Don England's New Book "Paradox"

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Richard Kaufman
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Don England's New Book "Paradox"

Postby Richard Kaufman » October 16th, 2001, 2:08 pm

I received my copy of Don England's new book "Paradox" in the mail today, along with the $250 set of gaffed cards.
I know some of you fellows have also purchased copies: what do you think of the tricks? Let's have some talk about SPECIFIC effects that you think are worthwhile.
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Re: Don England's New Book "Paradox"

Postby Guest » October 17th, 2001, 7:44 am

Richard,

The one effect that I really, really like is "The Shrink". The visual impact of the card going from mini to full size over and over again is stunning, and the ending kicker (of the full size deck shrinking to mini) is simply astonishing. The slights are very simple to do and the gaff is not that terribly hard to make. This is my kind of trick. It is very easy to do and just blows people away. Don England is a genius.

Don should market this effect on its own, because it really is a winner. Had Don made a bunch of these up for the lecture, I know everyone at the lecture would have bought one. And that's saying something because a lot of the lecture attendees are pretty stingy.

It is going to take me some time to work through all the tricks in Paradox because I'm making all the gaffs myself. Learning the tricks using my collectors edition set of gaffs would be nuts. I'd rather take my Micheal Jordan trading cards and practice back palming with them than risk damaging those precious gaffs, which are currently locked in a fire proof safe.

This weekend I'm going to an art supply store and get the proper tools to construct the gaffs. Don's gaff construction tips and the Q and A session during the lecture were invaluable to me. My earlier attempts to construct gaffs before were total failures because I was doing it all wrong. I just didn't know what I was doing. I can't wait to try doing it the right way! I'm really excited.

Regards,

Oliver

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: Don England's New Book "Paradox"

Postby Richard Kaufman » October 17th, 2001, 3:09 pm

Oliver, did Don England explain how to stretch the Dental Dam when making an acrobatic card? That's always been a killer.
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Re: Don England's New Book "Paradox"

Postby Guest » October 17th, 2001, 4:08 pm

How can I contact Don to see if his lecture
will come through the Southeast (or to book
it if it isn't)?

Bill Mullins

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: Don England's New Book "Paradox"

Postby Richard Kaufman » October 17th, 2001, 5:57 pm

Bill, the best way to contact Don is through Kevin Kelly. Here's his e-mail:
_the_magician@yahoo.com
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Re: Don England's New Book "Paradox"

Postby Guest » October 17th, 2001, 7:24 pm

Richard,

The construction of the acrobatic card gaff was one of the questions asked. Don took out a piece of dental dam and showed us how he makes the gaff. For me, it was one of those, oh 'why didn't I think of doing it that way' kind of things.

Yes this gaff is very hard to make. It will take some experimentation to learn how much tension to put on the dam (depends on the thickness of the dam). You just have to be patient to learn this. After trial and error gets the right result, MARK YOUR WORK SURFACE so you know how far you pulled it and know where you placed the tape to hold the dam down while the glue dries and also know the exact position of the card. After you know these things, you'll have a template to make the gaff correctly and consistently. Making gaffs requires a lot of patience-- and quality tools and materials (i.e. precision cut knives, roller, card press, premium grade rubber cement and thinner, etc.)

Unfortunately, I really can't explain other nuances on how it is done in this 'text only' medium. (I tried typing it out the steps and it made absolutely no sense). If only I could draw illustrations like you Richard or write clear explanations. Don was selling a videotape of him lecturing on making gaffs. The explanation may be on that videotape. I don't know.

I'm going to try this weekend to make an acrobatic card up using Don's tips. I'll let you know how it went.

BTW, I always knew dental dam to be the latex square from the trick where you make a coin appear to penetrate and fall into a cup. After doing an Internet search to find out where I could buy it (other than at a magic store premium), I was shocked to find out its common non-magic and non-dental uses. Oh boy, more than I ever wanted to know. YUCK! I guess I'll just buy this at the magic shop.

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: Don England's New Book "Paradox"

Postby Richard Kaufman » October 17th, 2001, 8:59 pm

Oliver,
Did you know that Lubor Fiedler invented the Dental Dam trick in the late 1950s? He often does not get the credit he deserves.
I have watched many of those TV shows where they show entire operations, and I often see and hear something that looks a lot like dental dam--am I correct that this is what you're alluding to? :eek:
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Re: Don England's New Book "Paradox"

Postby Guest » October 17th, 2001, 11:27 pm

Richard:

Curious like you, I tried a lookup of "dental dam" on Google and all I can say is, no, Oliver was NOT talking about operations on TV! :eek:

Steve H

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Re: Don England's New Book "Paradox"

Postby Richard Kaufman » October 23rd, 2001, 10:25 pm

I saw Don England and Kevin Kelly lecture tonight at Denny & Lee's in Maryland. It was excellent, and both did some fine work. Don and Kevin both fried the audience with gaffed tricks out of Paradox (check out the Oil and Water--one of the best I've seen). Kevin also did a super trick using a hole-punch that led into a Torn and Restored Card that really blasted everyone. An excellent lecture. Don has, I believe, only one more set of Gaffed to the Hilt cards ($125).
There are about 25 sets out of the 50 of all the gaffs for Paradox ($300 including the book). Here's Don's e'mail address so you can order: deng11@cs.com
He'll be home by Thursday or Friday.
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Re: Don England's New Book "Paradox"

Postby Richard Kaufman » November 14th, 2001, 7:47 pm

I'm interested in hearing people's comments about Don England's book "Paradox," which SOME of you must have received by now!
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Re: Don England's New Book "Paradox"

Postby Guest » November 28th, 2001, 6:41 am

For those who are interested, Barry's Magic Shop in Wheaton, MD still has a couple copies of "Gaffed to the Hilt" (2nd Edition, without the cards).

Bill Mullins


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