Well, I’ve started spinning things. On my finger. (usually index or middle, but if its heavy, thumb) Like frisbies, lunch trays, anything biger than a frisbie, and flat. I can keep disks and trays up forever, or untill I fall asleep. Im working on textbooks now, which are small and heavy, so very hard. You can spin anyfthing as long as you find its center of mass.
So does anyone else spin things?
I’ve noticed that I have an odd selection of talents: Unicycling, speed rubiks cubing, spinning, and slacklining.
I’m into juggling and spinning is something I enjoy. If you really want a challenge, go for smaller things: CD Jewel cases are hard because you have to spin fast and they’re really light.
Balls are awesome for spinning, but they seem pretty obvious because of basketball. A good spinning plate and stick or two is a good trick, too. Be sure to work on both hands.
wow awesome i thought i was the only one into spinning! I’ve broken the world record for spinning a frying pan on my finger (18 minutes). Now all i gotta do is videotape it next time i attempt it and send it in to guinness I guess you could say that i have a very strong middle finger now…pans ain’t light hehe. Im getting a bit bored of spinning tho cuz i dont know what else to spin. o well. I’m also into rubik’s cubing (i go by layers, is this the slow way? it takes me like 3 minutes). I guess we’re all pretty similar.
Something too heavy? How about a thick textbook for a long survey course on English literature? or a frying pan, I suppose. Another good trick is to switch fingers while spinning, or to toss and catch between hands or fingers.
I also have spinning tendencies.
I would recommend cushions as a soft alternative - they’re usually close at hand while lazing on the sofa, they’re good for indoctrinating new spinners (as you can form a bit of a dimple in the middle to make things a bit easier for them) and they don’t make a clattering noise when you UPD (or whatever the equivalent is for spinning).
You can also spin cloth as well (on your finger I mean, I realise that cloth/yarn has already been spun, so to speak). It has to be quite a heavy fabric, not too slippy and you have to get it up to speed pretty quickly so it keeps it’s shape, but it’s quite satisfying to get something flexible to spin.
Oh, and magazines (with a nice shiny surface that ideally hasn’t been read yet) make a good challenge.
First you need to make sure there is some friction. If you’re finger is dry, lick it lightly and then rub it lightly so it is moist but not wet. (I know this is sounding obscene).
Begin with something with a fair amount of surface area like a tray or a largish hardcover book that is not too thick.
Hold the object so that the dead center is on your finger. I find it best to have my hand palm up just below head level. (But beware, you will poke yourself in the face on occasion when you lose control). Assuming you’re right handed, give the object some spin counter-clockwise and start rotating your finger (counter-clockwise). Your finger will drift off center and as you spin, assuming sufficient adhesion, the object will pick up speed.
You can get things going pretty fast and then let your finger move dead-center again, allowing the thing to spin on its own. When it slows down you start rotating your finger again to keep it going.
Well, now I can do it, but I don’t get how you keep it going. After about ten seconds of it spinning my finger starts drifting away from the center so the book falls off.
How can I make sure that my finger stays in the middle?
With regards to endurance spinning - once you get your object spinning up to optimum speed, stop!
Most larger objects only require a steady, gentle spin to keep them going and it’s easy to think that you need to go faster than you actually do - if you spin too fast then the object doesn’t need much encouragement to become unstable and fall. So, don’t spin the object too fast!
Generally, you can ‘feel’ when you’re spinning too fast for the object and you’ll see it wobbling quickly in the horizontal. When you spot this, try stopping spinning for a second to allow the object to slow and settle (I find that flattening the pad of my fingertip against the object helps for this, rather than using the very tip - it both slows the spin and gives support).
If you’re spinning too slowly then the object will ‘wallow’, your finger may be off-centre and you will be making huge circles with your arm in an attempt keep things balanced. It’s possible to avoid a drop in this case by making a faster circle than normal for a revolution or two while sort of pulling your finger back to the middle, before returning to your normal spin (in a similar action to when you first start spinning an object). This will quickly get the spin back up to speed and also skid your finger back towards the middle of the object, ideal for perfect padiddling (or whatever we want to call it).
Finally, for when you progress to learning to spin with your second, ‘un-chocolate’ hand, try to learn to spin the object in the same direction as when your use your favoured hand (i.e. anti-clockwise). It’s easy to just use a similar starting motion (sort of an ‘outside-to-inside’ motion) when you start to spin with your ‘wrong’ hand, but this will put the opposite direction of spin onto the object (i.e. it’ll spin clockwise). If you can learn from day one to spin anti-clockwise with both hands, then this should mean that you’ll eventually be able to get really flashy and throw your spinning object from hand to hand and still keep it going.
Unfortunately, I was told this piece of advice too late to help me and now spin in opposite directions. Doh!
Oh, and as usual, you’ll need to practise lots to get it right.
I too spin things frequently, but I am horrible at it. This term is actually refered to as pididling by frisbee enthusiasts. (I have no idea how to spell that)
-Samus
I spin pens, too. I’m not very good at it, though.
Have you seen the website http://www.superhandz.com ? It’s really awesome. It’s all about extreme hand manipulation, and it has pen spinning there. It’s main thing is playing cards, though.
I bet you could send in a couple clips of you spinning things, and get yourselves on the site. I was going to do it with speedcubing, but never got around to it.
hey awesome site, thanks for sharing. i just went and looked at all the vids they had to offer. they were amazing! especially that cup stacking girl, is she on speed?!
That’s Emily Fox, the world record holder for cup stacking. You can get speed cups at http://www.speedstacks.com
I want to get some, but my parents say it’s dumb… But they let me spend $50+ on Rubiks puzzles, and several hundred dollars on unicycles. It’s a mad mad mad mad world, huh?
I guess you could say that i have a very strong middle finger now…pans ain’t light hehe. Im getting a bit bored of spinning tho cuz i dont know what else to spin. o well. I’m also into rubik’s cubing (i go by layers, is this the slow way? it takes me like 3 minutes). I guess we’re all pretty similar.