Card Spring Question

[hawk7]

i was wondering about this for a while now, but it came to my attention again when i watched one of jay sankey's dvds:
when doing the card spring, do you let the cards go with your fingers or with your thumb first?
i've seen it done both ways, but since i started doing the spring it always felt more natural to me to let go with my thumb first, and after i saw the instruction on the xb dvd where you bend the cards in a diagonal way it felt even stranger to let go with your fingers first. anyway, jay sankey for example lets go with the fingers first, and i was wondering which one of the two ways is the more common (better?) way to do it? how do you do it?

 

[savior3525]

well, Personally, I've been doing the with fingers first...it it alwasy seemed more natural than anything else.

 

[curtisk]

I've always done a general spring off the fingertips, also helps doing it that way with pressure fans and "under pressure" but to each their own...

 

[UnholyGodn]

I find fingers first easiest because the cards move forward making them easier to catch than when they fly backward from the thumb. You can really do it anyway that feels right for you, everyone does it differently.

 

[UnknownEnemyZero]

Best to let the thumb release first. The reason for this is the learning process is easier and you can learn springs faster. With launching with the thumb you can kind of use your stomach as a cushion if you should happen to mess up, the cards will head towards you and not away from you. De'vo performs very long springs with launching it from his fingers instead of his thumb, but again he's been doing this for a very long time. Jerry can do overhead springs and pirouette springs no problem by launching off the thumb. Now, to obtain great distance and really get the most out of springing without bending the beejeezus out of the cards, I recommend using the corner grip taught as it is exactly in Xtreme Beginners. If you can find a copy of Expert Card Technique it's taught in there as well and has the same grip EXCEPT that the index finger is placed on top of the deck rather than on the top left corner like it should be.

 

[trashmanf]

theres a lot of different ways to spring out there, you should try to learn a couple and see what one seems to work best for your style. I need to get one of those cameras that can do 240 fps capture and see what is really going on with springs... I am not positive about this, but I believe the holy grail is to release them off both your fingers and thumb simultaneously.

 

[UnknownEnemyZero]

Not really sure how releasing them at the same time is possible. The propulsion must come from something, if you're releasing at the same time it just becomes a flat drop really. There's gotta be a snap in the launching of the cards in order to get ANY distance at all. Hot shot cuts and long distance spinners have a snap in there. If you release using the thumb, the cards "snap" off the stationary fingers from the other side.

 

[trashmanf]

I have had the same thought UEZ. however when you release off both of them at the same time, I believe the card straightens itself out while sliding both sides of the "top" (closer to palm) surfaces along the thumb/finger. as an example, have you ever squeezed a ping pong ball and had it shoot out from between your thumb and finger?

for example when you pick either the fingers or the thumb, that will make your spring come out kind of sideways. which is good in most cases because it adds an inherent stability in one direction.

But look at say the one-handed spring... I think you have to keep the cards perfectly square in the air for it to work... although I'm not capable of doing this move myself... i'm pretty sure it requires not having a "sideways" component to your spring. Also Im not positive about this but I believe Jerry says in the encyclopedia that you eventually want to get to where you're releasing simultaneously.

i'm totally obsessed with springs. i wonder how to do that "anti-faro" spring though.

 

[Vinnie C.]

My springs are usually off of the thumb, but I can also do thumb and fingers at the same time. (Though sometimes the thumb does a little more work)

-Vince

 

[UnknownEnemyZero]

Probably on an unconscious level, your hands will automatically release at the same time over the course of a few years of practicing the corner grip and releasing with the thumb. But remember there are more than one way to get distance off the spring. Hand following technique and understanding the tension of the spring will always improve your springs, but always get the a smooth stream of the cards going for the spring before you attempt ANY distance at all.

 

[madisen]

Wow, I never knew that people let them go by fingers.

I use somekind of a corner crip using my middle finger and my thumb. Thumb lets go of the cards.

 

[trashmanf]

any way that works for you is fine. it's only really an issue if you want to get REALLY good at springs. for the most part laymen are impressed just by the fact that they're flying through the air.