A couple of questions for experienced magicians....

[tsw7521]

Ok, I've always liked magic, and have fiddled around with it from time to time. I've got a couple tricks I can do well enough to show strangers(dlite, and the IT spinning card).

But I've been fooling around with card cutting and stuff lately, like some of the helix and wolf cuts that I found on Youtube.com.

Anyway, my hands are not long and bony, so lots of card tricks/sleight of hand stuff is kind of hard to do. I've been able to cut a deck of cards with one hand (provided they are bridge size, as opposed to poker sized) for years, but would like to expand that to some other types of cuts.

My questions are: Is there anything magicians use to make the cards stick together more? A new deck, for me is too slippery to cut effectively. After they've been played with for a couple of nights (me and my buddies play poker a couple times a month), they get a little dirty, and will stick together a bit more. Which, for doing helix and wolf cuts and other such stuff, is perfect for me. But I was wondering if there is anything magicians use to help them stick together, as opposed to being more slippery?

And two, since I have such small hands, are there any slightly smaller sized cards than poker (besides bridge sized) that you can buy?

Hope these aren't too noobified of questions......

[Azrael 5]

Cards will get stickier the more you use them,or at least less "new".Normal size cards only come in bridge and poker,I believe so thats what you're stuck with.

[JPK]

Good morning tsw7521.

This sounds familiar. I also have dabbled in conjuring for a long time and only recently became interested in card magic. Kind of backwards I guess. I realized that I had lost some of my dexterity in my fingers and wanted to get that back. I thought card flourishes and sleights would be good exercise and it seems to be working wonderfully.
Boy I wish I would have played with this 30 years ago and continued.
When I first started doing this, I was dropping cards all over the place. I started wondering if my hands were too small to do some of the things I was trying. I started searching different magic forums to see if anyone else had this problem.
Yup everyone else has this problem when they are just starting out. It isn’t the size of your hands, it’s getting your hands to become accustomed to the moves. The only cure is practice and lot’s of it. For months now I have had a deck in my hand. I am holding one now as I type this. Tally-Ho Vipers. I have worn out more decks then I can even begin to count. Slowly, I am starting to accomplish things that I was blaming on the size of my hands. The funny thing is I know I have large hands, but I also was wondering why I couldn’t do some moves. I thought about switching to bridge size cards but fought the urge. At this point I figure I am about a year away from being able to pull off a decent DL. I’ve got time.
JPK

[Garrette]

I do card tricks but very few requiring any kind of difficult sleight, so I can't help with that, but I can say this (already addressed by others, but I'll emphasize it):

1. It's not the size of your hands but your skill in misdirection. I've seen folks with tiny hands and stubby fingers pull off great effects, though come to think of it, I guess they didn't do multiple single-hand cuts and the like.

2. I recommend against applying anything to the cards. As Azrael5 says, the deck will get stickier as you use it. When I get a new deck, I fiddle with it for a while before trying tricks with it. Riffle shuffles, rough mixes, and even playing a card game or two with the kids (make sure they don't have sodas around and no chocolate on their fingers). The deck will then have a window of useful life before it becomes too sticky and worn out. The time frame will depend on how often you use it, but if you're working with a deck intensively every day, you might want to replace it as frequently as weekly.

[Dinsdale Piranha]

I've heard of a few magicians - I can't recall exactly who, right now - taping small packets of cards together to practice fancy cuts.

You could use some of your older cards and scotch tape them into the correct sized packets to practice specific cuts. You may need to use more than one deck in order to make the packets you need - i.e. a half, a third or a quarter of a deck per packet.

For sleights, start with a new, poker size deck, break it in and practice.

The size of the hands is irrelevant. Howie Schwarzman has tiny hands and can work miracles. It's about practicing the sleights correctly, eliminating bad habits or "tells" and making adjustments for small hands or "windows" between the fingers.