Souvenir Linking Rubberbands
This has been one of my favorite effects for a while now. It's fun to perform, relatively easy, and people really do love keeping the linked rubberbands as a souvenir. I've been performing the effect for close to a year now and it's definitely become a staple in my repertoire. It's a nice break from card or coin magic, and it's the best ending to a rubberband routine I think you can get.
It's visual, it uses ordinary objects, and it involves the spector as they hold onto the bands or pinch them as they link and unlink.
The Routine
The linking routine taught is based on a Dan Harlan effect. You can see what it looks like on the demo (CLICK HERE).
Before the linking phase though, it's recommended you show the two rubberbands unlinked. So as a precursor effect you might want to perform some of your favorite rubberband effects first. Joe Russell teaches Crazy Man's Handcuffs as a bonus effect on the DVD for those that don't know it already and want to perform an effect with the bands (where they are unlinked) before going into the SLR routine.
The SLR Bands
See the review on SLR Slims below.
Teaching
Joe Russell teaches the effect from his garage, and he's entertaining throughout the entire DVD. There are a few street performances, and then Joe teaches the effect to a layman and goes through it with her as she learns the effect for the first time. I really enjoyed this style of teaching because it allowed me to follow along in real time as the girl learned the effect as I did.
There are four methods taught of getting into SLR, but most of the focus is put on two switching techniques. One involves a stack of business cards wherein you take out a stack of business cards with two rubberbands around them and take off the two rubberbands and perform some effects. When you are done you take the business cards back out of your pocket and secure them back with the two rubberbands, but before you put them away you realize you aren't finished and take the bands back off so you can show them one last effect (SLR). This is the method I started with when I first started performing SLR. It's easy, it's invisible, and only two rubberbands are ever in view. The other switching technique is basically doing a shuttle pass with rubberbands. I didn't care for this one as much as it's a bit riskier and harder to clean-up if you don't have a way to ditch the unlinked rubberbands. Joe does go over how to make Garrett Thomas's ditching pants on the DVD, which is cool for any magician and something worth looking into for everyone.
Now, however, I use Joe Rindfleisch's Rubber Wrist Switch taught on his excellent rubberband magic DVD, Jumper. It allows you to switch the two unlinked rubberbands with the linked rubberbands right under your spectator's noses, right from your wrist, and they never even see it. In fact, on the Jumper DVD, Joe even mentions that this switch can be used for specifically for linking rubberband effects and mentions Paul Harris's SLR (that was in the works at the time Jumper was produced). If you're into rubberband magic you might want to give Jumper a look (CLICK HERE). Not only does it teach the best switch, Joe's entire Jumper routine is incredible and some of the most creative and visual rubberband magic out there. Joe actually performs the switch I'm referring to in the demo, although you'll never see it.
As a bonus Crazy Man's Handcuffs is taught on the DVD also.
My Experience With SLR/Reactions
This really does astonish people. I usually perform about three effects before I go into the SLR routine--so people know the bands are solid and independent of one another. So when they end up linked in the SLR routine it really leaves spectators very baffled. When you follow up by casually saying, "Go ahead and keep them as a souvenir," the astonishment deepens. Now they're sure these aren't special bands. Now they can keep them, but they still can't figure out how you linked them. And spectators always try too!
What's also cool about giving them away is people go show them to others, which is a great souvenir of your magic for them to show off with your business card.
Overall, SLR never fails to get me a great reaction and it leaves people with a magic souvenir they honestly want to keep and will.
SLR Slims
When I was at Magic Live I told Paul Harris how much I liked the SLR effect and he told me he had plans of putting out SLR's in the regular size 19 size most magicians use. I was really excited about this, but didn't hear anything about it afterward. I started to think the new SLR bands had fallen through the cracks. Then they quietly popped up on the Paul Harris Presents website. I ordered them instantly. After playing with these, I have to say, these are a great improvement.
The new SLR bands are:
• Slimmer
• Stronger
• Stretchier
• Rounder, More Natural Shape
• Larger in Size (more like the standard size 19 bands most magicians use)
• More Standard in Color For Common Rubberbands
I love these. A lot. Now they are mush easier to handle and I'm not worried about them ever snapping in mid-performance. This wasn't a huge issue with the original SLR bands, but I definitely had to treat them a lot more gently than I do the new SLR Slims. At the bottom of this review I've attached two pictures comparing (in order) the original SLR band, the new SLR Slim band, and a regular size 19 band.
I think anyone who gives these a try will love them. They also do not come powdered in the bag like the original SLR bands did, and feel much more like regular rubberbands than the original SLR bands did. The gimmicks are made more "invisible" too, which is something about the bands I also liked. The cost to give away the SLR Slims, if you break it down, is 60¢ each time--which in my book is a great price for what this effect allows you to do.
The new SLR Slims are an all-around great improvement on the gimmicks to what was an already great effect. I will definitely be ordering more of these.
Price
SLR - $35.00
SLR Slims - $24 (Includes free shipping. 40 linked and 40 unlinked bands)
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