July 25, 2005
Ian personally hand makes two types of these beguiling puzzles: Card ReFlexions which are cards folded in ways that seem intriguing, counter-intuitive or impossible. If you try to 'unfold' them in your mind, you may discover aspects which seem baffling and FLink Cards which are playing cards which have somehow become permanently linked to other cards, or other items. The Card ReFlexions are all cut from one piece of card with no gluing. Slits are made and the card material remaining is folded and twisted into perplexing Impossible Objects. Ian was kind enough to send a couple of these to me last year and they are extraordinary. The photos do not do them justice whatsoever and even the simpler cards defy easy reconstructive analysis. Ian is also a brilliant mentalist, magician, motivational speaker and writer. His Cold Reading book is an in depth look at the techniques used by professional "Psychics". He also makes some great items for fellow magicians that I'm afraid I can't tell you about. And no, although it may seem otherwise, I'm not his proud momma, just a fan.
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I gather from your remarks these cards are three-dimensional, kamus, but my browser unfortunately isn't giving me any visual indication of this. As two-dinensional objects, they are nonetheless very handsome. Think the impossible objecxts link is delightful also -- thanks for the links, kamus
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Yep, they are three dimensional. As I said, the photos do not do them justice. You really have to hold one of these babies in your hand to appreciate them fully. Ian sent me DNA which is the top link and evry so often I will bring it out for visitors and everyone just kind of stares open mouthed for a while.
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Another thing about the FLink cards is that many knowledgeable people have closely examined them and found no trace of cutting, gluing et cetera. Ian says that they are indeed linked that way (how else?) but he does not disclose how he is able to eradicate any evidence of skullduggery.
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Curious as to whether it's possible to play card games or do card tricks with Rowland's cards? They sound, from your description, as if this might not be possible.
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Well you wouldn't want to due to the card's delicate construction. However it could be used in a magic trick I suppose: i.e. Spectator selects a card and said card is magically transformed into a Wow Card. Even then, I would be too afraid of screwing the cards up.