Hey, for those of you who don't know, my dad and I have started building some illusions for my show. The plan is to build: Sub-trunk, Blammo Box, Jam and a BA base/Artist's Dream type illusion.

So far, we have just finished the sub-trunk, and right now we just started building the Blammo, which should be done in a week or so. All illusions also having a ATA road case build for them.

I thought it would be cool to post some pictures and keep everyone up to date with the progress. Feedback about the illusions would also be appreacitated. Good or bad.
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For now, heres the pics of the sub trunk, and the starting of the blammo. Enjoy!



[img]http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=5265007[img]

[img]http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=5144473[img]

[img]http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=5292591[img]

Not sure what we are looking at in the first 2 photos, but that last one is a honey!! Very nice work.

That first picture of the base is Great! Keep up the work! I build most of my illusions for my show as well. This is the best way to do an illusion show! Keep us posted I am working on a new illusion, which I am not allowed to share pictures of yet. I just finished a modern art and I redid the Assistant Revenge!

I just had to say - I'm with Michael, that trunk looks WONDERFUL! Really nice detail - absolutely deceptive...Very very cool!

Beautiful work Sam!!!

You and your father have a lot to be proud of! With the right amount of practice and rehearsals, you'll have a "top-notch" act!

Great job! Keep those pics coming...

-Bryan

Very nice looking trunk. Looks like it should hold up well too. Excellent work!

Nice Work and Finish. What a way to go. Great work.
That’s just my 2 cents suggestion. You should build something special rather than the look of an ATA Case.
Great work anyway. Keep it up.

Regards
Aaron Chee.

Thanks for the comments!

The first picture shows the materials and an old base I built, the second is the soon-to-be Blammo box, and the third is the sub trunk.

Aaron, interesting you would think that, in my opinion, the style looks much better than the 'standard' wooden trunks of today, it certainly looks more modern, for I have never seen a crate built like that, but laypeople see road cases quite a lot (movies, theatres, etc.)

Would you please expand on your opinion a bit? I figure you are talking about a more fancy design, Ala the Pendragons, but that's not my style. I plan to present this with some other cases upstage, possibly with some lighting fixtures lying around, so it looks like a warehouse type setting.

George Ledo also suggested this style on his topic about sub trunks. Perhaps others can chime in on this?
I'm just headed out to the shop now, so I'll snap a picture of the progress of the Blammo!

Sam Pearce

I like the road case style. It suggests its a rugged, ungimmicked case, rather than a pretty box with silver trim and dragon design which is obviously a magic prop with some sort of gimmick. Are you going to use a rough looking cloth (painting cloth type) for cover?

Mark

Seconding the opinion about liking the "road case" style - very deceptive...I'm of the opinion that the less gimmicked an object looks, the better it can play. “That trunk looks like it could be sitting in my garage - so how could it possibly be rigged in any way?” (Thinks the spectator.)

That's just my taste - but that's why I like it. I'm not sure that it would need to follow through with a rough cloth - I think you could make it work either way. The point of the trunk is for it to be a lock box. The point of the cloth is to signal that something's going down...

(IMHO)

Moth, I'm with you when you talk about the 'ordinary' look to the trunk.
I may also stencil (spray paint) on my name, so it looks even more like a road case, which it is! Ha ha! Also this is great, because if pictures are taken, my name is right there.

Interesting thought with the 'rough cloth' idea, I like it as it would fit the theme per say. But for now, I got my mom to sew a really nice cloth together which has two dowels in the top, and it goes on three sides of the trunk... if you know what I mean. I’ll try to snap some pictures of it soon as its quite nice.

For now, here's the newest picture of the Blammo progress...

Although my knowledge is not huge with building illusions, but I would be more than glad to help anyone out with anything their working on, or just ideas and such!

Sam Pearce

I think the road case would be perfect simply because it sounds like it fits YOUR personality. Props to your props!

Hi samp321,

No hard feeling samp321, you are doing an excellent job. No worries. I have no problem with the road case but I just want to bring this idea out and share with everybody. Since samp321, you are building illusions. Why is everyone building only rectangle and square designs?

Another words, magician are trapped by these design. What we should do is to break the box idea and come out of the design with unique idea. I say this to you because you are building the illusion yourself, not getting these effects off of the shelves. So design and work on something that is totally unique and spend some quality time building it. Trust me, you will never have regrets.

It’s just my two-cent opinion; Hope that we can bring magic to the next level.
PS: your woodcraft makes me take my hat off you.

Regards
Aaron Chee.

Good work...!!! congratulations!!

Hey Sam, have you got any new pictures to post?

Sorry about the lack of pictures, but the last few days I have not been feeling well, and I have a ton of projects on the go right now. I just ran out to the shop and snapped a few pictures so you can see the progress.
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This is the base with the 'platform' in place...

And this is the sides of the upper box...

That's all for now, but we will most likely be out in the shop tomorrow night, so if possible, I will post some more pics then.

On a side note, we are starting up a small illusion building company, so you will see tons of more things being built!

Sam Pearce

Sam, any new pics? It's always a treat to see what others are building... I love the fabrication process and am interested to see what areas you are running into probems or victories with. I know we can all benefit form the PROs and CONs of building your own equipment. I know for myself, it is always a pain to do the final paint work. Have you run into any "hurdles" with your current projects? Any updates?

-Bryan Gilles

I have not had time to work on this much at all because of everything else going on right now, in fact I just bought a 12 foot Halmark trailer to hull my equipment to gigs.

I have the sides attached, and that was abit of work getting everything lined up, as there are four sides, eight hinges.
As we get in the inside t**p soon, that should be a challenge.

I will post some more pics tonight of the progress.


Let me tell you, once you stat building illusions, you really start to appreciate all the hard work and time that goes into them. When I started with the idea to build a Blammo Box, I thought, "Its just a stand with a box on top, and the sides fall down when you take off the lid.
Well let me tell you, it’s a ton more than that, it’s a ton of work, time and thinking. I would have never guessed that this much work was put into it, and don't even get me started about cost, so far, they have costed 2 or 3 times more than my original estimates. There are tons of small costs you never think of.

As mentioned, I'm starting up a small company to sell illusions, since my dad is retiring in the next few years, and he is an excellent carpenter.
The site should be up sometime soon: http://www.PearceIllusions.com

We have already had tons of inquiries about illusions and custom ATA cases, and I'm proud to say, we have sold our first Sub-Trunk, and look forward to building many more.

I thought I would throw in a shameless plug there! haha, we will soon be café sponsors with a banner ad, so I'm sure this will be OK with Steve.
If anyone wants more info about our products, give me a call toll free (USA & Canada) at: 1-800-514-5049, ext.4 to leave a message, or ext.0 to chat.

Sam Pearce

Hello, sorry I have not been posting but I have been crazy busy! Here's some new pictures of whats happening around here...



A finished Blammo box...



Another Subtrunk just about ready to go out the door!


One of our custom cases I'm just about done...



A bunch of case parts we keep in stock.


I thought it was a cool picture... Haha




For those coming to CAM this week, I should have a case with me that I can show you if you want to check out our work!


I better get back to work...
Sam