This is a 22second clip at my attempt in card manipulation!

Https://youtu.be/ET3lj3WYNVk

Any ideas?

What I'm about to say is an absolute opinion and is simply how I believe it should be done. This is how Jeff McBride taught me and I think he's credible enough of a source to at least have some meaning.

First lets cover the motion. Your arm is moving way too much. When you produce each card, aim to create the action of reaching up and pulling the card out of "thin air" create some motion with this, but don't flail and flap your wings if you get what I mean. It's not a huge motion, it doesn't even draw much attention. The attention should be drawn to the card itself after it's produced and with the amount of movement you have, you're making it hard for people to focus on what just happened. Watch Jeff McBride's single's in the video I link below and try to imitate that motion. He does it particularly well and I think you should try to observe his technique.

Closer to the end it seems you may have done the production properly, however in the beginning in particular it didn't look correct to me. Your thumb reaches forward just far enough to gain contact on the pip of the card you're about to produce. It then applies pressure, dragging down to pivot the card so that when the card is produces, it's completely VERTICAL, it should never come out horizontally because psychologically people can determine that when it's horizontal, they begin to correlate that with the size of your hand and can better paint an image and suspect where the card is coming from a lot easier. At the same time, the cards behind the one your producing should NEVER be visible at any point, even when you're watching in slow motion. If you see the cards as they pivot around your hand when you're producing a card, you're pivoting the cards way too far. In all honesty, I don't make any effort to pivot the stack of cards around, I only reach forward with my thumb to gain contact on the pip of the card and as soon as it touches and makes contact, I begin to straighten my hand and the card is pivoted in to position.

I do know you're practicing though so you could very well be trying to do exactly what I'm saying and are well on your way to proper technique. Keep up the practice. The Cardini Single's production is the only bit of magic that I practiced so much that I actually bled. (Between my middle and ring finger from the cards constantly making contact and wearing down that area between your fingers... Not sure if you know what I'm talking about but it sure did make me feel like I practiced enough!

I'm going to create a video now better explaining what I'm talking about for you. In the mean time, here's one of Jeff McBride's videos of which I think you should observe the single productions as well as enjoy the other things he shows.

Forgot the video, here it is. Also notice how after each card is produced, he pauses for a second and you get to admire the fact that he just pulled a card out of thin air.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84cn_3kJwWw

As much as a lot of people will disagree with me posting this here, I think by posting this here, someone else may also be able to take something from the video I made. The video is unlisted and isn't public on Youtube. The only way someone is going to find this post from google is if they search "Cardini Singles" and scrolled down who knows how many pages to find this post. All someone needs to know is the name "Cardini singles" and they can type it in and get the secret. I don't think this will reveal the secret to anyone at all. I only believe that posting this here will help improve the technique of others who are working on it.

I'm not claiming to do it perfectly either, this is just the way I was taught and it's my thoughts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcOuJ6X5tx0

Useful, thanks.

I learned from the McBride vide.im still learning. I will never have the ability of Jeff McBride. I will review the vide but I do recal that that's how it was tough. Im not sure if what I do is crap but I'm willing to try.

I will try again. I will try to follow the advice you gave me, I am getting some mixed feedback but perfectoin is my goal so I will try harder not to look like hack. I know I'm lousy but I will improve. I think I have. But the hand waving is something I will work on and repost a new vid.

What you do is not "crap." The large motion in your hand movement just made it difficult to see precisely what you were doing and I made a couple observations based on what I can see. You very well could be using the exact technique as I explained but the movement of your hand just made it hard to tell. However I must say that at some points, I did see the stack of cards behind your hand due to the fact you let the cards pivot too far forward. So I think your biggest focuses need to be making your hand movements adjust, allowing more time for the card to be appreciated before you drop it and produce the next one (its just a small beat, nothing astronomically longer), then just make sure you're getting the card to completely pivot and be produced 100% vertically as apposed to horizontally. Lastly, just make sure that you're not pivoting the pack of cards behind your hand too far to the extent that you see the stack of cards behind your hand as well as the card you're producing (not sure if you follow me here but this is all shown in the video I made in the fact of just making sure your thumb barely reaches the pip of the card, you don't purposely pivot the pack of cards behind your hand in to view in order to draw a card out and produce it, this not only is more difficult to do in my opinion, it doesn't quite look as good either.

You're not lousy and you should never put yourself down. Always believe in yourself with anything that you do. Everyone sat down at one point and began working on a slight. Just because they couldn't do it as well as Jeff McBride right away does NOT mean they're lousy. You also can make it look just as good as Jeff McBride with less practice than you may think. Once you get a full understanding of the mechanics of the productions you can then focus on nothing but making it look better for the spectators. With less than 20 cards, it can be relatively easy to make it look like Jeff McBride's. What will take you years and perhaps may never be something you accomplish unless you put the years of effort in to it is being able to backpalm more than half the deck and make it really look as if you have nothing there. For Cardini singles, the thing that takes the most practice is backpalming larger amounts of cards and keeping your hand flat with the cards concealed. With smaller numbers of cards, it doesn't take much time at all to get to where it looks just as good as the pros. It does take a bit of effort but you WILL get it if you refuse to give up. The thing that truly takes time is combining numerous split fans and many cardini singles in to one group of backpalmed cards and making it look as good as Jeff. If you wanted to do that, I would believe you in saying that you'll never be like Jeff McBride. But when it comes to just doing a few Cardini Singles, don't put yourself down. You can do it. You seem to be very dedicated to magic and you're always making posts about your practicing and displaying the things you're working on. You obviously show a strong interest in magic and all it takes is for you to embrace your interest and dedicate yourself to something you love.


I'm also interested in what sort of mixed feedback you may be hearing. I'd actually love to hear another theory on how someone else thinks it should be done. I'm always interested in hearing a different theory to really evaluate which I think is superior or more fitting. It's always great to keep learning different ways of doing something or different thoughts on how something should be done and why.

Good luck!

May I use you as a ...test subject for my manipulation attempts, since you seem to know a lot on this it would be nice to have someone. I have been a ble to fix the problem you havesuggested, I will post a vid on Tuesday.

I've said many times throughout the past couple of months that you may send me a video of anything that you're working on for constructive criticism and advice. I'm not sure why you haven't sent me something-- It's quite possible that I'm not the most credible due to my age. However, it doesn't change the fact that I've spent thousands of hours reading, practicing, and learning from some of the best in the world. Magic is my life and while I can't necessarily help you by experience, I can most definitely convey what I've learned from others who do have plenty of experience. It can't hurt to ask me because at the end all I can say is that I don't know much about what you're working on.

Send me anything you have, any time you wish. I don't mind making video responses as I did there to try and better explain what I think. I will always answer within the best of my ability and if I don't have an answer for you, I'm sure I could either research it, or send you to someone who most certainly does know what you seek to know.


-Harley Salas