I was in New York awhile back and it was there I met
Magician, youtuber and puzzle solver Chris Ramsey. When I got back Chris sent me this challenge:
What's up, Mike? I just finished watching your video of card throwing and that was insane
I'm so happy you learned that, but I do think that it's time for you to step up your playing card skills
So Mike today
I'm formally challenging you to learn the playing card spring not just any spring not like the little Springs or anything
but an actual
Spring a Cardist or Magician would use I think you're the perfect guy to try this out. So good luck
So this is day one hour zero.
My goal for this challenge is to get the seal of approval
from Chris Ramsey himself. I want a nod from Chris letting me know that I've got this down. So, um, let's get started
So I'm gonna get a table to catch these cards cause it's just infuriating
I've caught seven of them seven out of 52
Look at the way Chris bands the cards
He bends them the other way from me I've been bending the cards
this way
But Chris he bends the cards back in towards his the palm of his hand
Which seems counterintuitive
But that's the way he does it
this is already getting tiresome
I don't understand how you modulate how fast the cards spring out of your hand
It seems like either one or two comes out or just the whole lot in a one are
Wrecking these cards look at the state of these
Like that it's definitely getting better right
I am definitely improving at this. I'm getting a pretty consistent. I'm trying to make it bigger, right?
As soon as I move my hands a tiny little bit further apart
Accuracy just goes out the window they pile up in a weird manner on my right hand and it's just a mess
So today I'm just going to work on trying to get that distance bigger and bigger and bigger
It helps me if I don't bend the cards too much if I'm very lightly
Just kinda letting them fall, but just giving them a little nudge as they come out of my hand
If I bend them too much, there's too much pressure, that was actually pretty good, too much pressure
And they and I don't have as much control. So finesse is the key
So after six days of learning I was getting pretty good at this my current spring was pretty consistent and smooth
I sent Chris some footage to see whether he thought I was good enough to call this challenge done. And this is his response
All right Mike, just watched the footage and first of all: Congratulations! That is not bad, but it's not great.
I think you could do a lot better. I know it's frustrating, I know it's a lot of hard work
You're dropping cards everywhere at this point, but the spring looks the best when it's done
Like that in order to do that
One tip that I could give you is the amount of pressure is really going to matter here and the more you practice the more
you do it the more you're gonna develop that muscle memory in your hand and you'll be able to control the amount of tension you
Release on the cards. So one trick that might help is starting off with a slow a low amount of pressure
Into a bigger amount when you go in for the clap. That's all I'm gonna give you. I think you're on the right path
So keep it up I look forward to seeing it man
All right and Chris message received. Today I'm just going to work on getting this card spring
as big
as possible
So, what is the technique I'm doing? Well, basically
It's all about how you slide your thumb and how controlled you can slowly move your thumb across the cards
Chris Ramsey explains this far better than I ever could. You guys should definitely go check out and subscribe to Chris's channel
He has a really interesting take on magic and puzzles and it's a really great combination. Go check it out
So by day ten I was sick to the back teeth of picking up playing cards from the ground
But I had a pretty good card spring on the go so I thought I'd try again
Send Chris some footage and see if I can get the nod of approval from the master himself
This is his response
Mike! Michael boy, look at you. That was insane. I didn't think you'd actually get it. I'm not gonna lie
I mean you're you're a smart guy
You'll learn quick obviously
But this is something that usually takes like years of practice so I know you put the time in, i know you put the work in
So congratulations, you have my seal of approval
For the card spring. It looks pretty dank. Now. I've got to learn how to explode a wine glass with my voice
Maybe I'll just stick to playing cards. Good job, Mike
Thanks Chris now, let's roll that montage
(don't bend the cards too much.)
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