Rand Woodbury has spent most of his career performing a lot of his original illusions for “real-world” audiences on cruise ships around the world. If you have a chance to watch his performance, you will know he is the consummate entertainer and illusionist.
His illusion books and videos were ahead of their time when he released them in the early-to-mid nineties. I have them listed in my “Recommended Books & DVDs for Modern Illusionists”. Illusionworks 4 is a long-awaited collection of illusion ideas that will push you to think in different directions.
The book details many examples of illusions that utilize unorthodox (in a good way) split-load spaces for deceptive hiding positions. These are not the most comfortable or natural of positions for the human body but create deceptive-looking props. Think the “Z Table” as described in his first “Illusionworks” book published in 1993.
Rand also offers ideas on breaking up the load space of a prop even more with concepts such as the Pivot Base & Revolving Base.
For fans of spiker-type illusions, there are almost half a dozen ideas/ designs for illusions that used spikes and swords.
More than a handful of illusions will require a proper proscenium stage, space and control over lighting to perform such as his appearing airplane but most illusions can be adapted for general performances.
For the intermediate to advanced illusion student, Illusionworks 4 is a must-have in one’s library, along with Rand’s other books.
However, if you are completely new to illusions or illusion building, you will gain more from this book by reading other beginner-level books to understand basic illusion principles, load spaces, dimensions and illusion construction.
For most of the illusions, there are no details or specific dimensions in the descriptions. Experienced illusionists and builders will have no problem building most of the illusions based on the descriptions and drawings but a beginner may be find this a challenge.
You can buy Illusionworks ( 1- 4) from your favourite magic dealer or support Rand directly by buying them at www.illusionworksstore.com.
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