Geraint Clarke – Key Bite (Gimmick not included)

Description

Everyone remembers David Blaine walking up to someone, borrowing their quarter, biting it in half and spitting it back together on TV. It was a huge moment for magic.

For that reason, coin bite is an undisputed classic of magic… But it’s not as practical as it could be.

Firstly, people don’t like to carry coins anymore. They pay with Apple Pay, Google Pay, contactless Credit Cards & Bills.

Borrowing a coin is also country or value specific. If they don’t have the coin that matches your gimmick on them, or you’re performing outside of your normal country, it’s impossible to do.

It’s also so well hidden, you’ll sometimes spend it by mistake. In my lifetime I’ve accidentally spent at least 12 coin bite or folding coin gimmicks… I needed a better solution.

I got to thinking. What thing do people always grab when they leave the house, something they keep on them at all times? Their keys.

To make it truly universal, I couldn’t use the head of the key. The bit you hold when unlocking your door can be various shapes and colors. However, the stem of the key, although supposedly unique, looks ironically identical across all keys.

I took the most popular key in the world, the ‘mechanically cut key‘ and created a dual layer, one silver and one brass… So no matter which key I borrowed, I had a side to match theirs. The Key Bite gimmick was born.

It’s sleek, fun and lighting fast to restore.

Kept in that little pocket in my jeans, it’s travelled the world with me for 6 months or more. Bringing back the David Blaine street-magic-style reactions wherever I’m casually performing.

It should be my job to tell you to buy one now, but because I don’t make my living from releasing magic, I’d rather tell you what this represents to me.

This is my first ever gimmicked product to the market. 10 full years of releasing magic and it’s all been downloadable.

I’ve never relased a physical product before, I didn’t have the balls.

The risk involved in manufacturing, especially something hand-made like Key Bite is huge. Nobody wanted to touch it. It was too hard to make.

For 10 years it gathered dust at the back of my mind until I was able to find the right prototyper in Jared Manley.

It’s release, even if not for you, should motivate you to pursue your ideas. Don’t be discouraged, don’t take no for an answer.

I didn’t… and now, hopefully, magicians all over the world will be spitting borrowed keys back together for money, entertainment, fame & lust.

It’s a flattering and surreal feeling and one I consider a success, even before you’ve added it to your cart. Because magic doesn’t exist in sales, or recognition… The fun for a creator of any magnitude is in making something impossible, possible (for yourself or for an audience) – and ensuring it is the best that it could ever be.

That’s Key Bite.

– Geraint Clarke