"Brazen" by Tom Jorgenson
Suggested Retail USD$20.00
Available from your favorite dealer
In a Blink: 10 Out of 10

Tom Jorgenson's "Brazen" not only lives up to its name, it's also crafty, clever, and downright devious.

Nicknamed "The Benders Blindfold", "Brazen" is described as being for use after a metal bend with spoons. After you've bent the spoons and the bowls have broken off, you pick up the bowls and place them over your eyes. An audience member verifies you can't see under, beneath or around the things as they tape them up for you. Still, though, you have vision clear enough to do whatever your storming little mind can come up with.

But that's really limiting things too much. I only rarely do bends myself, and if I do silverware is safe from me. Jorgenson rightfully says that using bowls used for bends gives you justification for using them in a blindfold demo, but I found quickly that you don't need much justification at all for using these even without the bends in play. A little bit of experience with audiences will give you a few ideas for that. In reality, "Brazen" is an ideal method for doing a blindfold bit for anyone interested in such things.

Jorgenson gets a lot of credit with "Brazen" all the way around. It's a smart idea, wrapped in some brilliant thinking, but more than that Jorgenson went out of his way here to keep everything as fair to the consumer as possible. Folks, in this day of too many shoddy DVDs and poor tricks, that's a big deal. Jorgenson kept the cost very, very reasonable: for less than $20, you get two bowls ready to use plus a pile of complete spoons for whatever use you may need them for (Jorgenson also gives methods for separating the stems from the bowls if you need to) plus a roll of PVC tape. You can do this one straight out of the box without a trip to a store to buy any added stuff. That's about as refreshing as it gets.

Make no mistake, though; what you're really buying here, beyond the props you could pick up at a local superstore, is Jorgenson's thinking and it's solid. It's as workable as you could ask for, and it plays huge.

All you need is a routine for it and you're on your way to having a memorable mental piece.

That's the thing I should warn you about here: Jorgenson concentrates on making his thinking come alive and go to work, as he should. There are no routines enclosed which makes this very much one of those pieces you buy with a performance piece in mind (and if you're stuck for ideas, pick up Corinda or almost any book on mentalism and mental magic and you'll get buried with presentations). "Brazen" is, in its way, a utility blindfold idea that can be used anywhere any trick blindfold or blindfold trick is called for.

I can't rave about this one enough. Before I got "Brazen", I never saw myself doing anything with a blindfold but now, well, things have changed. "Brazen" is so good, so sneaky, it's going to get used a lot. This is one of those rare things in magic: a tool that's too marvelous not to use regularly.

Jorgenson has a winner in "Brazen".

"Brazen" by Tom Jorgenson
In a Blink: 10 Out of 10

Practicality: 10
No real set-up (just have the spoons handy and you're good to go), no real reset (though why you'd want to do this more than once, I don't know), and you can structure things so everything is examinable. This is an extremely practical piece of blindfold business.

Workmanship: 10
The gaffs are what they are and they will work wonderfully. Jorgenson also supplies enough of them to last a while, along with tape you'll need to start using this one out of the box. Huge kudos to Jorgenson for that.

Documentation: 10
Jorgenson's documentation is short but thorough. He covers most of the psychology behind using his gaffs, various handlings, and some great ideas. All in all, an excellent job.

Effect: 10
It's all in what you do with it, of course -- drives, revelations, what have you -- but Jorgenson's work here will add some power to things quickly and easily.

Presentation: 10
With blindfolds and the like, the more secure everything is, the more powerful it plays. Jorgenson allows for more security than is usually found with blindfolds and at the same time provides much better vision.

Shane