Magic: Card Manipulation

It’s been a few weeks since I talked about my friend who re-sparked my interest in magic. It seems it is still within my interest.

About a week after my friend–let’s call him Stanley–taught me the trick I have been trying to get him to show me, he decided I should learn a simple manipulation.

Ok, let’s cover manipulation first. Manipulation with cards is when the entertainer makes cards dance in his hands to the appreciation of his audience. Usually this manipulation is paired with magic tricks. Entertainers have been using the combination of manipulation and magic in different venues for years. You’ve all seen it, here is an example of a card manipulation performance:

I am not working on anything so fancy. I am working on basics… though it is a little fancier in some ways.

Stanley did the one thing that would insure I would learn manipulation though he didn’t know it at the time. While we were talking and after I handed the cards to him again, he showed me a simple trick then put cards into my hands and made me try it. If you don’t get what it was that did it, it was the making me try it part.

I didn’t get the trick down at first, but I caught on fast and the next day found me doing that trick with both hands while waiting in a subway station. Stanley didn’t know it at the time, but he had just started something that would last a while.*

When I was at work the next day, my lunch break consisted of searching for Card Manipulations and basic magic tricks. What I found was pretty interesting. I saved a small playlist of basic flourishes and a few fancy card manipulations.

The next time Stanley and I met up, he was shocked and amazed by the–admittedly minor–progress I had made. It was hard work for me. I had recent slammed my right hand into a metal pole and moving the fingers in such elaborate ways forced it to work in ways it wasn’t ready to endure. I was stubborn. There were a few things I couldn’t really capture, so I handed the deck off to Stanley who showed me what I was missing and gave me a challenge to complete.

The time after that, my cards, which were regular paper cards and not actual professional playing cards, were dull around the edges and the paper wasn’t snapping and basically they got limp. I hadn’t completed the challenge yet and he was pressed to show anything useful with the current deck. It was my Birthday too, so I didn’t push. I resolved to get something useful.

The next day was an early day because of a holiday. I contacted Stanley to find out if he would be available to go to his suggested magic shop with me and we went. Sadly I didn’t have much in the way of cash or money since payday was still around the corner, but I did have enough to buy a deck of cards. We had some time, so I suggested visiting the other store I had found on a Google search. He had never been there and it was close. We went.

He nabbed my new deck of cards (It wasn’t hard, I was offering!) and tutored me in a few things as we walked through early evening crowds. It made the walk way interesting. The second shop was more visually stunning with other street magic and entertainment, such as juggling, stupid gross tricks, like plastic dog pooh, and normal real magic supplies. I decided there was nothing for me there and ended up buying us both a set of cards. Which were pulled out and manipulated on the trip back the way we had come.

I don’t know if he thought I was serious or not. I didn’t even know if I was. I ended up with two decks of cards: Ellusionist’s Arcane (white) and Theory11′s Guardians. Both caught my attention and imagination, but I decided the Guardians were more hearty and able to stand up to frequent use.

Each day during the holiday weekend, I pulled out the cards and practiced what I was learning. It was something to do and something I found easy enough to do on subway platforms and sitting on the trains. By the time Stanley met me again, only four days by my count, my deck was already looking ragged and used. My pocket was really hard on the poor things. In a week they looked used, in two weeks they looked well used. It was getting a little hard to cut the cards in my new fancy way without dropping them on the ground.

A few easy weeks after Stanley first went with me to the store, I handed him my well used deck. Unbelievably, once he warmed up a little and dropped cards a few times, he flawlessly performed tricks with the ragged card. Another lesson, even bad cards can entertain. Not long later, the outer box fell apart and that was the death of the rest of the cards as I used my pocket and several cards got ruined. I was playing without a full deck of cards. It was only a month or so of life.

To my amazement, this card manipulation thing has lasted a long time. Stanley knew I was serious when we both stepped on a train and while we were talking, I pulled out the cards and started warming up.

Am I any good? Not yet. My fingers don’t move smoothly and still drop a lot, but the manipulation is helping that smashed hand and I am at the point where I am getting bored with what I know already. In my experience now is the most crucial time. If I can get past the boredom and keep up with the basics, it will be all the better as I try to learn more.

I’ve had a few stumbles and I have a few issues I need to address, but that will have to be in another post. I would like to write more about Magic and manipulation of cards and coins, but I need to know what people would like to know. Please comment and let me know what you want to know, or comment with suggestions, websites, books or videos that you used to help you.

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*The trick he taught me was a simple one-handed cut called The Charlier Cut. There are numerous videos out there that contain the Charlier, but all of the vids dedicated to it are tutorials. Grab a pack of playing cards, don’t worry if it is incomplete, and do the tutorial along with the video… perhaps I can be your own personal Stanley!

Tags: cards, magic, manipulation