Good flourishes for small hands

Dec 7, 2014
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I am a 13 yr. old cardist and magician and I have very small hands. My middle finger which of course is the longest is only 2 and a half inches and compared to other people in my school, they're 3x smaller! Are there any good flourishes for people like me with small hands?
 

Tower of Lunatic Meat

Elite Member
Sep 27, 2014
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You're 13. I wouldn't worry about the 'small hands' thing at all. I'm 31 and my middle finger is barely 3 inches. Don't give into the 'small hands' way of thinking. It's only going to hold you back. Seriously. The longest a flourish ever took me was a month and a half, and that was the 'one-handed shuffle'. All because I fell into the 'small hands' defeatist thinking.

If you're just starting, just work on the basics: Charlier Cut, Revolution Cut, and Scissor Cut.

Feel ambitious? Muse Cut, Teachwrap, Knacky Hackey Sackey

There's worse things in life than fear that you may have small hands. Go out and jump into everything you can.

Also, you're a magician. Everything is possible in magic. even with smaller hands
 
Dec 7, 2014
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thank you for that. But for the scissor and Revolution cut, I tried so many times but I either up stretching my fingers so wide they cramp or I drop the cards. I could do Charliers but the other 2 cuts just hurts my hands.
 

Duncan F.

Elite Member
Apr 26, 2013
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You should look into getting Genesis by Andrei Jikh. I don't have it, but apparently he covers how having smaller hands isn't an issue. Plus it will teach you a lot of great beginner cardistry.

Also you should heed Mr. Hurley's advice. The revolution cut and scissor cut are more about having proper finger placement than having large hands. I can get pretty decent clearance on a revolution cut now, but when I first started learning it I thought it was impossible. Just keep playing with it and varying you grip slightly till you start to understand what does and doesn't work. I promise you its doable no matter what your hand size is.
 

Josh Burch

Elite Member
Aug 11, 2011
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thank you for that. But for the scissor and Revolution cut, I tried so many times but I either up stretching my fingers so wide they cramp or I drop the cards. I could do Charliers but the other 2 cuts just hurts my hands.

It will feel like your hands are too small for a while. I have large hands but it still feels like they are small when I perform some sleights. At the beginning of most new flourishes they should feel almost completely impossible to perform. Lots of magicians have small hands, Jay Sankey for instance. Then there's Mahdi Gilbert, he doesn't even have hands and has a killer palm. Hand size isn't a factor for most sleights and flourishes. Practice is worth a lot more than big hands.
 
Apr 19, 2015
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Florence, Italy
Your hands can't be substantally smaller than mine, and i can do many card flourish.
I might agree with you if you were talking about full deck three packets one handed cuts (that still are hard but not impossible), but trust me, it's just a initial feeling, you need to pass through.
 

Josh Burch

Elite Member
Aug 11, 2011
2,966
1,101
Utah
Your hands can't be substantally smaller than mine, and i can do many card flourish.
I might agree with you if you were talking about full deck three packets one handed cuts (that still are hard but not impossible), but trust me, it's just a initial feeling, you need to pass through.

I agree 100%, Andrai Jihk talks about that impossible feeling he gets whenever he works on a new flourish. Sometimes we misinterpret that feeling.
 
Jan 15, 2017
1
0
You're 13. I wouldn't worry about the 'small hands' thing at all. I'm 31 and my middle finger is barely 3 inches. Don't give into the 'small hands' way of thinking. It's only going to hold you back. Seriously. The longest a flourish ever took me was a month and a half, and that was the 'one-handed shuffle'. All because I fell into the 'small hands' defeatist thinking.

If you're just starting, just work on the basics: Charlier Cut, Revolution Cut, and Scissor Cut.

Feel ambitious? Muse Cut, Teachwrap, Knacky Hackey Sackey

There's worse things in life than fear that you may have small hands. Go out and jump into everything you can.

Also, you're a magician. Everything is possible in magic. even with smaller hands
Ive been practising the muse cut for a while now but my hands seem to be too small for the packets and my fingers are to short and the cards bump into each other. I cant even palm a card is it rly possible?
 

Tower of Lunatic Meat

Elite Member
Sep 27, 2014
2,435
2,030
Texa$, with a dollar sign
Ive been practising the muse cut for a while now but my hands seem to be too small for the packets and my fingers are to short and the cards bump into each other. I cant even palm a card is it rly possible?

I can't pan a card either. It's possible. But also keep in mind that, despite how Muse Cut is a rather mainstay flourish in the one-handed front, it's very intermediate.

It's a flourish that REALLY hammers home the lesson of 'precarious packet balance'

It's really one of the few flourishes I have ever done where it really hurt something in my hand learning it.

If Muse Cut isn't working at the moment, try Judo Flip. It works off of most of the same mechanics of Muse Cut. Learning one will definitely help the other.
 
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Feb 18, 2015
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Dai Vernon had small hands. He could do impossible stuff. Mahdi Gilbert has no hands, yet can do great cardistry. Don't think about having small hands, as it will hold you back. Keep on trying. :) Perseverance is key. It may be harder, but very little is impossible.
 
Feb 23, 2017
1
0
thank you for that. But for the scissor and Revolution cut, I tried so many times but I either up stretching my fingers so wide they cramp or I drop the cards. I could do Charliers but the other 2 cuts just hurts my hands.

I've just started cardustry, and began by doing the charlier/revolution cut,my hands are absolutely shrimpy, I feel your pain on this one.

I found the placement of the thumb more important than length of fingers, with the thumb and index finger you can swing the cards out far enough to catch it with the ring finger. Then while the index and ring are swing the top pack, you can move your thumb to the corner of the bottom pack and push it up to complete the cut.

Hopefully that made sense
 
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