Magic Bloc/Magic System - honest reviews?

[IndyCindy]

I've never used the "Magic Masonry" line to stencil bricks and blocks, but I'm intrigued. If you've used it before, how steep was the learning curve and were you pleased with the results? My biggest concern is that I think the blocks will look too uniform. I've always done bricks with egg carton material, and while the process is somewhat tedious, I actually love the irregular results. Please share your thoughts if it's a product you've used. 

[LPCullen]

I’ve never used that so I can’t say. I use paperclay for bricks and stone

[havanaholly]

The two Dura-Craft kits I've built came with the Magic Brik and I followed the late Tom Berkner's (Earth & Tree) suggestion of adding Elmer's regular white glue (NOT "school glue") in an amount equal to the "brik" powder & water.  The trick is to apply the mixture quickly no more than 1/16"-1/8" thick and immediately lift the paper template, because I learned the hard way that it soaks up water quickly and makes a god-awful mess if allowed to do that.  Now I prime and paint my surface grout color and glue on "bricks" I cut out of sandpaper:

There is another company that makes their templates out of plastic (Brinkley?) and you spritz the back with spray adhesive and put it on your grout-painted surface and smear the brick/ stone material over it and let it get tacky when you lift the template (our member Peggi used it on her Van Buren).  You do need to wash the glop off of the template every few uses to get clean lines and to keep it reusable.  You can use premixed spackle or joint compound with it.

[fov]

I used MagicBrik on my bar roombox. I didn't want to spend a lot of time finishing the exterior of a roombox, so this was a quick way to add bricks that look more realistic than paper. It was an easy enough process, but I don't like how uniform the bricks are (the grout lines seem a bit thick to me), and also the brick material can flake off easily if you bump it. Coating the bricks with matte varnish afterward helped with the flaking.

I also used MagicSlate on that roombox. I posted about my experience with both here and you can see pics in my gallery:

I recently started doing egg carton bricks on a half scale dollhouse. It's going to be tedious but like you @IndyCindyI like the irregular look. So far I've only done the foundation (details on my blog here).

[havanaholly]

Adding the white glue to the mix helps stop that flaking.

[IndyCindy]

Thanks for the info and feedback. I feel like I can make an informed decision now.