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Forward Twiddle - Twiddle the hat off the head and back on. It's got comedy potential too! Allegedly.
Use a palm-up fork grip on both sides the hat, and lift it off the head. Remove the ring fingers from the brim and twist the hat between the fore and middle fingers. Stop the spin by gripping the brim between the fore fingers and thumb.
Reverse the process to return the hat to the head.
You can get an easy laugh by getting the return part wrong and pretending to hit yourself in the face.
Jon Lockwood (of Mushy Pea Juggling fame, now working as with "Company of Fools") did lots of hat workshops at juggling conventions in the mid to late 1990's and started Mike and LP out on the hat road. This was often the first trick he taught...so it's Jon and this trick that ultimately led to the creation of this site. Thanks Jon!
From the TricksWithHats archive
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15-03-2015
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Tricks I can do (when feeling lucky)
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14-04-2010
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Tricks I can do without dropping (at least in this video)
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01-11-2009
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A taste of what to expect from the full length "Tricks With Hats" video - now available as a download from www.greenvideo.co.uk/hats
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27-06-2007
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Back catch - Throw the hat, bend over and catch it on your back.
Hold the hat crown up in an inside grip. Throw the hat as if you were doing a low throw to head, and at the last minute bend from the waist and duck under it so is lands flat on your back.
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04-12-2015
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Back Roll (One handed) - Rolling the hat across your back from one side to the other.
This trick is the one handed version of Back Rolls
Hold the had in an Inside grip, with the thumb in a straight line with the forearm.
Bend over at the waist, swing the arm across the body, and up under the armpit. Flick the wrist at the last moment to help with the spin. Look out to the side, and GRAB!
Haggis' Hot Tip: If you can get the hat to bounce
oll on the catching arm as it comes off of your back, this will slow things down a bit.
From the TricksWithHats archive
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Coat Peg - Throw the hat up to an upstretched hand
Hold the hat in an inside grip at waist height and throw it with half a spin to the upstretched hand.
The key is to spread the fingers on your throwing hand as much as possible and hold your catching hand in a coat peg grip. The hat lands on your thumb like it's landing on a coatpeg.
From the TricksWithHats archive
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04-12-2015
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A nice variation on the Coat Peg.
Hold the hat in an inside grip at waist height and throw it upwards with half a spin.
As the hat flies upwards quickly stick your throwing hand up in the air and catch it.
The key is to spread the fingers on your throwing hand as much as possible and hold your catching hand in a coat peg grip. The hat lands on your thumb like it's landing on a coatpeg.
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04-12-2015
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First do the coatpeg with your left hand. Then drop the hat straight down, and catch it with the right hand behind the back.
Place it back on the head.
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04-12-2015
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This trick is similar to the coatpeg drop but instead of dropping the hat and catching it behind your back, you catch it on your elbow.
Hold the hat in your right hand, and throw it up to a coatpeg catch in your left hand. Let go of the hat, and bend your left arm at the elbow, pointing your elbow upwards. Catch the hat on your elbow. To complete the move, straighten your arm and the hat will fall. The catch is similar to that in the wipe up
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04-12-2015
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Take a pinch grip at the front of the hat's crown and flick it up and forwards. Turn the hand round so the palm is facing forwards to catch the hat in another pinch grip at the back. After you've got a feel for this try doing it without looking at the hat.
Either place it straight back on the head or reverse the process to return it.
If you use a bowler hat make sure you take a really firm pinch to crease the top of the hat when removing it, otherwise you'll be left trying to catch the smooth round surface of the back of the hat.
Once you've mastered this one it's a trivial task to start by pinching the back of the hat and flicking it to a catch on the front.
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04-12-2015
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Hold the hat in an inside grip. Put the other arm out at an angle and twist the hand round so it faces backwards. Place the hat on the upper arm and let it roll down to a catch in another inside grip. Repeat as often as you like by alternating sides.
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04-12-2015
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Hold the hat by the brim in an outside grip with the crown facing forwards.
Swing your arm up infront of you, until your hand is about eye level, with the hat tilting slightly upwards. If you let go at the top of the swing, the hat's momentum should carry it through, and it will roll down your arm.
The movement that follows is similar to the one arm tumble. Look down your arm, tuck your chin in, and raise your arm slightly so that the hat rolls downhill and on to your head.
Once you can do that, try throwing the hat from your left hand, and using the right hand to guide it into a dynamic arm tumble.
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04-12-2015
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Turn your head to the left, then reach over with the right hand to grab the front of the brim (in as close to an inside grip as you can manage). Lift the front of the hat and remove it from the head so it is upside down above the shoulder. Straighten the arm so it ends in an inside grip at arms length.
Turn your head to the right so you are looking at the hat, flex the wrist so the hat lies inside the forearm then bend the elbow and replace the hat on the head (with your hand at the back).
Repeat on the other side.
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04-12-2015
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This is one of the videos that was filmed for our former site, TricksWithHats, which never went live. So it doesn't have a write-up and is presented here for posterity.
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04-12-2015
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Hold the hat out in front of you, in an inside grip so that the brim is horizontal, and the crown is on top.
Pull back on the hat as you throw it, so that it floats, without spinning and catch it on your head. Here's what it looks like from the inside.
The key to the trick seems to be to keep the hat level, and pull it towards you as you let go. That and luck, and/or practice.
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04-12-2015
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At some point, your hat will end up on the floor and you'll want it back in your hand. You could just bend down and pick it up (boring!), use a normal foot to head (less boring, but relatively easy) or you could use this little move... (Far more studly way to kick a hat :-)
Place the hat on the floor, to your left, crown downwards and the opening tilting slightly towards you.
Point your right toe, and bring it behind your left leg. Place your right toe into the opening of the hat, and give it a quick upwards flick. With luck (and practice :-) you can make the hat jump up into your left hand.
Top tip: If the hat isn't quite in the right position, you can use your right foot to move it around a bit before kicking.
Bonus points: Do it without falling over about 20 times whilst filming the damn clip for your website...
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04-12-2015
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After getting the hat to your foot (the knock to foot is the most common way, but there are plenty of others) you can hop and quickly remove your foot from the hat. Quickly get your throwing foot onto the ground and place the other foot inside the hat. As you can see from the video the hat stays fairly still and it's you that does all the movement.
This video of the hat being spun as it is thrown between the feet should give you some ideas for variations on this trick.
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04-12-2015
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Place your palm flat on the back of the head for a neck chop and knock the hat upwards with the little finger side of the hand.
A few tries and you will see how much force is required to get it to spin 3/4 and land on your foot. You need to flex your foot as much as possible to stop it slipping off.
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04-12-2015
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Onehanded, Continuous Tumbles - The hat keeps tumbling, in your hand, continuously, infinitely, forever, or at least until you stop.
This trick is an extension of the Tumble - so go learn that one now.
You'll notice that after you have performed a tumble, you are holding the hat the wrong way round to perform a second tumble immediately after it. This is where the extension comes in.
During the first tumble (which is a standard tumble), the hat rotates 1.5 times. The second tumble is similar, but the hat is thrown without a change in grip, it still does 1.5 spins, which means that it is now facing the same way as when you started!
Inorder to give yourself space for the second tumble, it feels like you need to throw it a tiny bit higher or faster.
Try to make it all flow together into a continuous movement, the hat shouldn't ever pause, the hand acts more as a guide to keep it rotating in the right direction.
A nice variation on this is to tumble the hat infront of you, switching hands between tumbles.
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06-12-2015
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Use a palm-up fork grip at the back of the hat and remove it, straightening the arm. As the arm straightens twist the wrist and take the ring finger off the brim. Spin the hat so that it moves between the middle and forefingers, then transfer the grip to the forefinger and thumb and continue the spin for as far as you can.
Reverse the "twiddle" to place it back on the head.
The main video clip for this trick doesn't show the fingers in any great detail. See the closeup version (120K mpeg) for a better view. For best results you might want to set your video player to loop the clip.
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15-03-2015
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First learn the Screwdriver
When that move flows easily simply "twiddle" the hat as you learnt with that trick, and hold the hat as still as you can while you move your body around it.
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15-03-2015
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Steve Rawlings showed me this trick in Birmingham and said that he used to do it in every show, but now that he's older (and a little rounder :-) he can't get it every time any more. Steve uses a china plate for this trick, but it works with hats too which is why it's here! :-)
Take the hat in your right hand, using an inside grip and hold it so that the crown of the hat is facing to the left.
Throw the hat virtically with some spin, and then do the following while the hat is in the air...
Put your right hand between your legs
Take the hand around the back of the right leg
Stand on your left leg and move the right hand & foot behind the left leg
Then, catch the descending hat in your right hand, from that position. Without falling over.
Top Tips: Practice the "tangle yourself up" bit first without the catch. Keep your eye on the hat as it decends, practice loads...
Luke Burrage managed to get this on video within 30 minutes. I've been trying for weeks and can't do it. It's pretty hard.
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