"…ever pursuing that mythical thing, perfection…"
- Arthur Buckley (Card Control-1946)
Tilt the right hand back allowing the face card of the portion to be noted. The third and fourth fingers are separated, allowing for an open grip.
Lower the right hand. Once the packet is parallel close your third and fourth fingers to provide support for the next action.
Your thumb bends sharply until the tip contacts the face of the bottom card.
Using firm pressure, slide the thumb for-ward. This will cause the bottom card to buckle downward. Continue the forward pushing action until the inner end of the packet is on its first joint crease. Once in this position the tip of the thumb releases its pressure. The contact between the inner end and the first joint crease remains. As the tip of the thumb extends (coupled with the pressure at the inner end of the portion) the bottom card will move down until a thumb break is held above it.
Move the right-hand cards toward the cards held in your left hand. Your right third and fourth fingers move a bit to the right and slightly separate. Your right second fingertip slightly curls in just enough to catch the bottom card as the thumb releases it. Note that at this stage the fingernails of your second, third, and fourth fingers are visible. In fact, you can move your third and fourth fingers for-ward and away (but still in line with your second finger) from the outer end of the portion.
Assemble the two portions, sending the selection to the bottom.
ADDENDUM
"We used to call it Rock and Roll. Now we just call it Rock.
Whatever happened to Roll, man?"
-George Carlin (Toledo Windowbox)
The preceding article concerned itself with a technical tip-off. The follow-ing deals with the ever-present consider-ation of naturalness.
When a move is developed, the ten-dency is to formalize the actions sur-rounding the technique in order to con-ceal its mechanics and its purpose. This placement of naturalness into technique seems to be a western mode.
On the other hand, the eastern mode (stemming from the teachings of martial arts and Tenkai) seems to take on development from a more pure direction.
That is, they begin with a natural action, and then find the definitive moment to place a move.
The following addresses the second flaw in the Ovette/Kelly "Bottom Placement"; that is, the sweeping action of the right hand during the square up.
This was inspired by Racherbaumer's "Delayed Bottom Placement" (Card Finesse 2 [1992], pp.
105-109. It employs the mechanics of Jon's "Slip-less Clip Force" (M.O. 1, March-1993).
FULL CLIP PLACEMENT The face-down deck is held in your left hand. The thumb is used to down rif-fle the outer left corner of the deck. Have a spectator call out stop at any point dur-ing this action.
Once you are stopped, your right hand takes all the cards above the gap from above and by the ends.
(Terminological Distinction: Often times whenever the deck is held from above and by the ends, it is termed either a Biddle Grip or an End Grip. The K.B.
Grip is a specialized grip in which the first finger is curled on top of the deck. The End Grip is more of a general overhand
grip, where the specific positions of the fingers are not specified. Too often in technical descriptions, specific grips are unnecessarily over emphasized.
Keep that in mind. In this case, the right hand takes the deck by the ends [the specific: "from above and by the ends" is obviously taken from Marlo]:
Biddle Grip or End Grip, it doesn't matter.
But keep this fine-pointed digression in mind.) Tilt both hands back at the wrists, as the right hand takes all the uppermost cards up and away from the left-hand portion until it is in a angle-upjog position to the right. The left first and second fin-gers contact the face card of the right-hand portion near its inner end. Have the spectator note this card.
As you lower your hands, your left first finger performs the mechanics of a
"Side Glide", angling the face card of the right portion to the right. The outer right corner of this card is clipped between the second knuckle of your right third finger and second joint/pad of your right fourth finger.
Move the right-hand portion up and to the right, away from the left-hand por-tion. As this happens, pivot your hands and body so that the spectator gets a clear view of the back of the cards.
Simultaneously, your right fourth finger shifts further along side the third finger.
This causes the clipped card to lightly spring away from your second and third fingers and into a horizontal position.
Immediately, your right hand lightly slaps its portion onto the left-hand cards.
Because of the position of the clipped card, there should be no hook-ups.
Your left hand moves down and away from the deck for a moment. Your left hand moves back to the deck to take it from below and by the sides, and as it
does, the fingers contact the exposed side of the clipped card and moves it up and square with the underside of the deck. The left hand grips the cards with the first finger curled underneath in a square-up position. Immediately pivot the inner end of the deck to the right, so that the right hand can take the cards from above and by the sides.
Continue as needed.
FROM THE EDITOR Mr. Gadfly has some bril-liant columnists! The preced-ing article by Steve Reynolds is an extensively reflective piece that required dedication on the author's part. Mr.
Reynolds is a recurrent donor to our online forum, and is waiting for your reaction to his column.
The Internet is an excel-lent method of discussing card magic. Visit www.mrgadfly.com and begin a discussion right away - net-work with our readers & con-tributors and permit them mine your savoir-faire.
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