When I'm backpalming, the cards ALWAYS show and I can't hide them.

I'm thinking you should put this in the manipulation forum. You will get more help there. But you can get flesh back cards. Just practice......you can get cards with no borders and that would be better, too.

You can buy cards with flesh colored backs, which are popular. When Juliana Chen works in front of a black background, she uses cards with black backs, or white if needed (she had her own cards printed with one end showing black and the other white on the back).

Have you studied Jeff McBride's videos on the subject?

Cardini wore white gloves so the cards, with white borders, didn't show.

Jeff McBride's video are great. Practice is the only way to get better though, so just stick with it and you'll get it down.

McBride's videos are great...I just ordered the second AoCM.

Also check out the Jeff Sheridan DVD/Videos. Jeff has a lot of great work on back palming -- and Jeff used to do it on the street!

What kind of cards are you using now? Check out Norm Nielsen's site -- specifically this page http://www.nnmagic.com/magicitems/manipulationpage.htm Norm has THE best manipulation cards and they're a bargain! Lance Burton had similar cards.

I have McBride's videos and I'm gonna try the white gloves trick with my bicycle cards.

Thx

I can remember 40 years ago watching magicians backpalm cards and I practiced in the mirror and I thought... does anyone buy this stuff? What a waste of time. Wow, look how clever he is moving those cards around. I have seen some of the best and I can't say that I have ever seen an audience amazed by these gymnastics. Flames anyone..?

Brian B

It's all in the presentation and persona of the performer.

Maybe you missed the best of the best. Cardini certainly amazed HIS audiences, and Channing Pollock did a pretty fair job of it as well...

Best, PSC

In my experience the "weak spot" on the backpalming as far as being a "tip" to the audience is the speed and accuracy of the angle with which the card or fan of cards is brought into view.
Unless you are working really close to people, the edges of the cards can easily be masked by a slight bit of motion while showing the palm of the hand.
I like the Nielsen cards because they are flesh (actually a kind of brown) AND they are smaller than a regular poker sized card, more like a bridge size card, as well as thinner to allow a larger amount of cards to be concealed. Jeff McBride's cards have a great back pattern that hides well, but they are full size and regular thckness. Good luck and keep stretching that thumb over the second knuckle!

I agree pchosse, IMHO no one has been more amazing and entertaining at card manipulation than Cardini. He made it a truly magical experience.

Try using red backed bees, and keep your hand moving...

The overall visual effect of the red backed bees makes them appear closer to medium/dark pink due to "dithering" (a natural combination of adjacent colors by the eye) of red and white pattern on the back. So the little bit of the back of the card flashes (I have a broken and badly healed bone in my right hand that wont let me back palm totally cleanly, as my little finger is offset a bit now) and I flash a lot. But yet I can back palm these and with a little motion, I recently hid them and produced them and fooled a group of magicians only about three feet from me.

And by all means get the videos that teach it. I didn't think I could ever do it, due to the hand problem I spoke about, but after getting the McBride videos and actually trying it the right way, I discovered that it just takes understanding the principles and lots (read that LOTS!!!!) of practice.

BroDavid

Try to pinch them a little more towards the edges.

To me, backpalming cards is more of an exercise, not Magic. I backpalm a card (with the turnover) when I am waiting at a traffic light and while watching TV. I find that it helps to keep my hands in shape and really helps out with other sleights. I think it also keeps the mind exercised as well because it is the one sleight/flourish that I can do without thinking about it at all (something we should be able to do with ALL sleights).
Iven

Just a thought on the use of flesh or black colored backs of playing cards as an aid in backpalming. My personal opinion is DON'T use them. I think that the use of such cards only encourage sloppy technique. If one wishes to use cards of this nature, why not use a clip instead? Good Magic is hard work, bad Magic is easy. There are enough bad Magicians out here taking the easy way out and doing it badly, don't join their ranks, be a good Magician, both you and Magic will be better served.
Iven

When backpalming, slowly move your hand up and down and the edges will blend in to your hand.

I really agree. It's possible to backpalm the edges of the card with practice, then they won't show through your fingers. I used to do a close-up five-card vanish/reproduction using the backpalm with only one incident of flashing. It's possible. Keep working!

Where is everyone seeing Cardini footage anyway? I've read so much about him, I feel like I know him, but I'd love to watch him!

Backpalming is very difficult for a beginner. Definitely check out Jeff McBride's dvds or Jeff Sheridan. If you want to use normal cards then build up your finger strength first. Getting backpalming cards is probably the way to go. It is definitely more of a flourishy move and not my style.

I learned to backpalm with a coin (fifty cent piece). I basically carried it around with me everywhere and when I was 'idle' I would fumble with it. I found that later, backpalming a card was a cinch! My only 'problem' would be that I don't push the cards back far enough so the tips sometimes show through, but that's why I keep practicing.

I first learned to backpalm as a freshman in high school where I berated a kid into telling me the secret. I practiced, and practiced, and practiced. I had a similar problem--the edges were visible, and I wanted to be able to do it right in front of peoples faces, and have them stare at my palm if they wanted. I finally figured it out. Thirteen years later, my hard work gets scoffed at by stage performers who insist that the borders don't matter. They're right. On stage, they don't, but in close-up they do.

Whether or not you flash the borders depends entirely on where your index and pinky clips the card before it is backpalmed. Your fingers have three sections: working from the knuckle upwards, we have 1, 2, 3. When backpalming most people let the card rest briefly on section 3 (the fingernail section) before moving it to section 2 where the index finger and pinky clip the card. Not that this is incorrect mind you, but to have a backpalm with no borders, it is a little different.

The card never fully rests on the second section, but rather at the apex where the 3rd section meets the second section. It is at that point where the index and pinky clip the card, and because of the position of the card resting on the apex, the clipping fingers can move closer to the palm, so when the card is actually backpalmed, no corners are visible.

Hope this helps.