There are a lot of aspects to the art of card flourishing: speed, flow, visual appearance, and the list goes on.
When creating an original card flourish, a lot of thinking goes into making those aspects cooperate in order to form a flourish that looks appealing to the eye.
If I asked you, “what is the most important thing about an original card flourish?” the answer is obvious: “the look of the flourish!” Cardistry is a visual art form whose purpose is to impress, so of course the visual expression of the flourish is key!
Since 2013, I’ve been focusing on another aspect, though.
I realized that most of the moves I had looked cool, but they didn’t feel quite right in the hands. I enjoyed showing the moves in the sense that I enjoyed sharing my thoughts and ideas, but I didn’t actually enjoy performing the flourishes. I’m sure you know what I mean — some flourishes just feel better than others. Since I primarily use Cardistry as a way to relax, I wanted my moves to feel comfortable, and so I started to prioritize the feel of the flourish over the look.
From there, if I came up with a move that I thought looked cool but didn’t feel nice, I scrapped it. I started focusing on making the movements within my flourishes very natural which turned out to help a lot regarding getting the move down quicker. Keeping the movements natural made it easier to achieve that higher level of smoothness and to make the execution look effortless.
Some great examples of natural movements are Quaalude by Tobias Levin and Satellite by Kevin Ho — super slick flourishes that look effortless and super natural in the hands.
Another thing I noticed after I switched my approach was that the amount of packets in my moves naturally reduced. I started creating a lot more three-packet flourishes. Having only three packets to maneuver feels nice and simple and it adds an element of difficulty to the creating process, which caught my attention. I started limiting myself to only creating 3-packet cuts which really forced me to think creatively. My flourishes Pomelo and Underscore are flourishes from that period.
Since then, I’ve moved away from limiting myself to any specific genre of flourishes, but I’ve continued with creating what I like to call “Comfy Cardistry” and I intend to continue on that path.
Of course, not every card flourish is supposed to feel great, and different people might find different flourishes comfy. My intention with this article is merely to cast light on the aspect of feel in Cardistry, and if I can make you take that aspect into consideration next time you’re creating a new move, then I’m a happy man.
Cheers,
Nikolaj
About the author, Nikolaj Honore:
Nikolaj is 30 years old and lives in Denmark. You can follow him on Instagram @nikolajhonore and also check out his cardistry brand, SMALL WONDER