Magic Tricks

Boy, was I excited to see a new download come available on the topic of card printing. I purchased it immediately when I saw the listing. This is a subject that holds great interest for me, and is something that I have dabbled with for over a decade. I came into the download hoping to find some great tips and tricks that could improve my printing results. Unfortunately, I walked away sorely disappointed.

Here’s the good: Michael comes across as a very nice & earnest guy, who is excited about sharing this material. He also spends a good amount of time covering the ethical & legal ways to approach making your own gaffs and the potential grey areas of copying marketed tricks.

Michael does teach a few important foundational bits of info, such as one way to prep the card for printing, and how to finish it. That’s pretty much where the good elements end. Granted, his end results look very good when comparing a self-made gaff to a factory-made one. But based on the info given and the equipment used, the average buyer will not match Michael’s results quickly or easily.

My issue isn’t so much what he does teach, but what is left out. There is no information on other methods of prepping a blank, using a computer and/or software program to create or print artwork from scratch, ways to get consistent card alignment, ways to use laser printers as well as inkjet printers, etc. He says that you can print using your home printer, but does not actually give real-world examples or steps for doing that - everything done in the video is done on a professional, office-grade all-in-one copier/printer.

Michael also gives away his lack of knowledge and experience on the topic when he mentions that he has been printing on cards for about a year and a half, and also making the claim that there have not been any instructional videos released on the topic.

Had he done his homework, he would have come across the terrific “Versatile Monte and Beyond” DVD by Mark Allen, which is a treasure trove of DIY card printing knowledge. It is unfortunately off the market, but if you can find a copy, I would highly recommend it. There are some websites that give in-depth, detailed information about at-home card printing. There are even a few videos online that are 1/10th the length of this video, yet still provide more detailed information than Michael’s, particularly on the topic of consistent and accurate card alignment.

I have no issue with the fact that Michael has released his take on it, nor will I pick on him for the production values since you can see and hear what you need - though in this day and age, it is a poor excuse to ask this price for a download and not deliver slightly better production values. People deserve to be compensated for their efforts, but this download would still be overpriced at half of its current cost. An in-depth, far-reaching video on the topic would be worth twice the asking price and then some, but that is not what has been delivered.

If you have never thought about printing a card before now, this download will give you enough basic information to achieve results. But there is far too much important information that is missing for me to be able to recommend this. Given the wealth of terrific magic downloads on the market in this price range, the asking price is much too high for what is given. The buyer will be left to a lot more of their own trial and error than they will likely expect. If you already have any experience or knowledge on this topic, you will probably walk away without having learned anything new. Not recommended.