Magical duo Les French Twins and magician David Sy have teamed up to launch a magical prop for writing-based magic — capable of making the very ink on a page of paper disappear on demand: the Ellusionist LAVA PAD.
“With LAVA PAD and zero sleight-of-hand, you make the ink visually change in front of their eyes — and you get to hand the paper right out (no switching),” Ellusionist chief executive officer Geraint Clarke explains. “Internally, at Ellusionist, we were developing something similar with a stack of billets — but when we saw what Les French Twins were working on, we decided to team up, because we knew the notepad version of this was way more organic.”
The illusion is simple enough, and you’ll be amazed to hear is not reliant on actual magic — and anyone who wants to avoid learning the secret to the trick should skip to the end now: a hidden ultra-thin heating pad at the back of a notepad quickly heats up a sheet of otherwise-ordinary paper, causing heat-sensitive ink to lose its color and disappear. After a few seconds, the pad switches off and the paper cools down before being ripped out and handed to a volunteer for analysis to confirm that it is, indeed, real, unmodified, non-magical paper.
The company has launched a crowdfunding campaign for the gadget, promising a bundle that includes the LAVA PAD itself, a USB Type-C charging cable for its internal battery, 180 pages of paper shaped to fit the pad, and a pen with the heat-sensitive ink — plus access to a video tutorial demonstrating exactly how to use it, with Clarke promising it’s suitable for even “complete beginners” as well as seasoned magicians.
The crowdfunding campaign is now live on Kickstarter, with rewards starting at $199 for a single LAVA Pad bundle — a claimed $50 discount over a planned retail price of $249.