Pen Spinning: Q&A in first post

[vZakat]

Well, I got into pen spinning about 6 months ago and was wondering if anyone else was into it? I made this thread so anyone can talk about anything related to spinning whether it be learning tricks, pen mods, favorite combos, etc.

For anyone who wants to get into it, watch this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMPPN1WSK0A

For anyone who just wants to watch cool spinning, watch this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7ADoHg_BM0

I made a Q&A for most of the questions that may come up regarding pen spinning.

Q: What's pen spinning?
A: “Pen spinning is a form of object manipulation that involves the deft manipulation of a writing instrument with one's hands.”

Q: Wow, I wanna do that, but where do I start?
A: Start with the fundamental tricks. Once you get those you can move on to harder things. Here is a basic list of the order of learning moves. (note: it's not exhaustive)

1st Fundamentals: Thumb around, Finger pass, Charge, Sonic
2nd Sonic variations: Twisted Sonic, Inverse Sonic, Neo sonic, Sonic Warp
3rd Reverse Fundamentals: Reverse forms of all fundamentals and sonics
4th Spins: Shadow, Twisted Sonic Bust, TA extended
5th Compound Tricks: Demon's sonic, Angel's sonic, Devil's sonic, Devil's around

Q: In videos, I see people are using fancy pens. Do I need one to get started?
A: Those are pen mods and no you don't need one. The spinner makes the pen, not vise versa. Spin whatever's comfortable. Many people start by using an unsharpened pencil. If you want more weight on it you can add erasers on both ends.

Qen mod? What's that?
A:

You are modifying the pen to give it more weight and/or length to make it more conducive to spinning. You can also modify a pen to make it more aesthetic and personalized. Simpler mods can be as easy as double capping a pen and adding grips from other pens. More difficult mods can entail cutting, sanding, gluing and taping parts from different pens together.

Q:Where can I find guides on how to make these mods and parts for them?
A: Here is a beginning guide to pen mods and other things you may need to know.
http://forum.upsb.info/showthread.php?t=160&page=1
http://forum.upsb.info/showthread.php?t=89
And here is where you can buy most pens you will need.
http://www.jetpens.com/

Q: That seems like too much work. Isn't there an easier way?
A: You can actually buy premade mods here.
http://penwish.com/

Q: I can't learn [insert trick]. Help.
A: Pen spinning takes a lot of practice to learn and some tricks can take weeks or even months to learn. Keep practicing, watch tutorial videos and ask other spinners for tips. Asking other spinners and watching tutorials can help a lot.

Q: Where can I find some tutorial videos?
A: There are two types of tutorial videos. Those that explain how to do a trick and those that show a trick and then show it in slow motion. The first type is good for learning the overall method for the trick and tips on what to look for or watch out for when doing a trick. The second type is good for seeing the positions of the pen and timing of things that may be hard to understand when watching the first type.
Here are a few links to each type.
Explanation:
http://www.youtube.com/user/LQT184#grid/user/2A3E268DB83B94E6

Slow-mo:
http://www.youtube.com/user/vicgotSLOMO
http://www.youtube.com/user/Parixer#grid/user/A562395112F85522

Q: Where can I talk to other spinners?
A: Here is the best english pen spinning forum.
http://forum.upsb.info/

Q: I don't really care about learning all this, I just wanna watch cool videos.
A: Here's a list of good spinners to search for on youtube.
Bonkura, s777, Eriror, Spinnerpeem, Supawit, Vicgotgame. You can also look for colab videos or world tournament videos.

 

[StealthyGunnar]

im trying to learn basic penspinning and im sucking at it lol.

still cant get 1 full rotation and catch it back. half rotation is easy. i just gotta practice more

 

[Lore]

To quote a youtube comment:

"Holy ****, I now know what I am going to do for the rest of the school year."

 

[Mota]

I've been doing different variations of pen spinning since year 7. The kids were amazed and said it was an asian thing XD eventually some persistent acquaintances picked it up and got pretty good.

Okay watching the 2nd video has got me wanting to learn again hahhahah oh gosh this can't be good for my education.

 

[Darxmarth23]

I got into pen spinning because I was in debate.

Policy Debate is like a cult and they all spin their pens. In a debate round, if your opponent spins their pen, more often than not, they've debated policy which is bad because it means they will probably kick your ***.

I pen spin to intimidate my opponents :D

 

[TigerWoods]

I'm trying this... can't do it yet.

I can do textbook/pillow spinning though :D

 

[theeboredone]

Didn't know there was a tutorial for it. Been practicing it on and off for 3 years now. Now I'll finally be able to master it.

 

[Mith_]

thats swag to the maximum

 

[vZakat]

For anyone who is interested in getting started I would suggest using a RSVP pen with a cap on each side (also break of the clips on the caps). That's what I use (for now) and it's great for spinning. It has a great length and weight and is easy to get. You can get them pretty much anywhere that sells pens (in the US).

 

[t3h Icy]

I am definitely learning this. Going to make Melee look like child's play. :D

 

[Terywj [태리]]

Got into it and out of it relatively quickly. Nowadays it's just the simple roundabouts and etc.

Should probably get into it again.

 

[Gatlin]

Wow, that's really cool how fast he can do it. With my coordination, I'd probably make it flip 10 feet away trying.

 

[Lore]

Got into it and out of it relatively quickly. Nowadays it's just the simple roundabouts and etc.

Should probably get into it again.

Well, you're asian. You don't count.

I just did my school wide performance of Daft Hands today, so now I can work on this. I need something new to do, lol.

 

[Hydro_Smasher]

posting in here so I can access the thread later, and also because pen spinning is awesome. like footbag.

 

[vZakat]

Here are some of the combos I'm currently working on to help with fluidity and speed. There intermediate combos so if you're just starting I highly doubt you could do them.

Combo 1
double charge -> sonic clip -> finger pass -> (palm down) sonic (4-3,3-2) -> twisted sonic bust -> thumb around extended.

Combo 2
double charge -> inverse sonic warp -> demon's sonic -> sonic warp -> sonic -> neo sonic -> thumb charge -> fingerless thumb around reverse -> back around.

I'm probably gonna buy some dong-a computer pens soon so I can make a comssa mod.

 

[victra♥]

i really wish i spent more time in high school learning more intricate tricks xD

 

[Terywj [태리]]

So remember when I said I should get back to this? Yeah, I'm slowly working on that.

 

[rsr2]

I use to do some of these when I was in College when I was bored. It's a good way to kill time :D

 

[T-block]

Typical school spinner here - nothing too hardcore. I've been thinking more and more about actually putting in the effort to mod a pen and start practising for real though.

 

[Dre89]

What is it that you mod?

 

[vZakat]

What is it that you mod?

You are modifying the pen to give it more weight and/or length to make it more conducive to spinning. You can also modify a pen to make it more aesthetic and personalized. Simpler mods can be as easy as double capping a pen and adding grips from other pens. More difficult mods can entail cutting, sanding, gluing and taping parts from different pens together.

 

[Lore]

I pulled off 4 full thumb spins in a row today!

... But I haven't been able to do it again. XD

 

[MTKO]

I haven't practiced in a while. I only know a handful of tricks, but don't know any routines. I made myself an RSVP MX to pen spin with a couple years ago. For anyone interested in what that is or how to make one here's a link: http://penspinning.wordpress.com/pen-modification/pens/rsvp-mx/

 

[Lore]

I can finally consistently pull of a thumb around spin! Time for me to work on other stuff.

 

[vZakat]

I've thought about making a rsvp mx but I'm a little put off by the fact that it's slightly off balanced. I prefer double sided mods as well. I'm in the process buying parts to make a retractable comssa, a cheat comssa and a buster cyl.

In other news, I've been trying to learn the bakriser. It's not as hard as it looks but it's still strange at first.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtgeGD2Ubrg

 

[CableCho57]

whats the best pen to spin with? and where can you get it?

 

[vZakat]

There's not really a "best" pen, it's more of a personal preference thing. For starting out, an unsharpened pencil works well and you can add erasers to both ends for added weight. I don't feel like going into different types of mods right now.

 

[OnyxVulpine]

The only pen spinning I can do is over my thumb. Like if it's in my right hand, hold it between my thumb and middle finger then spin it c-clockwise over my thumb.

Then between my fingers like people do with coins. Otherwise I haven't tried to do anything else.

 

[Lore]

I'm trying to work on a reverse thumbaround, but it's infuriating. >_<

Trying to use my non-dominant hand for thumbarounds is a challenge as well.

 

[vZakat]

Haha yeah, I had trouble learning that as well when I started. It's frustrating when you keep trying to learn a trick but just can't do it.

As far as the order you should learn tricks I would say it should be a little like this.

1st Fundamentals: Thumb around, Finger pass, Charge, Sonic
2nd Sonic variations: Twisted Sonic, Inverse Sonic, Neo sonic, Sonic Warp
3rd Reverse Fundamentals: Reverse forms of all fundamentals and sonics
4th Spins: Shadow, Twisted Sonic Bust, TA extended
5th Compound Tricks: Demon's sonic, Angel's sonic, Devil's sonic, Devil's around

This definitely is not a strict diagram of how to learn tricks and it doesn't cover all the tricks, but this is for the most part the path I've taken with learning stuff. I'm somewhere between 4 and 5.

In other news, I'm trying to save up for a ps3 so I probably won't buy pens to make mods til after that. I just don't want to drop $30+ on pens right now.

Keep spinning everyone.

 

[Dastrn]

i can thumbaround and I do a sonic -> reverse extremely smoothly as well. I also do a flip, and combo it all together.

Everything I do i can do with both hands well. I'd like to learn to get better at finger passing and reverse thumbarounds.

 

[vZakat]

Vicgotgame is quitting pen spinning. Truely a sad day. Here's his farewell video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZqiTYisBdE

 

[vZakat]

Doesn't seem like there's much activity here anymore.

Maybe a video will help. This is a video compilation of bonkura. He's pretty much the isai of pen spinning. He died several years ago but he's probably influenced more spinners than anyone else and is still inspiring new spinners (like me).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qfj75rdYcDk

 

[SuperMetroid44]

No, I don't do that. Looks interesting though, maybe i'll attempt it... But not sure how bad it'll be lol XD

 

[vZakat]

So apparently peem has made a new trick that's being called pun new. It's basically a fingerless finger round (lol) to palm spin done continuously. It's done the same as a fingerless thumb around to palm spin but you use your index finger instead of your thumb. Here's a vid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3d-sV24cTQ

It's still beyond my skill though.

 

[Darkshadow7827]

Interesting. I can do charge, thumb around + reverse, sonic + reverse (not smooth haha), and other twiddly-winks (?) passing from finger to finger. I can't loop them all though. I got no transitions, but I'm not looking to get that deep into it. If I spin my pencil that intensely in class, I'm sure my professors would get pissed off haha. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to concentrate on the lecture and spin that intensely either. It's really cool though.

 

[vZakat]

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. I bought a bunch of pens so I could make some mods and they got here today.

I made a metallic comssa and it's great. It's a lot lighter than the pen I'm most used to but it looks amazing and certain tricks are easier for me with it.

I need to buy a few more things so I can make my other pens, a retractable comssa and a buster cyl. I bought a different pen than the one that's normally used to make the body of a buster. I've read that they have the same body but I'm a little worried that it won't work out.

I also plan to update the first page with a FAQ. That should be happening soon.

And lastly here's a video for y'all to watch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9Glsl2brFs

 

[Kuro~]

Huh that's nifty. Might look into it a bit haha.

 

[vZakat]

OK. I updated the first post with a Q&A. It should answer any questions about basic stuff and help everyone get into spinning.

I a finally made my buster cyl. It surprised me how heavy it was at first. That's what it's known for though so I guess I should have been that surprised. >_<. I like it a lot and I feel like it has help me build strength in my fingers. I wouldn't suggest it for a beginner though because of it's weight.

I got an iphone recently so I'll get pics of my pens a little later. And maybe some videos too. I'm nowhere near as good as so other people out there but I've only been spinning for 10 months so that's expected.

Edit - PICTURES!!!

Spoiler

Here's the first pen I started spinning with. I learned most of the tricks I know with this. It's an rsvp with two caps on it. I put the grip from an rsvp in a cap and put it on the back similar to how you would do with a rsvp mx.

Here is my metallic comssa. Pretty much made by the book. I cut the grips kinda sloppily. I don't know if you can tell that from the pic though.

Here is my Buster CYL. I used a keityo body as opposed to a super tip like it's normally made. I took left over grips from making the comssa and added them as well as added the silver rings from the airfits (which is where the tips came from).

And hear they all are together.

 

[sooshi shef]

I have a friend at school who does it all the time in Biology. I asked him to show me and he did but I still couldn't get down. So I resigned to twirling between a few fingers : (

Oh well...