Bathroom Key (#7 of 8) by Clifton Mitchell, Satoshi Toyoda

Clifton Mitchell is a true perfectionist. He doesn’t take on many projects but when he does you can be sure the finished product will be gold 🙂

This item, which is Clift’s version of the Mikame Craft effect Mystery Key Holder that was invented by Satoshi Toyoda, is a real delight. It is one of the very few items (out of thousands) that has ended up in my Gig-Rig ready for action anytime in the future.

Although the idea behind the original Mikame Craft version is a stroke of genius the version they sold has a number of limitations.  Clift has addressed all of those issues and then some.  Most importantly he made the key look like a common place item, rather than an obvious magician’s prop (see the final photo for a comparison), and created an interesting and amusing line of patter to go along with it.

More than any other effect I am looking forward to trying this out over the holidays, and I’m quite confident it will drive them wild.  Thank-you Clift for letting me have one of these as I know you have a lot of demand for your products, I love it 🙂

Effect: The magician displays a restroom key attached to a stick much like you would encounter at a convenience store. The stick has a hole in one end through which a chain is passed to which the key is attached. The chain is pulled and clearly shown to go through the stick and the hole in the key. Upon wondering why the hole is always at the end of the stick, the magician grasps the hole and, right in front of the audience, visibly slides the hole to the middle of the stick. To prove he has really moved the hole, the magician pulls the chain through the hole clearly showing that it passes through the middle of the stick.

To further demonstrate that the hole is going through the middle of the stick, he then lets the stick freely hang by the chain only. Upon realizing that the hole in the middle is not very practical, the magician grabs the hole a second time and moves it back to the end of the stick. Again the chain is pulled through the hole proving that the hole penetrates the stick. With a bit of maneuvering by the magician, the Bathroom Key can be handed out for examination.

The illusion is perfect. A rare gem well removed from the beaten path of main-stream magic. The method is mechanically ingenious. After watching the instructional video, you will be performing this with just a few minutes of practice.

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