PSYLOCK

[RSchostag]

PsyLock is a really clever utility tool which PsycheFX has created and along with these guys set forth several very cool applications. PsycheFX is a new site which has been set up by a few professional entertainers who focus on mentalism in Australia. PsyLock is a new release by two of them: Richard Paddon and Sean Taylor. You can see them both in the accompanying video and learn more about how they approach the craft and how really professional they are.

The first application these guys show us for PsyLock is called ColourGram where a participant is able to learn the correct combination to a paddlelock by correctly intuiting the arrangement of five colored envelopes, with each envelope containing a number to be used in the lock's combination.

Richard Paddon, whom Sean credits as the creator, uses the selection of the colors to do a cold reading for the participant before the combination is tried, and thereby displays the way such props may be both made unimportant by themselves and also gives more depth and personality to the combination discovery.

As I was watching the DVD of the performance, I was personally struck with how much more useful the PsyLock is as a result of the thoroughness of Taylor and Paddon in explaining both the mechanical attributes of the lock for method and especially the multiple ideas for routining which they include.

Again for those who have not yet picked up the PsyLock, I would have you think of how Nardi and Spellman provide very complete explanations for such releases of theirs such as the Stealth Wallet. I've become a firm believer that since mentalism has very little to do with physical props and everything to do with handling and presentation, this is where vendors must differentiate themselves with their product lines.

I'm convinced that the good people at PsycheFX. com understand this important difference and are laying that approach for their new site.

PsyLock is a great offering because the performer can use this tool for such things as chair routines and other applications with a big, showy stage routine, or in turn keep it in the pocket and use it for close up with little to carry along and nothing to set up.

I have personally "real world" tested it so far in only five shows, and I will give you more after I've tested it more. But for now I wanted you to know I endorse what I've seen so far and encourage you all to go to the new site: http://www.PsycheFX.com.

And congratulations to our Australian colleagues for this new contribution to our craft. These guys are real professionals, offering things you can actually use, and which have been "field tested".

Randy Schostag