I have many problems with Back palming and producing singles. You can always see the Bikes at the front of my hand when backpalming. Also when I try to produce singles with just two cards they pop up out of one finger so I'm left with two cards in between my fingers. Can someone help I have been practicing for months

I assume you are using white bordered cards. If you are doing this you have to wear white gloves to disguise the peeking corners. The other option is to get a different back design. Bee brand seems to be a popular and easily available card.

Now on to your real problem. I assume your pinky is the finger that lets loose. Practicing will build up the proper muscles. You should practice vanishing cards as well. Insight is often gained working in reverse.
Also, there may be a flaw in your technique. Check out "The Art of Card Manipulation" by Jeff McBride. On volume 2 you can see this move in action. On this tape he also shows how to prepare the cards for backpalming (a method to "soften" the cards).
To backpalm one card is easy but as soon as you add a second it becomes a much more difficult feat. (you have to produce 1 card WHILE keeping the rest of the cards in BP.) If you concentrate on keeping the cards in BP and don't worry about the card being produced it might help.
Later
Joe

Agreed. I do various hand exercises with a 5 card packet that's been glued together to build up hand muscles.
I have an AVI of my 5 card individual card backpalm and pivot.
I finally loaded another zipped clip. Takes about 30min at 56K Dialup connection. Downloaded in a minute or two on High Speed connections.
Check it out and tell me what you think.
Will add more in the near future.

Click Here!

Randy Stewart

Well guys, he said he had been practicing for months, so that is enough time to develop muscles, and specially for only 2 cards. So I ASSUME you aren't using the right technique or you're just not made for backpalming. What are your ressources? As iwillfoolu said, the best place to learn it is in "The Art Of Card Manipulations" vol 2 by Jeff McBride.

Hey Randy, that clip you posted is absolutely GREAT. Your pivot is in my opinion, near perfection. In your video, your doing a LOT of hand washing. Your doing it very good and I understand that you want to show us your ability, but I don't think its a good thing to do it that much in a performance in front of people, a little bit is enough. Keep up the good work.

Absolutely aby9plp! The excessive hand washing or pivot is NOT to be done with such frequency in performance. Just showing off this time...hehehehe.
And excuse the cheesy background music....it was handy moments after setting up the webcam.
Thanks for the good feedback.
You know it just occured to me that this has to be one of the funniest animated facial reactions
I'll post new AVI's this week.

Randy Stewart

Um... practice.... if you've been working for months... then dont just do it twice a day... do it two hundred times a day. even if you screw up.. and if you dont have McBrides card manip... then get it lol

You can also try using the card just produced to cover the corners visible through your fingers. When you aren't holding a card keeping the hand in motion will easily hide the corners.

marvey makes cards with a brown border, you can get them at your local magic shop

Hey Randy, just saw the clip you posted. I agree, it was very impressive! I look forward to you posting new clips!

Yes, compliments for the beautiful performance Randy.

Luca

GOOOOOO!!!!!!! RANDY!!!!!!!!WHOOOOOT!!!!!!

stupid animal shouts of amazement brought to you by Wikiro

Good job you will be there in no time.

I think the person who did the best card work.. way better than jeff McBride was channing pollock... he is just so incredibly smooth

Is there any video with Pollok performing ?

Luca

Hi,
I have never really learned how to vanish or produce a card. I dont know how to back palm a card. Can anyone teach me? I have a card tricks book called 101 amazing card tricks. It dont have it! im 12

Hey magical_kid, backpalming is hard and requires strong fingers and developped hand muscles to be able to be smooth and manipulate around 10 to 20 cards. Wait a couple of years, and then you can start with the McBride volumes.

I don't think I agree that a twelve-year-old lacks the hand strength to back palm a card nor is it all that difficult. Magical Kid I suggest you get the McBride series (Jeff McBride's Art of Card Manipulation)right now and start practicing!! If you don't have the funds for that look for a local magic shop or club. Someone there would be glad to teach you.

I agree with you Burt. Looking back, I wish I had started card manipulations when I was twelve. Maybe start with the Marvey cards if your hands are really small. These cards are already broken in. I know, some people dislike the Marvey cards. I myself dont use them because they are too small for my hands, especially when pivoting. They also dont snap as fast as I would like. I still think using poker sized cards for productions gives a better overall effect, but using bridge sized cards (like Marvey's) may jump start some folks with smaller hands.

Jeff McBride's tapes or DVDs are they way to make certain your technique is correct. You can practice forever with the wrong technique and get nowhere. I suggest you avoid fanning powder. The best exercise is performing the action repeatedly.
Ben, I respectfully disagree with you about Channing Pollack who I idolize for his technique. Jeff has mastered every phase of card manipultion and is equal to or maybe surpasses Pollack and I have seen them both perform.

From my perspective I have good and bad news for Magical_Kid.
The good news is I began practicing card manipulation around the tender age of 12 or 13.......Hey! that's your age!
The bad news is if you really care how your technique looks it takes a while to get it to acceptable levels.
Your very lucky to have the internet, video, and DVD's to assist you in your learning.
When I was your age I would of thought DVD stood for a genetic code and the internet at home was still a few years away - lol.
And I understand $25 to $50 for McBride tapes is a bit much for most 12/13yr olds but if your unable to afford them at this time. Well figure out a way to earn the cash or invest some time buggin' parents, grandparents, and relatives for the doh. Hehehe. Have fun with it all.
Keep up the great work.

Randy Stewart

magical_kid if I were you Id wait a bit and learn more about magic. Learn about Dai Vernon, Ed Marlo, Jeff McBride, David Roth, Cardini, Slydini, Nate Leipzig, Harry Blackstone, Thomas Nelson Downs, Robert E. Neale, Stuart Judah, Kevin James, Darwin Ortiz, Lewis Ganson, Michel Ammar and so on and so on. Some of these magician I dont even like but I still learned from them.
I would start with "The Amateur Magicians Hand Book" by Henry Hay. I've been in magic for about 8 months and have had this book for 4 of these months. I learned there are two types of card magic stage (productions and color changes) and close-up (pick a card any card to pulling cards out of ears). I personally would choose close-up what would you choose?