I am a fan of World Magic Shop and David Penn’s Tie Shell (The Colour Changing Tie). The title to this trick says it all. One moment you are wearing a tie of one color and a moment later, you are wearing a completely different tie.
This trick comes with a DVD that is about a half an hour and the pieces necessary to create the Tie Shell gimmick. To make the gimmick you will need to engage in some easy arts and crafts work, which will take about 10 minutes. You will need some basic art and crafts materials as well as a tie that will need to undergo some surgery. This surgical procedure means that you will never be able to wear that specific tie again, except for when you are doing this trick. The advantage of this trick is that you can customize it to your own style since you are using one of your own ties – or one that you buy for this trick.
The DVD has a live performance of the effect from one of Penn’s actual corporate stage gigs. Most of the DVD is real time construction and explanation on how to build the Tie Shell, which is properly paced, easy to understand and explained very well. The DVD also has a studio demonstration on how to effectuate the tie change, which is extremely easy and takes about a second. You can only do this once per performance due to the fact that the audience sees your tie before and after the change. The pre-show preparation takes about a minute.
The DVD even teaches you how to knot a tie, just like Penn does. I am guessing that most everyone that buys this trick will already know how to tie a tie, but the DVD leaves no questions upon its completion.
Penn explains that he mostly uses Tie Shell in a stage performance, but it can equally effective in a close-up environment. With some misdirection, the audience will not realize that the tie has changed colors until the performer points it out. This is true and makes the spectators wonder when and how the tie changed.
The ad copy is accurate, especially the claim that states a “short moment of misdirection is all that is needed to effect the colour change.” However the weird effects of the promotional video may unintentionally lead you to believe that the tie changes colors in front of the audience as if it were a chameleon’s skin. This potential for misunderstanding is the result of the overlay graphic flashing effect on the video of Penn at his corporate stage performance. Again, this trick needs a moment of misdirection to execute it and for that reason the true impact of the effect cannot be captured on a short promo video.
If you wear a tie during your performances, you should really add and incorporate Tie Shell into your act. For those that don’t wear a tie during your performance, you probably should — and then see the prior sentence of this review.