I’m not a big fan of cards, but I would like to be able to do a few card flourishes and some sleight of hand. I was thinking about

McBride, Jeff - Art of Card Manipulation Volume 1 DVD

since I’ve got

McBride, Jeff - World Class Manipulation Volume 1

and found it worthwhile, but maybe there is something someone can recommend (preferably on DVD).

I have volume 1 of Jeff McBride's and I have to say that you should really get an overview from someone of what each video covers before you buy it. I bought the first volume of his DVD set because I too am somewhat interested in card flourishes. However, this first volume does not really contain much in the way of actual flourishes. It contains more on card productions than anything else. Like showing your hand empty and then producing cards from nowhere. I'm fairly positive that the two other volumes contain more flourishes than the first.

So my recommendation, for what it sounds like you're interested in, are volumes 2 and 3 of Jeff McBride's Card Manipulation series. Or perhaps some of the other resources out there on card flourishes.

The Art Of Card Manipulation #2 has more flourishes, like fans and so on. Might want to give that a try.

Besides productions, the Art of Card Manipulation McBride videos have...

Volume One:
Thumb Fan
Closing A fan
Charlier Cut
One Handed Fan
S Fan
Wink Change
Springing the cards
Waterfall Shuffle
Cards From the mouth
Riffle Palm
Blank Fan
Window Change
Ed Marlo Snap Change
Le Paul Spread
Hip Hop Pop out
Ribbon Spread and Turnover
Twin Peaks
D'Amico Multiple Shift
Roy Benson Move
Steve Beam's Auto Magic Aces
Goldston's Card Flower

Volume Two:
Preparing the cards
Gloves and cards
Body loads and steals
Flying Cards
Arm spreads, turnovers and catches
Cardini's Bluff Spring - Waterfall fan
Color Fanning - Color Changing Fan
Bluff Spread - Fanning Deacks
Double Fan - Splitting the fans
Rising Sun Fan
One Handed Circular Fan
Slow Motion Fans
4 ways to fan a fanning deck
Giant Fan
and lots more...

Volume Three:
One handed Shuffle
Triple Cut
Paul Draylin Cut
Butterfly Cut
Curly Q Move
Auto Cut
Rolo - deck
Boomerang Card
Card Spinning
Diminishing Cards
History of Playing cards


This is straight from the table of contents of the videos. This list does NOT include the vast amount of production/vanish items on his videos. I would suggest getting the whole series, in my honest opinion, I think they're completely worth the investment.

-jlareau
:bluebikes:

Someone on this forum said that McBride's videos are geared more towards stage magic than close-up. Is there any consensus on this?

Markus,

There are quite a few items on these videos which can be used close up. The flourishes and color changes easily fall in this category. Some of the card productions and vanishes can be performed fairly close up, but most benefit from distance between the performer and audience and the angle control this distance affords. And I think you'll find most people in agreement on this.

Paul M.

If you are after something to teach you basic card sleights, I found Richard Kaufman's video, "Basic Card Technique" very good. I do not know if this is available on DVD though.

This video will teach you most of the basic sleights you will probably ever need to know.

If you want to go for the flourishes, then the McBride DVDs will be hard to beat.