6 / 7. Hand-Tricks

Below you will find our step-by-step GIF series, and at the bottom of the page our tutorial video.

1. STARTING POSITION

2. Tic-Tac with hands

Hold one end of the flowerstick with one hand from above and place the other end in your other hand.

Release it with the “holding”(from above) hand and tilt it to the opposite side with the other. And continue it with Tic-Tac. But don’t grab onto it with your palm!

3. Helicopter with hands

4. One-handed spin with hand

If the Tic-Tac is going well, pull it towards you with one hand and, then, push it away with the other.

It’s just like if you were doing it with the handstick, only this time using your hands. Not an easy trick. It’s also easier and more spectacular to spin with your fingers.

5. Spinning between fingers

It is impossible to describe this trick briefly. Just try to move the flowerstick between your fingers with a loose wrist. 

1. STARTING POSITION

Hold one end of the flowerstick with one hand from above and place the other end in your other hand.

2. Tic-Tac with hands

Release it with the “holding”(from above) hand and tilt it to the opposite side with the other. And continue it with Tic-Tac. But don’t grab onto it with your palm!

3. Helicopter with hands

If the TIC-TAC is going well, pull it towards you with one hand and, then, push it away with the other.

4. One-handed spin with hand

It’s just like if you were doing it with the handstick, only this time using your hands. Not an easy trick. It’s also easier and more spectacular to spin with your fingers.

5. Spinning between fingers

It is impossible to describe this trick briefly. Just try to move the flowerstick between your fingers with a loose wrist. 

#6 Tutorial video - Hand-Tricks

About Hand-tricks

The first steps of the trick are the same as for the Helicopter and the One-handed spin. You have to do the same thing as there, only this time you have to use your hands instead of the handsticks. And once you’ve got the simpler tricks going, more possibilities open up; especially with your fingers. 

And as you practice the hand-play, you’ll discover that you can also use other parts of your body to play with (head, neck, upper arms, torso, etc.) ☺. This is called contact juggling: when you use different parts of your body to move objects in a spectacular way. This is the trick where you can dive deepest into the wide variety of juggling during the flowerstick game. Many people who play with the flowerstick don’t even use handsticks, as they get much more enjoyment out of doing tricks with their hands. It’s no coincidence that it’s one of the most popular tricks. It looks very nice to go from playing with the handsticks to moving the flowerstick over to your hand with a throw and continue spinning. After a little hand play, you can use your fingers to spin the flowerstick further, then toss it up again and continue playing with the handsticks. Very cool 🙂

Common mistakes

  • When you start playing with your hands, it’s tempting to grab the flowerstick every now and then. It’s, of course, easier to keep it in the air like that, but you can’t do these tricks like that. Try to break this habit as soon as possible! 

  • Your wrist doesn’t bend, it’s too stiff. Relax it, because you can then better control the movement of the flowerstick.

Important

If you can’t get started in the air straight away, you can put the flowerstick on the ground and start on the ground, just like with the handsticks when doing the TIC-TAC.

 Many people prefer to juggle by hand with thicker, stiffer sticks. However, thinner, more flexible fiberglass sticks (like ours) are better suited for more delicate hand tricks, such as spinning between your fingers.

Advices that work for every trick

  1. If you can (also) play with the flowerstick slowly, you will also be able to do it quickly. The other way around is not necessarily true.
  2. The closer you play to the centre of the flowerstick, the slower you are able to play. The closer you play to the end of the flowerstick, the faster you play.
  3. If you want to play slowly, you need to play with the flowerstick closer to the centre of it (with the handsticks). At the same time, you also need to be more subtle with the handsticks. Flex your hands more. The handsticks should rather guide the flowerstick than hit it.
  4. For most tricks, it can be said that the handsticks should not be facing the ground. Instead, they should be horizontal or even slightly pointing upwards.
  5. Apart from a few extra advanced tricks, always hold the handsticks by their ends. This way, you’ll have more playing surface on them, and on the other hand, they won’t restrict your wrist movement. A loose (moving) wrist and hand position are very important parts of the game.
  6. One or two tricks can be learnt relatively quickly with a few repetitions. However, to repeat it many times over and over again typically requires a lot more learning. But that’s not what’s important. Instead of repetitions, try to combine the current trick with other tricks. You will learn a lot from it.
  7. If, despite lots of practice, you still can’t learn one or two movements or tricks, don’t be disappointed. Try something else for a few days and you’ll see that you’ll get better at what was difficult before. 
  8. This is most common in younger children (6-8 years old), but it can also happen at much older ages when they play only from the wrist or forearm. When this happens, their elbows do not move, and they simply cannot lift the flowerstick enough to turn it over. Or they may swing from the wrist so much that the stick flies away. The lesson is to get your whole body involved in the game, rather than just one or two parts of it.

 

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Additional - recommended - tricks

If you’re already good at this trick, or just want to practice something else, try the following tricks

1. Helicopter
Flowerstick-devilstick-tricks-tutorial-1-helicopter-mainGIF.2-big

The most important basic moves of the flowerstick game are in this trick. Lift, catch/ stop the stick in the air while spinning it.

2. One-Handed Spin
Flowerstick-devilstick-tricks-tutorial-2-onehandspinning-mainGIF.2

One of the basic moves of the game: Spinning the flowerstick in the air with a handstick. Doing a few hoops is not difficult at all, yet spectacular.

3. Bicycle
flowerstick-devilstick-tricks-tutorial-3-bicycle-main-gif.1

With two handsticks, you roll the flowerstick in front of you as if you were riding a bicycle. It’s not a difficult trick, but to incorporate it into your game (combine it with other tricks), you need to know more tricks.

4. Throwing
Flowerstick-devilstick-tricks-tutorial-4-throw-mainGIF.1

One of the most spectacular elements of the game, but to really impress your audience (and yourself), it’s important that you can do the Helicopter and the One-Handed spin with confidence.

1. Helicopter
Flowerstick-devilstick-trick-tutorial-1-helicopter-mainGIF.2-small

The most important basic moves of the flowerstick game are in this trick. Lift, catch/ stop the stick in the air while spinning it.

2. One-Handed Spin
Flowerstick-devilstick-trick-tutorial-2-onehandspinning-mainGIF.2-small

One of the basic moves of the game: Spinning the flowerstick in the air with a handstick. Doing a few hoops is not difficult at all, yet spectacular.

3. Bicycle
flowerstick-devilstick-trick-tutorial-3-bicycle-main-gif-small.1

With two handsticks, you roll the flowerstick in front of you as if you were riding a bicycle. It’s not a difficult trick, but to incorporate it into your game (combine it with other tricks), you need to know more tricks.

4. Throwing
Flowerstick-devilstick-trick-tutorial-4-throw-mainGIF-small.1

One of the most spectacular elements of the game, but to really impress your audience (and yourself), it’s important that you can do the Helicopter and the One-Handed spin with confidence.