DESCENDENT

[Houdini]

Descendent

Created by Jay Sankey

What is it?

Descendent is a perfect example of a "piece of strange." The effect is straight forward and plays nice as a VISUAL ending to a routine that uses a pencil. Or as a stand alone effect.

The effect is as follows for the spectator: The Magician presents a yellow pencil that has just been sharpened. The crazy Magic man takes his fingers and grabs the tip and slowly drags into down into the middle of the pencil, leaving it permanently STUCK in the middle. The pencil is handed out for examination.

The Package:

Sankey Magic always goes above and beyond in their packaging and with the materials they supply you with. (Example, they give you post it notes for dough!) This product is another great example in how Sankey cares for his customers and wants to make sure you have the right materials.

Inside you package, you receive a nice white jewelry box that holds:

• 3 Yellow Pencils- 2 gimmicked and one regular


• A nice chunk of wax for many different Magical uses.


• Hand made special gimmick parts (3).


• Written instructions with illustrations.

When you open your package, the first thing your going to do is look at the gimmick pencils and wonder...how the hell! Yep. You will. And it's pretty much guaranteed that your spectators will too! The more you look at it, the more you wonder about these awesome "pieces of strange." No joke!

The Gimmick:

The Gimmicks themselves are all hand made. They are great! These will last you a long time. (Granted, as long as a spectator doesn't grab the pencil and SNAP IT.)

I was a bit sad to find out that Sankey DOES NOT teach you how to make these yourself. So making these yourself will require a bit of imagination. I loved the idea of handing it out after my performance for examination and having them keep it. But there is no mention of refills either. You would have to buy the effect over again.

But you will not need to worry about your spectator find anything...there is nothing to find!

Tell me more!

This effect can not get any simpler, really. The effect is easy, and visual. Their is one slight need to do this effect and it WILL, as any slight, take some practice to look natural. But once you own it, you can really start playing with the handling and make the effect more and more visually insane.

Sankey is an amazing creator when it comes to simple and visual. This effect definitely lets you focus on your presentation and Magic.

What...No DVD?

Nope, sorry. No DVD to learn this effect. Sankey does give you a detailed instruction booklet. There are images, which can be confusing at first, but if you watch the demo and be careful in reading, you will be FINE! Like anything, this takes time and patients.

Final Thoughts.

Descendent is a great effect to follow up any Magic you do with a pencil. Dough, Floating pencil, Zig Zag Pencil, Rubber Pencil, ect... This really opens up the door for different routine ideas and effects. Heck, we recommend that you DO check out DOUGH and consider getting this effect also!

Again, it is a bummer that you don't learn how to make these gimmicks yourself for future uses and for give away items, but if you are dead set on learning, maybe Jay will talk to you through e-mail or you can practice yourself.

Overall, Descendent is the perfect visual mystery for walk around.

Descendent: Simple and Visual. 7/10

Suggested Retail price: $19.99 (from Sankey Magic!)

[haroldross]

If my memory serves me right, I believe that on his Kalidescope DVD he does go into how to make the gimmick.

Another great illusion that totally mystifies magician and laymen alike.

[Jacob Hatfield]

Originally Posted by haroldross

If my memory serves me right, I believe that on his Kalidescope DVD he does go into how to make the gimmick.

Another great illusion that totally mystifies magician and laymen alike.

Harold.

Can you confirm this and PM or e-mail me for sure.

Would love to know so I can add that to the blog post.

-Jacob

[haroldross]

Jay's Kalidescope DVD tells you how to make the gimmick. Very easy, just takes a little practice.

The non-profit company I work for had hundreds of pencils made up with the company logo on them. The pencils are painted with an ink that changes color with body heat. I use one of these pencils and talk about them being 'magic'. I show it changing color and then I go into talking about something else I discovered about them... Everyone that I have done Decendant for is blown away especially after they examine the pencil. I believe the reason this is such a powerful illusion is that the pencil is always in view of the spectator.

[Jacob Hatfield]

Harold-
Decendent? Love that idea with the color changing pencil! What a gag that would be at first and then to have set....thats a golden effect there!

[Sam Hindrichs]

It seems more worth buying the Kalidescope DVD and learning how to make the gimmick than it does to buy Descendent and only get 3 pencils and not know how to make the gimmick. I'm sure it's easy enough to figure out when you see the actual gimmick but having the instructions is nice too.