I've seen some people do it really smoothly *cough* JordanLapping*cough*. =P Any tips?
Thanks for the kind words, FatalAce. I'm glad you enjoyed the performance.
Here's a tip to allow the Tornado packet to swivel smoothly onto the pinky, as the single card is taken into the left hand:
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1) As the left middle fingers grasp the single perpendicular card, the right pinky should be about to make contact with the upper corner of the to-be Tornado packet.
2) Once the right pinky has made this contact, try and keep the right hand as steady as possible - as the swivel only really happens due to left hand movement.
3) Because of the momentum of grasping the single card in Step 1, the left hand will be moving. Continue this movement by bringing the left hand down -- again, the right hand barely moves.
Note: You'll find that the Tornado packet is now gripped onto the pinky and is facing the audience. The only problem here is in the weird hand grips -- the right hand is fine, but the left hand is way far down.
4) Now that the left hand is pointing down to the floor, do not pause - instead bring the left hand back up to meet the right hand (not vise-versa). This creates a sense of the packet spinning almost on its own, whilst other things are happening around it (such as the single-card grasp).
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Other than that, it's purely down to practice. What I love about this flourish is that so much is happening in a short space. Your fingers aren't really causing the initial spin or rotation of the packet, but merely the left hand moving down - and then back up to meet the right hand. With this in mind, I'd suggest checking out the Trilogy explanation; you may find some other subtleties to help you get this down.
I hope this helps,
Jordan
P.S. I'd also like to mention, the right ring finger is constantly behind the Tornado packet, during both the re-grip and the display. The only time the ring finger moves in front is during the actual Tornado Cut prior to Phase 2.
