Loops - Please Read

[datskanars]

Hi guys

I saw the Guerilla guide to loops trailer some time ago and i have to admit i really liked it.

some things about me:
I live in Greece, i am 15 years old and have been doing magic for two years and flourishing for 13 months and i believe that (without intention to sound cocky) i am pretty good at card magic. I have been practicing every single sleight and effect to death and have never tried sth on the streets unless i perfected it. Now i practice at least 2 hours daily while there was a time that i practiced for more than 5 hours a day .i also own so many dvds/books that if i was to list them you would all say that i am nothing more than an effect collector when i am really not like that. anyway now i mostly perform effects from d+M,W:H and Derren Brown (mostly his card magic but also mentalism occasionally) , also very rarely i perform some Jay Sankey's effects. And i am very happy with what i have.

Having said that;i really love some of the effects with loops and think that they would really get great reactions but at the same time i feel that by practicing and performing with loops ,my sleight of hand will get worse and/or i will be overwhelmed by the reaction loops can have and start performing with them only (hope that makes sense).
i am really torn guys , i need your help . What would you advise me to do?

George

EDIT: actually i should say i practice more than 3-4 hours daily .

 

[MikeGoyke]

Having said that;i really love some of the effects with loops and think that they would really get great reactions but at the same time i feel that by practicing and performing with loops ,my sleight of hand will get worse and/or i will be overwhelmed by the reaction loops can have and start performing with them only (hope that makes sense).
i am really torn guys , i need your help . What would you advise me to do?

George

I don't think that your sleights will get worse as long as you continue to practice them as with the loops. If you completely stop practicing everything but loops then your proficiency with the sleights will drop.

 

[Sinful07]

Use it as a closer. Since by the time your routine is nearly finished, your spectators will be notified that you do a lot of sleight of hand (specially when you do flourishes)

meaning there's something fishy and whatnot. by using loops you're practically clean.

 

[DGTillIDie]

you wont lose your slieghts that much but loops do break and i dont know if there is like a magic store in greece or not. on the other hand i bought the loops dvds and they are worth it. you get great reactions. i usualy practice loops one night and cards another night.

 

[datskanars]

you wont lose your slieghts that much but loops do break and i dont know if there is like a magic store in greece or not. on the other hand i bought the loops dvds and they are worth it. you get great reactions. i usualy practice loops one night and cards another night.

well the fact is that are no magic stores in Greece. actually there is one but it is very epensive. it is cheaper to buy via the net.

 

[r.zhang]

I assure you that you wouldn't want to practice with loops all that much in fear of breaking them, unless you buy several packs or get your own invisible elastic thread to make your own. That being said, you wouldn't want to substitute sleight of hand with loops because loops are only powerful in certain situations. If you don't use loops all the time and you continue to practice then your sleight of hand will not suffer.

 

[Magic Man4293]

Well just to let you know with the loops dvd's Nate's sucks, Justin's is ok, Danny's is the best. I do life all the time. But anyway if you just add loops to your practice routine you won't forget anything.


-Michael

 

[Deleted member 2755]

I kind of have to agree with Nasello. However, I will say though that there is at least one thing I perform from each DVD.

Life by DG is awesome. Watch as a dollar bill folds itself into a butterfly and then slowly starts flapping it's wings. It then levitates for a second or two and then is handed out to examine or keep. GREAT effect. (I've never used it before though because I've always had this one problem with the folding of the bill I Could never fix. I think I'll actually try to fix it now that I'm thinking about it.) You won't get that "OMG!!!!!!! HOW IN THE HECK?!...." Just as DG said on the DVD, you will just have people staring at you and you will get an even better reaction. Silence. Just pure astonishment.

The Shadow Reveal (which is the exact same thing as the Haunted Pack from Nate's DVD with an additional ending that makes it look a lot more magical) is from JM's DVD. Use it all the time. Most common thing I do with a Loop. Completely impromptu if you have a Loop on. Blank Out is a CRAZY closer. (Please, don't do this effect alone because people will just say you had a blank deck with you the whole time or something. Do some other stuff before doing this and it will play out a lot better.) This effect has multiple climaxes and it just hits them hard every single time. A pen moves on its own towards a spectator's thought of time (the cards are set up in a circle like clock... see trailer for more info on that), the hour they chose happens to be the card you guessed they would choose at the start, and it ends by showing its really bizarre because YOU DON'T HAVE ANY OTHER CARDS! You turn over all the cards and dribble the rest of the deck. All blank.

Kranzo... I forgot. There was one effect I used to do and haven't even thought about it in a while because I just liked the other stuff better. I'll have to look it up again.

I would say give loops a try if its your style. Its one of those things that a laymen cannot begin to think of how you possibly did it. Couldn't be sleight of hand... your hands aren't touching the object.

Animation at it's best. (For some more animations, check out Justin Miller's Cloak DVD. Its a different way of wearing thread to pull off some magic and have your hands nowhere near the objects. Very cool hookup.)

-Doug

 

[datskanars]

thanks a lot for the help guys. i am getting Loops DVDs as soon as i have the money for the infinity thread.

George

 

[Sir FansAlot]

Well just to let you know with the loops dvd's Nate's sucks, Justin's is ok, Danny's is the best. I do life all the time. But anyway if you just add loops to your practice routine you won't forget anything.


-Michael

Nate's is fine. I got something out of it. I'm glad it's one of the dvds because it shows some strong magic with little thought. The matchbook effect alone is worth the price.

 

[Sir FansAlot]

thanks a lot for the help guys. i am getting Loops DVDs as soon as i have the money for the infinity thread.

George

Great idea! If only I would have got infinity thread before I got those DVDs. I stumbled and got the DVDs first. But good thinking!

[edited] sorry i think i got the thread first, my mistake.

 

[Deleted member 2755]

Nate's is fine. I got something out of it. I'm glad it's one of the dvds because it shows some strong magic with little thought. The matchbook effect alone is worth the price.

THAT'S THE EFFECT I was thinking of.: Great one.

-Doug

 

[Seventeen]

Well just to let you know with the loops dvd's Nate's sucks, Justin's is ok, Danny's is the best. I do life all the time. But anyway if you just add loops to your practice routine you won't forget anything.

-Michael

Actually wasn't too impressed with Justin's myself ( the only one I bought). Wish I got DG's as Life was the one effect I REALLY wanted off the trailer.

Not that the effects, the method, nor the patter on Justin's were bad, but that the performances during teaching (not necessarily the spectator performances) were not magical. Some of his movements were not so subtle (too quick, unnatural, or exaggerated) and made the corresponding movement of the card or object suspect of the gimmick. So... some lessons from the disk to keep in mind if you're going to get it.

1) one may not want to use E's Vipers (which JM uses because it hides the loops better) as they're thick and heavy -- use cards of lighter stock or at least cards that you can powder without discoloring them;

2) if you use Vipers, don't black out the outside edges with a sharpie as it makes the cards stick together. All in all, it means you have to stretch the Loop tighter to initiate the movement of the selected card, THEN when the card finally moves, it jumps because of the overcompensated tension of the loop.

3) if you're going to use Vipers that are blacked out on the edges, just don't bury the spectator's card too deep in the deck (like a quarter to a third from the top) ... less cards on top -- less weight for the loop to overcome.

Lastly if you're going to make a Sharpie jump, don't use the big, honkin' size one, or the regular size one. They now make half-size Sharpies.

Did Kranzo's DVD suck?
Just my 2 kunucks...

 

[datskanars]

Great idea! If only I would have got infinity thread before I got those DVDs. I stumbled and got the DVDs first. But good thinking!

[edited] sorry i think i got the thread first, my mistake.

yeah i did my homework before deciding to buy the dvds.