What are Svenvelopes?

I don’t think I’m giving too much away by saying that this is a set of envelopes which are cut to two different lengths, enabling you to use them as a forcing system – rather like the good old Svengali Deck.

But using envelopes has, so my mind, some massive advantages:

• You can put anything you like (within obvious physical limits) in an envelope. So you can use them to force cards, pictures, bank notes, coins, etc. etc.
• Because you can’t see the contents until the envelope is opened – that means you can offer the chance for the spectator to change their mind! Not so convincing when you have already seen the card.
• You can change the contents of the envelope to make a new routine (though given the relatively inexpensive nature of these, if you’ve got more than one good routine – get another set of Svenvelopes – so they’re both ready to go!).

What do you get?

You’re supplied with a pack of 50 envelopes. These are well made and come well packaged in a sturdy little plastic box. Obviously you can use as many as you want in any particular effect. They also come with a link where you can download some pdf instructions. The first essentially explains the general principle/handling. The second contains dozens of routines to get you started – many of which have pages you can print out with all the graphics pre-prepared for you.

There were some clever ideas here – and they’ll get your brain whirring. But I would hope that any performer worth their salt will come up with their own routines very easily. You may even be buying them with a particular routine in mind.

I think these are a great and disarming release. They seem so innocent. The ‘force’ envelope can obviously be given to the spectator to handle – there’s nothing to see. The re-set is instant and the number of possible routines limitless.

Highly recommended. Now I’m off to come up with a new routine…

Svenvelopes are available from MagicShop.co.uk. The black ones I looked at are £23.50. They are also available in a variety of other colours (blue, red, white, green and yellow) for £28.50.

Review copy kindly provided by Murphys Magic to whom dealer enquiries should be directed.

Sven Lee – Svenvelopes – review

4.4 / 5 Reviewer

{{ reviewsOverall }} / 5 Users (0 votes)

Wow Factor

Value for money

Practicality

Overall

What people say... Leave your rating

Order by: Most recent Top score Most helpful Worst score

Be the first to leave a review.

Verified

{{{ review.rating_title }}}

{{{review.rating_comment | nl2br}}}

Show more

{{ pageNumber+1 }}

Leave your rating

Your browser does not support images upload. Please choose a modern one

• Wow Factor
• Value for money
• Practicality
• Overall

The post Sven Lee – Svenvelopes – review appeared first on Bicycle Cards.

When is a deck not a deck?…

It’s a bit like a Svengali deck – but with some refinements which make it much more convincing and allow some extra moves.

It’s a bit like Stripper deck – but again with some refinements which make for a more natural handling.

And you could use either of these aspects on their own, but they are even more powerful when combined, and also enable a load of colour changing deck and brainwave type options.

What’s on the DVD?

Liam Montier is a good teacher and takes you through all the details of the deck, including displays, shuffles and other moves and subtleties and ringing in and out of play different portions of the deck. The DVD contains about 15 tricks – some with the Svengali elements, some with the Stripper elements, and some with a ‘BiCo’ deck (for colour changes and Brainwaves). But I’m sure you will think of many more ways to use this versatile pack.

The deck lends itself to a modular approach and the teaching uses the same approach – encouraging you to create your own routine out of the individual elements. But the DVD also contains an ebook of Joe Sutherland’s original booklet (with some updates) which covers all the moves on the DVD and also Joe’s original routine.

Trick Decks – good, bad or ugly?

So let’s be honest, some people have a thing against ‘trick decks.’ My own opinion is that there is no reason to make things more complicated than they need to be – but maybe I am just lazy? The advantage of something like the Trilby deck is that it is not a ‘one trick wonder’ but a very versatile system which could be used for a whole set. Indeed with certain elements of the deck in play you could use it for pretty much any effect you would do with a regular deck – and still have the added advantage of more options.

We think this is a welcome revival of a deck which should be more well known. Why not head on over to BBM and pick one up…

The Trilby Deck £24.99

[PS – The original manuscript is difficult to get hold of now, but there is a review of it on TalkMagic which may be of interest to anyone considering purchasing.]

The post The Trilby Deck – Review appeared first on Bicycle Cards.

Since David Blaine is such an ambiguous figure – especially in the UK (I think he may be rather more popular in the US) it will be interesting to see how these fare and whether they make it into the high street.

Ironically several ‘proper’ UK magic suppliers are stocking them. And at only £4.99/deck (at the time of writing) they probably come in cheaper than a USPCC factory prepared equivalent. Might make a great Christmas present for a child wanting to get into magic? But we haven’t looked at a deck in person yet so can’t comment on the quality. Do let us know if you see them first.

The post David Blaine and Bicycle Cards go Popular appeared first on Bicycle Cards.