ideas for performance, which is more than you get in the "instructions."Final Thoughts
Let's summarize each one:Pig
- Product Quality: Terrible paper instructions.
- Ad Copy: Solid.
- Final Verdict: 2.5 Stars with a Stone Status of grubble.
Rabbit
- Product Quality: Bad video instructions. Squeaker doesn't work. One decent idea in the video.
- Ad Copy: Misleading (claims only one rabbit).
- Final Verdict: 2 stars with a Stone Stautus of grubble.
Puppy
- Product Quality: Worse paper instructions than the pig.
- Ad Copy: Solid.
- Final Verdict: 2 stars with a Stone Status of grubble.
Panda
- Product Quality: Bad video instructions.
- Ad Copy: Solid.
- Final Verdict: 2.5 Stars with a Stone Status of grubble.
Pumpkin
- Product Quality: Broken video.
- Ad Copy: Solid.
- Final Verdict: 2 Stars with a Stone Status of grubble.
Duck
- Product Quality: Bad video instructions.
- Ad Copy: Misleading (claims only one duck).
- Final Verdict: 2 Stars with a Stone Status of grubble.
Frog
- Product Quality: Bad video instructions.
- Ad Copy: Solid.
- Final Verdict: 2.5 Stars with a Stone Status of grubble.
You'll note that they all got a "grubble" rating. The reason being is that the props are cute and if you have your own thoughts on how to do the switch, then you'll likely be happy with your purchase ($10 bucks each). So the props are "gem" but most everything else is "rubble" hence: grubble.
Also, note that I bought all of these so that I could magically produce all of the above for my daughter.
Every other day or so for a few weeks I would turn a colored silk into some sort of animal for her, and I had my own switching method. She loved it, and she loves the animals which I let her keep. So I'm left with the silks and the gimmicked animals meaning I can't ever perform these again. But the point is, she loved the "trick" each time, and she still has no idea how I do it each time.
That may be helpful in your decision making.
Suggestions
If I were to put one of these in my repertoire, I would likely ditch the gimmicked one all-togther, and only carry around the regular animal and a handkerchief vanisher (not a TT). If you don't know what that is, I'm not gonna tip it, but if you know, you know. The vanisher and the regular animal are secretly in my left hand. Then the silk is placed into my hand (i.e., the vanisher). I open my left hand, and **POOF** the hank is gone, and in its place is a little squeaky toy.Next, amazon has a cute little turtle set that looks like the same type of toys as the rest. I purchased it (for only $8.99) and magically created a turtle for my daughter too. But you'll notice when you go there before you check out, it lets you choose other animals: clown fish, aligator, dinosaur, dolphin, mermaid, monkey, or duck. The duck appears to be the exact one that is supplied with the silk to duck effect.
Also, note that each of the above comes with three small animals and one larger one that they fit into.
Here's my affiliate link if you're interested in them:
Turtles