Inventing Flourishes

mattjones · Feb 17, 2008

Hey guys,
Let's say you've worked on a new, original flourish and you're ready to show it off as your own. How do you know if it's completely original? Is it okay if it's a variation of another flourish? How can you make it your own? (As in copyrights...)

Pandora (found in Dan and Dave's the Trilogy) makes use of a Tornado cut. Does that make Pandora completely original to Dan and Dave, or do Dan and Dave have to credit Ashford Kneitel?

I guess what I'm trying to say is: Is it okay to use other flourishes as springboards for your own flourishes?

Perhaps I'm making this more compex than it really is, I mean, if I invent a crazy cool flourish and see other magicians/card artists use it, I'm cool with that. In fact, it would be quite flattering. But, that's just my opinion...

P.S. I suppose this can also apply to tricks, as well.

Farrell · Feb 17, 2008

There is no "law" regarding flourishes, you can do whatever you want, however it is always worth crediting the original creator for any inspiration or whatever.

EugeneSoh · Feb 17, 2008

Farrell said:
There is no "law" regarding flourishes, you can do whatever you want, however it is always worth crediting the original creator for any inspiration or whatever.

yeah it never hurts to give credit (which you should =))

mattjones · Feb 17, 2008

Ok. That's cool- flourishing is more of a freeform art rather than "everybody's copyrighting everything."

But I like to give credit where credit is due, anyway...

trashmanf · Feb 18, 2008

chances are your original stuff has been done before. Many (most?) new stuff is found by making common mistakes while trying something else... TONS of n00bs follow the same thought process to arrive at your original idea.

best bet is to call it "creative" and not "original" since you can't really know that for sure. it's egotistical to make some small variation and elevate it to proper noun status (usually calling it something really nonsensical like "Nuclear Anteater")

if you really want to know if you invented something, put some CRAZY new stuff out there and see what the comments are. granted theory 11 is mostly n00bs but theres people here that have been around years, and if THEY say "holy crap dude i never seen that before", then you know you got something.

conclusion: as a n00b, DON"T trust yourself, you might think something is really original and awesome but these are RELATIVE terms. that's why Zagat restaurant reviews aren't written by starving homeless people (everything would be 5 stars)

Tai · Feb 25, 2008

Whenever I make a move, I consult a few experienced flourishers, and try to see if it's original or not.

sybileno · Feb 25, 2008

lol i watch through all the flourish vid avaliable to see.
usually it's pretty obvious..
and i have so much of hard time coming up with new moves because
i end up doing some good cut unconciously and never can do it again.

manipulation4food · Feb 25, 2008

ahh inventing flourishes. Usually i get inspiration after watching flourishing videos, then take a bunch of cuts and ideas and combined them. Usually turn out wierd 0.0. And yes it's soooo easy for my to tell when a flourish is original or not. Most of the time when they aren't they're based on a flourish, and i know ALOT of flourishes. Doesn't mean i can perform them though =|