Hey guys. I've purchased D'Lites a long time ago. I hardly use it. The TT seems to be too darkcolored for me. The contrast with my skincolour is immiediately noticable. Is there any solution for this because I love the effect.

You could try to paint it or something or just move your hand around. My TT is WAY too big for my thumb. No one notices though because the motion.

Well, my D'lite TT was darker than normal also. I removed the unit and inserted it in another lighter TT. If you don't care if the darker TT gets ruined, just cut away until you get the unit out in one nice piece. Since it's sealed inside, it takes alittle time.

If you don't want to go this route, I heard painting the inside of the TT white will make the outside of the TT look lighter. I have never tried this so I don't know if this actually works. I remember reading a post about this a while back here on the Café.

I

In the ones I had, you could slip them out easily, but mine were French so maybe there's a difference.

My wife, Lucy, uses D'Lites just as they come in the box regularly. She is a blue-eye blond with a very fair complexion. The color has never been a factor.

Perhaps it is where you are trying to use this prop. It is certainly no good for close-up magic. But for stage and platform magic the prop does well.

Bob Sanders
Magic By Sander

I used to demonstrate Dlites in London in a market, under lights and surrounded. Almost one year doing this, I can perform it with pink tts if you want (if they work I would, hehe). My skin is not the same size of the TT.

I suggest that you practice more in front of a mirror, memorize movements of load and unload AND lear to manipulate it, finger palming and so.

Good Luck

I've heard several stories of magicians using brightly colored TT's just to prove that the color didn't matter if you handled them correctly. I also read (here on the forums I think), a story of a magician who purposely flashed the TT when doing a lecture but actually used a different method for the vanish. When he was called on the TT, he revealed that it was a decoy. Of course, that kind of misdirection would work for a room full of magicians but one would hope it wouldn't be used for "general audiences."

I've used D'lites for a couple of years. I use them straight out of the box. No, they don't match my skin tone. In fact they are a little gray-ish. I figure the only really good match is on a dead person that had a dark complexion.

I've never, ever been called on them. I suspect a few people 'knew' what they were but they didn't care. It's such a pretty effect.

A perfect example of willing suspension of disbelief.

The color of the TT has nothing to do with the proper use of the gimmick.

Bob

I agree with bob. If presented right, the color really should not play a factor in it at all. I think the problem with dLites is the fact that too many folks think of them only as gimmicks and therefor do not think through and develop routines that are fun and creative and enjoyable to an audience.

There are also lights that are sold by Jay Scott berry that are not really dLites but can be used in that manner. The difference is that they come in a variety of colors, including white and the light is very intense and can be seen easily even in daylight situations. Just something to think about as a variation for your creative routining.

I think the important thing here is to always strive to be creative with your routine with the lights. I really do not think it is good enough to just do a routine of this light jumping from place to place. One, there is no rhyme or reason for it happening and 2) it gets really boring pretty fast after the first few times.

I think the magician can and should really strive to think more creatively with their light routine and come up with something their audiences will enjoy and can get into. Bring something more to it and give it a reason for happening. There are so many ways you can use this if you just open your mind for experimentation.

Sure the lites can be fun for the first 2 times, but after this it gets BORING!!!!! I mean really. think about what you are showing the audience. You have a light, you can dance it around, it goes out it comes back. Anything more then this is redundant. We magicians tend to perform DLites because it fascinates us and we perform it for US and NOT our audience.

Step out from the dLites and learn that they are ONLY a utilty prop and not a full routine by itself. Give your audiences something more in the routine to grab ahold of and to enjoy. Be creative with using the dLite. Think outside of the box.

If you really study the essence of it, it is the sudden manipulation of light. But this light source can come from anywhere. Just producing a light from no where has no real purpose or reason to an audience. But if there is a lightbulb on a table and all of a sudden it keeps blinking on and off. You bump it and it goes back on to white again and fades out. Frutsrated you bump it again and walk away only to see the light has tunred red as the music has also now changed to something more eary. You stare at it and unscrew the bulb thinking you have beaten this weird magic that seems to be happening. Suddenly as you go to throw away the bulb in your hand, it lights back up again red.

This is just off the top of my head, but already you can see the difference here. Now you have a purpose for what you are doing. You are beginning to create magical drama with using the dLite ONLY as a utility to create the magical moments of entertainment value.

Now this may not play for children, but you can see that you are now developing something more with your dLites and giving the audience more to have fun with

Think outside of the norm and create something different and unique to you.

Kyle

I completely agree with magic4u02, I once heard of a magician who used a red dlite to turn a glass of red wine to white wine.

I work at the magic shop in Atlantic City and this is one of our top selling effects. I say that to help you realize that I perform this effect MANY MANY times a day. (practically every time 5 people walk into the store) Because of the price of the item, it will take a lot of beating before we break open a new box. My skin is light and the D'lites are nearing a blackish color.
Sure, I cant possibly perform the same hand motions as the newer ones but by playing around with it, you'll soon have plenty of moves that wont expose it.
Keep your hands moving at all times.
However, the best advice has all ready been said. don't do Dlites.....do a magic routine WITH Dlites.......they are pointless stand alone

The first time I saw the EFFECT.... a looooong time ago at a FISM in Belgium.... I was with Flip and we were both in TEARS watching the act.

The act was from Alma Ata (the old Soviet Union) and comprised two persons, Sara Kabagujina and Sultangali Shukurov. The produced lights at their fingertips and "threw" the lights from on person to the other... they had great choreagraphy, almost ballet like... it was one of the greatest, most beautiful magic acts I have ever seen.

This pre-dates Rocco, and the French... and anyone else with the effect.

The were co-winners of the Grand Prix with Ger Copper.

Goes to show that it is not the prop that makes the magician, but the routining and entertainment value you achieve from using the props you have to construct a well thought out piece.

Kyle

I agree. The magic happens in the hands of the person using it and how they present it that causes disbelief (or amazement) in others.

To me, they are not very good in close-up situations, but given your surroundings and lighting, one could get away with it and it go over extremely well. Again, how is it presented?

I use mine a lot at night, when I am outside. They really stand out like that. Also, depending on how close someone is to me, I keep my hands moving.

As others have said, just spend more time practicing and consider where, and when, you use it. I'm sure you will have a blast with them.

A friend of mine used them close-up with sponge balls. He would light up a sponge ball with the dlite, then he told a tale about electronics getting more and more sophisticated. He even drew a little dot on the spongeballs that was supposed to be the off/on switch. The focus on the sponge balls was so intense, with people trying to squeeze them just right to make them light up, that people never looked elsewhere.

I've come up with a killer routine with my 4 year old grand-daughter. It was entirely serendipitous. We were on the train and I put on my D'lites just to keep her occupied. She reached out to grab one, as a 4 year old might do, and as her hand closed I bent my thumb under and extinguished the light. She was absolutely positive that she had the light.

I quickly pulled the light out of the back of her hand before she had a chance to open her hand. Soon she was grabbing the light and tossing it to me.

It's a wonderfully playful routine and I think it kills because she is still certain that she grabs the light. The few times that she opened her hand to look I would quickly 'catch' it as it flew out of her hand.

Of course I haven't figured out how to do this in a show yet. She's only four. And I do think that her certainty that she has captured the light is a big selling point. Also, I can't choreograph it. I can somewhat control it, but she is still only 4 and is as likely to swallow the light as toss it to me.

Rikbrooks:
This is a good example of why the lights are so enduring.

If you keep them in your pocket long enough, nice uses will just come up.

Bob