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Well, possibly a weak spot to me in magic is holding a long palm, but mainly in the form of a finger palm.

I invested in a set of Cups and Ball's yesterday, and whilst working on the routine its the first time I have really done finger palming.
Firstly when I hold a ball in finger palm the hand looks unatural and is almost clenched like a fist even when I don't mean to be.

Its okay if I am holding the palm for a brief moment during the routine, it is just when it has to be held for a while.

Is there anything I can do to improve the palm?, I.e, replace it with another palm or change the position of, if so, how?

Thanks,
Tom

You might be able to get your hand to open up a bit by pinchig the ball against your palm with your ring finger or thumb while having the other fingers relaxed and curled naturally.

Balls often hold well in classic palm and thumb palm positions. I dont know wich size and type of ball you using but usualy roling em against the palm or the thumb using the ring finger as sleightlycrazy said does the job. I think you using small sponge balls for "cups and balls" so probably a thumb palm would do it.

Im sure someone else could help you more then me as i still have the x4 multiplication wooden balls i bought 10 years ago and i never showed it to anybody else than familly and very close friends because im not confident enuff yet. So i still have a lot of work to do with balls!

Well, if you are using good sized balls, you could simply palm it. Use the fleshy part at the bottom of your thumb and the opposite of your hand (pinky side). Squeeze the ball between there and it should be fine, like palming a coin. Hope this helps!

Thanks for the help.
I guess my classic palm is much better than my finger palm, and it allows me to hold my hand naturally with fingers open.

I might give a go of changing the handlings so I can get into classic palm and still be able to load the balls (which can only really happen in finger palm).

Thanks

I personally find a thumb clip to be smashing for sponges.

Tom, if you don't find a replacement palm or a way to improve your finger palm, then look for another way to cover it. Maybe hold a pen in that hand as a wand or pointer - that would do nicely. Or even hold another sponge ball at the finger tips in that hand. There'll be something that works for you to either keep that hand busy or direct attention away from it. Misdirecting from a palm is simpler and a lot more satisfying than you think.

If it's those crochet balls you're on about, then I know what you mean. I find them to be one of the hardest type of objects to palm. Round, no grip at all, and too small to palm comfortably and too big to palm comfortably.
Just palm them best you can for now, and once your routine is flowing, then the misdirection will work for itself, and no one will have the time or the inclination to check out your palms.

Thumb clipping works for the crochet balls too!

Hello Tom,

Here's what I like to do when I'm learning a new move. I lay the balls on the ground since I love the Indian style of Cups and Balls (they're the ones with the stems) and then practice my various techniques on them. That way, they can't fall or roll around too much and you can truly perfect the subtlest of movements. It's the little movements that count and lead to mastery and perfect control. Learn new techniques first this way and then you can quickly adapt them to doing the techniques at any height or angle.

Love,

Amanda Angeli

Tom Hutley wrote:Well, possibly a weak spot to me in magic is holding a long palm, but mainly in the form of a finger palm.

I invested in a set of Cups and Ball's yesterday, and whilst working on the routine its the first time I have really done finger palming.
Firstly when I hold a ball in finger palm the hand looks unatural and is almost clenched like a fist even when I don't mean to be.

Its okay if I am holding the palm for a brief moment during the routine, it is just when it has to be held for a while.

Is there anything I can do to improve the palm?, I.e, replace it with another palm or change the position of, if so, how?

Thanks,
Tom

first of all ... put both hands on the table with nothing in them, just in a relaxed way. if your anything like me you'll now have your hands with both pinkies on the table and the rest of the hand roughly at a 45 degree angle with each finger being less clenched than the one before. this is a relaxed hand position which is what your trying to convey when doing a fingerpalm. look at how this looks from the front in a mirror/webcam and remember it. now pick up a ball and curl your pinky round it (just your pinky!) you'll notice that your hand curls exactly the same way as the relaxed pose and you can do stuff with all your other fingers without disturbing the position of the pinky (im actually typing this while holding a ball in pinky palm!... admittedly i only use about 3 fingers while typing but you get the idea!)

its like everything else in magic..magicians paranoia! try keeping a ball with you at all times and holding it in pinky palm while having a conversation, i tend to use my hands while talking so its good practice and you learn to keep your palms facing towards you which helps immensley! (also can help with TT paranoia too!)

in my cups and balls video Here i use the pinky palm extensively

I wish I had the patience to copy all these posts to the "innuendo bingo" thread.

In my experience with palming balls, I was just being overly critical of myself. What seems like a clenched fist holding a ball to me, looks like an empty, relaxed hand to a spectator. Try it on family and see if they notice.

Well I guess its mainly been brought on by the card magic.
With cards if I ever hold a palm it is only for a brief moment and usually I can hold the deck and thus hide it.

I think as the routine has developed and I am getting more confident with it, then the misdirection plays a lead part in hiding the palm.
Also consistency and flow and seemed to improve the palm, so instead of wasting time talking, or pausing, I can make the routine flow and therefore have the hand exposed less.

Thanks for the help, will get practicing.

Expect a cup video in a few weeks/month.

Just another tip on palm switch and regular classic palms. It is much more deceptive if the index and the thumb stay close togheter. Stretching out the thumb and/or the pinky when griping is a bad give away we seen too often.

Maybe you knew this but it is something i consider very important about the classic palm and most switchs.

Palming for me was really hard when I first started out the main reason was becuse I can use both hands, so whenever I got a new trick with a palming routine in it, I would palm the object read a book,play with the kids,mow the lawn. This way I found a natural way to hold the object every so often check if it could be seen also at what point I drop it. In my view if you can palm an object and still pick/move things around then you master that object.

I hope this makes sense Kinda hard to explain on how I do it

Hope this helps