talkmagic.co.uk

Hi everyone

my name is Carl I live in Lancashire, I am 34 years old and have been a lifetime fan of magic purely as a watcher and admirer and now I have decided to give the whole thing a go and learn how this all works. I have been collecting playing cards for a few years so it makes sense to me to start with card magic. I have recently taken delivery of the book and DVD set of "The Royal Road to Card Magic", and plan to chart my progress here, any suggestions etc will be very much appreciated.

I don't intend to rush the process, I want to learn each technique and trick properly and be confident with the mechanics of it before moving on, also I will list new purchases here such as new decks etc, so here goes:

Wk 1 - I have read, re-read and watched the video sections with regard to the overhand shuffle, which I am generally OK with, there have been many dropped cards along the way as you might expect as I am trying from the start not to look at my hands, but now I am comfortable controlling the top card, bottom card, top to bottom and back, the only slight issue which you may be able to help with is top to next to bottom and back to top!! occasionally I end up with the card ending up in second position rather than at the top, should I be trying to run the last few cards or is there a technique issue??
As for the tricks I have been practicing Topsy Turvy cards in front of the mirror, and I happy enough with the technique, I performed it for my daughter and the smile n her face hopefully will be the first of very many , Poker players picnic I also found quite straight forward, but I suppose self working tricks are supposed to be that way.

More work required on the injog, this is still a little untidy but plenty of practice time ahead, and the off the table riffle shuffle still requires work, I am really enjoying the first few steps down the road, and which I had done this years ago

Acquisitions of the week:
- 1x Red Bicycle Standard Deck
- 1x Blue Bicycle Standard Deck
- 2x Purple Bicycle Faith Decks
- The Royal Road to Card Magic book
- The Royal Road to Card Magic 5 DVD set

Hi Carl, welcome along to TM! It's great to have you here and it sounds like you're headed in the right direction, have fun, magic's a fantastic hobby!

My un-asked for advice would be to stop practicing sleights and start practicing effects. Find an effect you like and learn the sleights or learn to use the gimmicks involved. Don't wait for it all to be perfect before you start performing, if you do you will never perform and the effect changes when you perform. You can practice on your own for years, then when you get out there and perform the timing won't be right. The angle won't be the same, it changes. Perform. In reality you should probably get a svengali deck or some other easy to perform effect and start performing right away. See what type of stuff works for you in front of an audience that way you don't have to waste precious time learning stuff you will never need.

Find an effect. Learn the effect so you can perform it in a satisfactory mannner and then perform as often as you can=Success.

Hi Lady of Mystery and thanks for the welcome and thanks to bmat for the advice i will look into this over the weekend

i will update as regularly as possible

Carl

Maybe have a think about 'how entertaining is my magic' rather than 'how clever is the move I am learning? The watching public will care about the first statement, only magicians will worry about the second!

thanksfor your input corindaman, i have been working on the glide this week and performed the "A Design for Laughter Trick" she loved it and didnt have a clue how I could have switched the card, i am now having to perform the tricks for every one of her friends that happen to show up at the house and all seems to have gone well so far

Carl