talkmagic.co.uk

Hello all,
I am SmallHands, I am a 25 year old beginner(AH).

I've always had an interest in magic tricks. And recently I've been learning a few little tricks such as "Jack the Bounty Hunter", "Slop Shuffle" and one other I don't know the name of (A math/self working trick, that allows you to find any three cards your viewer picks without any forces or false cuts).

I can pull these three off convincingly, and I feel I am learning as much about how people view things as much as anything else.

I am also trying to learn some nice card manipulation and flourishes(False cuts, double lifts and palming). This is harder for me, I have very small hands, but I have seen people with equally small hands pull off what I am trying, so it is just a case of practicing.

At the moment I am trying to avoid gimmicks until I feel proficient in doing what can be done without need of them. I think all the gimmicks, I was bought when I was young put me off them slightly.

Right now I am just using a deck of cheap cards I picked up in an airport waiting for a connection but I have a brick of bikes on the way.

What resources would be good for an absolute beginner, like books or DVD's to learn trick without gimmicks and to get good advice on flourishes, false cuts and other impromtu magic?

Hiya welcome to Talk Magic.

Good books to get started with are any of the Karl Fulves books, Royal Road to Card Magic and for a great book that covers all sorts of areas of magic, Mark Wilson's Complete Course.

small hands... the small hands thing is a clasic beginners complaint.




You should google Max Malini, one of the greatest magicians who ever lived.

H is hands were positivly minute. Yet he toured the world, entertaining the rich, royal, and Influencial people.

Hi and welcome to TM.

As stated by Dale - don't worry about hand size. It didn't stop you writing, typing and feeding yourself and it hand size won't stop you learning magic. It's all in your mind.

If it helps, I have the opposite problem; I can't do the traditional thumb palm with an American quarter because my hands are too big, I have to use a fifty-cent piece or a weirder palm.

Thanks for the warm welcome.

I now have The Royal Road to card magic book and some decent quality playing cards. I've noticed the hand size thing is mentioned everywhere as unimportant. I've been working on little techniques than actual tricks for the moment, things like controlled/fake riffle shuffles and injog undercuts and I am using these to make the basic trick I know at the moment that uses them quite smooth.

Anyway thanks for the tips and the welcome.