Update:

I had a magic consultant friend meet me to work on the Magellan Solo levitation, live. We set up, informally, in a parking lot last night, and I began to set up as if it were a live audience. I did the effect, pretty much as seen in the video, and he was really blown away.

He encouraged me to do more overacting and facial expressions to 'sell' the effect better. I'm normally a pretty laid back, light, comedy type of act, but I could see him grin and nod enthusiastically when I followed his direction.

But, the real treat was the reaction of the group of people at the bar across the parking lot. They stood up and applauded after gasps and expletives during the hovering portion of the presentation. A few came over and wanted to see it close up, roughly ten feet away, and I went for it. The reaction was even greater and more real to them!

This is for real! We were concerned about the real world reaction to this, possibly being 'too perfect' and forcing the spectator to figure out the secret, since the impossibility can sometimes drive people through the 'only door that is left to go...' But, they didn't seem to go there. The effect on a lay audience is completely devastating!

My friend just grinned widely, watching the reactions and gaping disbelief. I have NEVER seen a reaction to live magic like what we experienced last night. I'm not really a big illusionist kind of guy, but I've always had a huge love for floating lady suspensions and levitations where there was no difficult stage rigging, setup or curtains. This has exceeded all of my expectations.

The setup and cleanup issues have been addressed with hours and hours of rehearsals and consultations with Scott Emo, and I can truly say that this is a mature concept and an extremely impactful prototype, with more to come.

I am awaiting delivery tomorrow of the 21" high version of this effect. The one done last night and on the youtube video was 15", and the response was excellent. I expect the 21" rise to be nothing less than exponentially more mysterious to the audience.

Hopefully, the next videos won't freak the Café viewers out with my heavy, theatrical 'selling' of the effect, but the live version with audience response should justify and vindicate the more overt facial expressions and acting.

I feel that this will be a huge boon to the house party market. Of course, this will be a hit on stage and parlor, but the vertical nature of this levitation makes it fit into the corners and walkway areas of a living space much more realistically than a classic horizontal suspension. And the reaction is much greater to this than my walkaways and Super-X's. The angles are just as clean, if not better, than the most popular walkaways being promoted heavily at this time. The ability to perform this out of the corner of a room or from an open area is just incredible and almost too good to imagine!

The engineering, prototypes, reworkings and thought that have been put into the prop are paying off in so many ways. Some 'features' have been stumbled upon, others intentionally designed into the piece. The R&D and problem solving that have gone into this have been expensive, time consuming and, yet, so gratifying and natural. This is organic magic!

There are a few adjustments that have to be made in the current design for tweaking, but, overall, I am thrilled with what has been achieved.

Thanks for your interest in this project,

Jimmy Fingers

Very effective levitation and shocking to see in person. totally different and original concept of levitation. I highly recommend this. I am going frantic with the posts because I just ordered a solo after weeks of really thinking about it and I'm happy that I ordered it finally, after travelling to Vegas and LA and seeing and hearing what I have about this product.

Nice levitation. Jimmy you have definitely pushed the envelope on levitations. I can't wait to see your Bermuda levi released. I'm already saving up to add this one as my closer.

Any news on the Bermuda levi, how far along it is?
cheerz

Hi everyone,

I'm working on the logistics of the Bermuda, and in the process of trying to make it plausible for different people with different physical characteristics.

However, from what I'm hearing about the sales of the Sohi and feedback from the purchasers, it's a real hit.

At this point, the Sohi is a finished, verified product, and due to the complexity of the Bermuda, I am really trying to over engineer it.

Thanks for your inquiry,

Jimmy

I love the way Sohi looks! I don't have one yet, but I want one badly, considering purchase in a few months. I think I have the method pinned down, but, as for the set up and clean up go, I am concerned. Do you have any footage of an actual performance, start to finish?

Unfortunately, I will no longer be building the Magellan Sohi illusion for sale. The cleanup and the size have made it prohibitive for use in most real world performance situations, and it's only real value is as a stage illusion. However, the difficulty finding a welder to build these has been another huge obstacle. The welders are quite unreliable, and they seem to have no concept of a deadline or an agreement on their fees.

That being said, the exciting news is that the Magellan Solo has risen again, somehow, from the ashes. I've made some adjustments and some improvements to make it the more stable, workable solutions of the three Magellan props. I've been getting rave reviews from my Research and Development team, and the Solo seems to be better hidden, better transported and better received.

When performed for the same audience that had seen the Sohi previously, they thought that it was the same effect. They noticed no difference, even when confronted with the 6" height difference.

I would like to change the pricing of the Solo to $995 in an attempt to stimulate sales and a possible renewed interest. The thousand dollar mark seems to be the price point for this type of illusion.

Thanks for your interest,

Jimmy
http://www.jimmyfingers.com

Hi Jimmy,

How long does it take for this product to be delivered?

The second video would be much better, in my opinion, if the dropping of the cloth at the top of the levi was more "random" (for lack of a better word). Looking down as the cloth is dropped makes it look like you're making sure something doesn't show...

Otherwise, nice idea, and much better than earlier videos I have seen.

I don't like this "levitation" method. It's not very clear...

Paulo

ClintonMagus,

The looking down or random look is all about the acting. You can do this without looking, or make it look as casual as you like. You can glance down or just sneak a peak. You can also play it off as focusing on your feet as you can't believe that you are actually floating. It all depends on what you are going for. This effect looks great and plays very well.

Hi everyone,

Scott has made his presentation of the Magellan Solo levitation "The Dream" available on youtube video, accessible through my website at http://www.jimmyfingers.com/magsolo.htm

Scott has put quite a bit of time and effort into the Magellan projects. In fact, he was the first person to ever build, see and use a Solo version of this effect, and it has become the cornerstone of the Magellan line. His participation in this project has been a real joy, and I would never hesitate to make him a consultant on any endeavor that I attempt. I just wish that he liked mentalism more, then I could bounce all sorts of stuff off of him!

Thanks again, Scott, your work is appreciated.

Jimmy

Nice Job, Scott!

Maybe doing a floating effect while floating would work well with that presentation?

Thanks Seth. I actually thought about that when I was setting up the routine for this. It could be done, but I decided do an object float first, then a self lev as kind of a 1-2 punch, as I thought it might be stronger.

I want to thank Jimmy for creating such a masterpiece. This effect is really great, and one of the most practical smaller stage illusions for levitating on the market. It can play in a living room, on a small stage (like the one in the video) or a large stage. As you can see, I really love this effect. And the extra effort Jimmy has put into the details of this design is incredible.

There were a few problems with the video, but I finally decided to put it out there for you guys to take a look.

First, it was not my camera, and the camera person (a layman) was watching ME instead of the shot (I guess she got into the moment, which is great, but...). So there was an audience member's head in the way of the feet reveal. You can see part of it on the film, but it is covered a bit by the head in the front row. Hearing the audience reaction during the rise was just incredible. Of course I couldn't hear them when I was performing it, but on the tape, you heard "OMG", and "No way!". It's really powerful stuff.

For the record, it's not the best performance of a floating bill that I have ever done since we had some tech difficulties and an overhead light came on off cue, potentially allowing viewing of something the audience shouldn't see (cough...IT..cough). I had to react to the situation and create a shadow between my body and the light to cover the dirty work, which reduced my range of motion. So the bill floated, but it seemed very constrictive. It went off OK. Better that than exposure, I guess.

Magellan Solo/Witch/Magellan update:

The Magellan line of levitations has evolved over the last few years into a very viable, exciting piece that is finally reaching the potential that it hinted at so long ago when the Magellan Witch was first presented on youtube by Maritess and myself.

A few posts earlier, I documented the de-evolution of the Sohi/Solo siblings. This has paid off tenfold!

Maritess has been a huge proponent, even several years ago when I had given up on the original Witch prototype and concept.

Ironically, Maritess is the person who may help to put an end to the production of the Magellan Witch that she popularized.

While talking on the phone this afternoon, Maritess and I compared thoughts on the possibility of the Magellan Solo gimmick being used for a two-person presentation. The meeting of the minds created an almost instantaneous revelation.

Mentioning this idea to Scott Emo produced nothing but kudos. The sheer simplicity of the method, plus the huge stage visual in his mind was nothing less than breathtaking! Hopefully, he'll be able to come here and share some of the enthusiasm that has been re-injected into this project.

The Magellan Solo gimmick, in it's current state, will remain pretty much unchanged. But, the new optional routine will probably overtake the Magellan Witch to the point of its demise.

If you recall, the Magellan Witch featured a magician with an assistant standing in front of him. The magician placed his arms on both sides of her, and held a sheet in front of her. As he raised the sheet, she was seen to rise, eerily, until she was almost two feet higher. At this point, the sheet was whisked away, and she was seen floating, vertically standing, in mid air. The cloth was brought in front of her again, up to her chin, and she was slowly, visibly lowered back to the floor, where she was able to walk away.

The idea that came up this afternoon while speaking with Maritess was simple. Do what was described above, but the magician would walk away from the girl floating in mid air. As it hit us, we realized that there would need to be no change in the Solo gimmick, and that the effect would be startling and much easier to transfer in and out, due to the new 13 pound gimmick and the variety of load in/load out options available currently.

So, now the Magellan Solo is no longer a one-man effect, but, potentially, a two person effect (I am way too excited about this piece to even begin to imagine any more than a 2-person routine!)

I am considering the withdrawal of the Magellan Witch, as well as the name 'Solo' due to the expanding capability of the current 'Solo' prop. I am considering just calling this the Magellan Levitation from now on.

I will be posting video soon of the new lower profile 'Solo' as it was called before. The presentation can be accomplished in several ways. Entrance has been simplified with two discreet methods that are so good that I switch between them in different venues where one might work better than the other. If the performance area is large enough in a house party, I will just begin with the gimmick on the stage. If there is limited space in the house party, or if a traditional stage has wings to enter from, I will use the other method of entering.

Exit has been enhanced, as well. It occurs in two stages, and the subtlety is easily as effective as the entrance, but totally different. Delicate handling of the apparently empty cloth leaves no doubt that they've just witnessed a miracle!

Sales are picking up on this unit, and I have them in stock, so the wait is not as much of an issue as before. Soon, I hope to be cutting these out with a CNC machine, giving these a museum/jewelry store quality. These pieces are gorgeous, working, functional pieces of art. Ironically, I see these on the shelves of collectors and enthusiasts, on display, although the piece is meant to never be seen in performance.

A few people on this forum, mostly owners, have seen pictures of the newest Magellan levitation, and they might attest to the beauty and incredible functionality of this truly versatile utility prop.

I am having a difficult time finding assistants to film the new use of this piece, and, as a result, I don't have any video quite yet. If you've seen me on youtube, you know that I'm not shy about posting video of the the Solos and other projects that I'm working on. If I could just find a girl around here to rehearse and video this illusion, I could show everyone what I'm talking about.

In the new 2-person routine, the assistant requires rehearsal and an acquired 'knack' to execute the exhibition stage of the levitation at it's height. But, if she poses as if she's in a hypnotized state, as was the assistant in the original video of the Magellan Witch, she will be much more capable of a smooth transition to the exposed position in mid air.

Kenneth Havard also added touches that would increase separation between the performer and the assistant.

I am excited about the prospects of this new use of the Magellan levitation concept. We've said it before... there is no limitation to the uses of this prop, and that has proven to be true once again. The uses are boundless!

Thanks for the solid support!

Jimmy

It looks like Jimmy has uploaded another video called "The Magellan Levitation, Real World Handling":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OE0QKbc3seQ

This performance video shows how you can enter and exit cleanly doing the Magellan Levitation in a living room setting. Nice work Jimmy.

And I have to say, given the post above, allowing a levitation of an assistant really opens up many possibilites for this effect. So rather than just you having the power to levitate yourself (as in the video link), you can hypnotize your assistant and do a vertical levitation of them, as you step away showing a full body float.

Enjoy!

Hi everyone,

I've removed the outdated vids of the Magellan levitations from public view, and I have the updated Magellan Master levitation posted.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN0EidaycCQ

The angles are great on this. In a few days I may be doing video of the side angles to show the true, real-world effectiveness of the concept.

Thanks,

Jimmy
http://www.jimmyfingers.com

I just received my Megellan Master Levitation yesterday and was very excited to get started playing with this thing. After a couple of hours of playing with it, here is my review.

I have been wanting one of these for a while but was hesitant because I just didn't know what the gimmick was and quite frankly, times are tough and it is expensive. All I know is I loved the video of Jimmy performing it. So, I decided to take a chance on it and honestly after playing with it, I love it and just can't wait to try it out on a live audience. Jimmy's customer service was top notch. He answered my question and delivered the product right away. I was very impressed because in this business you just don't find that a lot. When it came in, all I could say is wow, this thing is bullet proof and built very well. You can tell a lot of though has been put into it and it is designed very well.

What you get is exactly what you see Jimmy doing in the video. The angles are a lot better than I expected so I am very happy with it and highly recommend it.

At first I was a bit concerned with all the comments concerning the physicality or slight of body comments and I thought it would take LOTS of practice. Of course, I plan on practicing until, I feel like it is perfect. After an hour of working with it, I was starting to get the hang of it. I pulled out my iphone and shot a quick little video just to send to my friend to show him how cool it is. So, I thought I would post the link on here to show you guys what can be done after just an hour of playing with it. Keep in mind, it is a practice video and I was not worried as much with my showmanship as just demoing it for a friend. I think this thing is so good, I wanted to share with the community. I want to stress this is just after playing with it for a while! It is a private link and I will remove it after a while. Enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_TGjE2yyGM

So, I love it and if you are thinking about picking one of these up, I recommend it!

Thanks for sharing the link Mr. Capps! I posted some comments on the clip.
Have a wonderful day!

Great job, Wayne! I have one of these and love it. Pretty amazing that you got it up to speed so well in only an hour.