Alan Wakeling's Liquid Sands

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Travis
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Alan Wakeling's Liquid Sands

Postby Travis » July 12th, 2008, 12:23 pm

Hi Gang.

I am trying to locate a set of the zombie-style (tall, untapered) gimmicked glasses for the Wakeling routine "Liquid Sands". They once were sold with an effect called "Liquid Appear". I've searched for this, but so far to no avail.

The glasses nest over a similarly-shaped, bottomless insert.
Any leads would be very much appreciated.

thanks,
travis

SCobalt
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Re: Alan Wakeling's Liquid Sands

Postby SCobalt » July 12th, 2008, 2:29 pm

I too have trying to get this piece together, unfortunately I have been unsuccessful in finding anyone able to create the plastic shells to go over the glasses. I have, on the other hand, found glasses with very thick bottoms that would suit the trick perfectly and can be cut at a mirror or glass store.

email me: info@shanecobalt.com and perhaps we can find something to solve this unfortunate problem.

Shane

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Re: Alan Wakeling's Liquid Sands

Postby Travis » July 12th, 2008, 2:45 pm

Hi Shane.

These must be out there somewhere.

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Re: Alan Wakeling's Liquid Sands

Postby Bill Palmer » July 13th, 2008, 1:00 am

Ted Lesley had permission to make and market these. He made up about a dozen sets, using lucite tubing, etc. These always worked well in rehearsal. They always failed in performance.
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Re: Alan Wakeling's Liquid Sands

Postby Travis » July 13th, 2008, 2:49 am

Can you elaborate, Bill? It seems odd to me that for no reason whatsoever, they would always work in rehearsals, but never in performance.

And, clearly, Alan was performing the effect successfully.

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Re: Alan Wakeling's Liquid Sands

Postby SCobalt » July 13th, 2008, 9:34 am

Although it seems like Alan was performing the effect due to his wonderful ability to create complete pieces in his mind and on paper, I don't believe Alan actually performed this routine. Check the description once more in the book, I am away from my library at the moment but will check as well.

Shane

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Travis
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Re: Alan Wakeling's Liquid Sands

Postby Travis » July 13th, 2008, 12:33 pm

Just checked.

You are correct, Shane. He did not ever do it in actual performance. Seems structurally sound, though. And not difficult with a bit of rehearsal.

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Re: Alan Wakeling's Liquid Sands

Postby David Nethery » July 26th, 2008, 1:58 am

Finding the "tall, zombie-style glasses" is going to be tough unless they're custom made. I don't understand why the ones that Ted Lesley made from Lucite tubing didn't work well in performance (see Bill Palmer's post above. I too would be interested to hear back from Bill about why these didn't work as expected.)

If you were able to scrounge up three sets of glasses and gimmicks from the old Liquid Appear (D. Robbins EZ Magic) they would work , BUT remember:

Most of us are enchanted by that evocative Jim Steinmeyer illustration in the Wakeling book of the suave magician in tails (Wakeling) striking a pose whilst holding the three tall "zombie" glasses between his fingers . But let's think about it:

The gimmicked glassses that were commonly available for Liquid Appear were usually not tall "zombie" glasses. They were rather plain , straight-sided glasses , more like something you'd see at the Woolworth's lunch counter , not a ritzy nightclub like Ciro's . However, those old Liquid Appear glasses would work and the effect that Wakeling came up with has a great plot.

Nowadays, you can get the Liquid Appear type of gimmicked glass from Bazar de Magia , in an effect they market called Comedy Glass in Paper Cone . Buy three and you've got the gimmicked glasses for Liquid Sands. These glasses are plain, plastic tumblers, not tall zombie glasses , but if you can work with that kind of ordinary, every-day looking glass then the Bazar de Magia gimmicks should do the trick.

If someone could come up with a gimmick that would work smoothly with with the taller zombie glasses it would be a cool looking effect , especially if they were light-weight lucite so all three glasses could be held between the fingers for that great display suggested in the Steinmeyer book !

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Re: Alan Wakeling's Liquid Sands

Postby SCobalt » July 26th, 2008, 9:32 am

I have found glasses perfect for the effect but they are in fact glass. After attempting that beautiful display a number of times the conclusion I came to was that the glasses are held over the fingers vs the multiplying candly style of holding them.

If anyone knows where to get lucite tubing in a varity of sizes I'd take a stab at making proper covers

-Shane

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Re: Alan Wakeling's Liquid Sands

Postby David Nethery » September 19th, 2008, 9:06 pm

And if anyone is still looking here is another source for the necessary type of glass for Liquid Sands :

http://trickproduction.com/000000967413 ... e3c16.html


Here's a better photo of the glass:

http://trickproduction.com/downloads/comedyglass.pdf

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Re: Alan Wakeling's Liquid Sands

Postby Travis » January 5th, 2009, 10:09 am

I contacted trickproduction and they informed me that they never made this glass since Bazar de Magia came out with theirs at the same time, even though it's of a much lower quality.
They explained that since Bazar de Magia used the same name and has much lower production costs due to location, they were unable to compete and, therefore, never made any of the glasses.

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Re: Alan Wakeling's Liquid Sands

Postby Andres Reynoso » January 3rd, 2011, 12:49 pm

I don't know "liquid sands" but by the description in this thread and a comment in another one, it seems that is the same actully Gustavo Raley performs and sells under the name "the cocktail"
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Re: Alan Wakeling's Liquid Sands

Postby Travis » January 3rd, 2011, 1:52 pm

That is indeed Alan Wakeling's Liquid Sands. He has made it a tad cleaner on video (at least, the one I saw on YouTube) with a couple of carefully placed cuts, though, with the choreography as outlined by Jim, that's really not necessary at all.

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Re: Alan Wakeling's Liquid Sands

Postby Andres Reynoso » January 3rd, 2011, 3:46 pm

Travis wrote: with a couple of carefully placed cuts


If you mean "video cuts", aren't necessary. I watched him live and is a good performance. So, the original (including choreography use) is from Alan Wakeling
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Re: Alan Wakeling's Liquid Sands

Postby Travis » January 4th, 2011, 7:26 am

The method is Alan's, for sure. He made a few clever changes that suited the style of this performance, which is less elegant than Alan's. Nothing wrong with that.
As far as video cuts, I was saying that there are some which were done to hide part of the method, but they're not necessary. Alan's choreography for the routine is deceptive. You don't need to hide anything with editing.

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Tom Stone
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Re: Alan Wakeling's Liquid Sands

Postby Tom Stone » January 4th, 2011, 8:47 am

Travis wrote:The method is Alan's, for sure. He made a few clever changes that suited the style of this performance...

I think his changes in method also made the effect a lot stronger.

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Re: Alan Wakeling's Liquid Sands

Postby Travis » January 4th, 2011, 9:28 am

I agree, Tom. The one that stood out to me was pouring the final drink directly from the bucket. Nice idea.

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Re: Alan Wakeling's Liquid Sands

Postby Andres Reynoso » January 4th, 2011, 11:48 am

Travis wrote:The one that stood out to me was pouring the final drink directly from the bucket. Nice idea.


Is very deceptive.
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Re: Alan Wakeling's Liquid Sands

Postby Andres Reynoso » January 5th, 2011, 11:02 am

I'm investigating about Wakeling's routine. Although Raley's is similar idea exists many changes that permit cleaner performance, and stronger as Tom said.

Here are a link to "The cocktail"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYmvwHKK0sk
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Re: Alan Wakeling's Liquid Sands

Postby Bill Palmer » January 7th, 2011, 12:48 am

I don't understand why the version Ted was doing failed every time he brought it out. The only time Ted actually used it was when he was doing his lecture tour in 2003. He tried it a couple of times, and the thing basically didn't work right.

The version he was doing started with the liquids in the glasses. He then poured the liquid from the glasses into the bucket, then he placed the glasses he had just poured the liquid from into the bucket and removed them filled.

This required one bit of preparation that depended on a specially gimmicked set of glasses that he poured the liquid from. Without giving away the store, all I can say is that the glasses worked fine as long as Ted was relaxed.

As we went on the tour, I discovered that Ted suffered from horrible stage fright. Although he was able to control most of his movements, perhaps it was this, in conjunction with his Parkinsonism that made the trick unreliable.

Gustavo has really simplified the method, and it works a lot better than what Ted was using.
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