Wow, I was off for a few days, and now that I'm back, I see quite a few responses, and all of them detailed. I am going to address each and every one of them one by one.
@Gabriel Z, I will most definitely look up "The Royal Road to Card Magic". I've tried learning moves from "card magic" tutorials, but they end up going into specifics that I have nothing to do with. There are so many people who say that "cardistry" and "card magic" are the same thing, or interchangeable, but they're wrong. I might end up learning a move from those tutorials, but I will still get overwhelmed with magic related information that I have no use for. Needless to say, maybe I've just come across the wrong tutorials, maybe Hugard and Braue will be different and break my bias, in which case I will be more than happy to proven wrong. Thanks for the tip.
@MohanaMisra, now there's a really in-depth response, followed by a Dumbledore quote. Totally lightened up my spirits. Much like you, I too have directly jumped to in-the-air riffle shuffle, because to me, it's kinda like this. If I am trying to strike up a conversation outdoors, and I decide to use cardistry to break the ice, what are the odds that a table will be available for me to do the moves on? And riffle shuffle is arguably a basic move, yet still so professional, it is impossible to not learn it and still qualify as a decent cardist. Maybe I should try some on-the-table riffle shuffles too, but I fear that if I get used to that, I will no longer be able to keep the cards from falling while I hold them in the air.
When starting out, I divide the deck into two. You didn't mention that at all, but I assume you didn't because it's common sense and you assumed that I would know it already, in which case you were right. The first three images are exactly what my initial steps look like. I am most definitely not being too kind on the cards. I do not mind bending them, although they do end up developing an arch sometimes, in which case I bend them the other way to more-or-less straighten them out again, and if that doesn't work, I just place them under my Harry Potter books, and that always Reparo's it.
When I say they fall in clumps, I mean the ratio isn't good. It should be one card from the left deck, one from right, or maybe one from left, two from right, because those are minor differences, and the ratio is not too far from 50-50. In my case, about 15 fall from the left deck, and then 5 from the right, and so on. These ratios are way off, and the post-riffle result involves a few thick clumps sitting on top of each other. If I bend too tightly, all cards spring down together at once. I need it all to fall more or less one-by-one, but rapidly interlace with one other at the same time. I hope that makes sense. Based on the technical words you've used, I guess it's called the "weave". In your picture, it's a good weave, a good ratio. In my case, it's very uneven.
I can do all basic grips, and a smear fan (albeit with very few cards). The only kind of shuffle I've done my entire life before starting to take cardistry seriously is the average shuffle that most people do, when they hold the deck with one hand, grab a huge bit from the bottom and place it on the top, and keep doing that repeatedly. I'm new to this, so there is indeed hope that I'll eventually crack the riffle shuffle.
Now during the bridge-bending, I have to be careful with the cards. This is when I end up bending so forcefully that the cards either separate entirely (so it's no longer a weave or a bridge, we're back to two decks), or they spring out of the side and directly into my face, before falling to the ground. I also try not to push them in too much, but my upper palm sometimes accidentally does that, and the bridge turns into just one deck before the cascade. And yes, when I say the relax down, I mean that they fall all at once in a non-riffle way, just gently going back to sitting on my hands neutrally, as if I never set out to cascade at all. I have gotten cascades sometimes by dumb luck, but I guess that is proof that I can eventually perfect the riffle shuffle.
Those are some really good tips, and while I was trying to follow them through, I did end up getting a cascade again by dumb luck. It is dumb luck because I tried repeating it, and failed. But your advice is indeed effective. I will continue practicing. Thank you for the support.
P.S.: I'm a muggle with no interest in magic. But I do have great deal of respect for wizards and witches like you. You're most definitely a Slytherin, but the good kind, like Albus Potter.
@Scodischarge, I can relate. Before I got serious about this, I used to try with cheaper, smaller decks, without any tutorials to guide me, and even those decks felt better than the brand new bikes do, but only because bikes involves a lot of high-end crafting. One dollar decks don't last half as long, or help build good cardistry habits. Thankfully, I switched to bikes, and have been all the better for it.
I do try to curl my fingers around the outermost edge, but sometimes the cards tip over the curls even then so, because the larger portion of my fingers are busy with holding the deck pre-riffle. Can't blame my hand size, because I've seen cardists with baby hands do much more complicate shuffles in much lesser time. I will keep experimenting though. I've found going a bit diagonal with the curls decreases the number of times the cards fall off. Maybe that's my way out of this one.
I haven't gotten to Faro shuffles yet, but I will eventually. The idea is to first learn all basic moves, and then a few not-so-basic ones, and I don't know where Faro shuffle lies on this scale.
I will continue practicing and hopefully let the forum know once I work it out. It's a big "if", but a hopeful one. Thanks for weighing in.
