Drying out a deck

Does anyone have any insight?

Long, painful story short, my mini Thoth spent all evening (like, 5 hours) soaking in the dog's water dish. It peeled apart fine, no edge damage, or ruined print, but it was soaked through. They're all in a single layer on my stainless steel butcher block table, drying. I blotted all the surface moisture off. I couldn't think of anything else to do with them.

Everything happens for a reason, blah blah blah, but it doesn't stop me from being on the verge of tears every time I see the poor limp soaked things.

Any rehabilitation tips? I searched for "drying a deck" "dry a deck" and "wet deck" and I didn't get anything, but I lose at searching, so if there are any related threads, point me at'em.

Thanks <3

My instinct would be to lay them out on an absorbent surface, like paper towelling, face-up in case it sticks. And don't dry them too quickly, by heatintg the room or using a fan or anything - I suspect that might exacerbate any buckling. Is it a very laminated deck? You might be lucky. Just a slow-dry, leave ir a day or two before you turn them over.

Give the dog away ...

Oh, it's not even remotely the dog's fault, more like a careless human, who is sitting here worrying right now, about being given away.

I was considering transferring them to something absorbent, but because of how fragile they are from being soaked for so long, I hesitate to move them around much. Luckily it's cool and damp here, so I think the weather favors me. I wonder if laying a towel over them might help wick some of the water out?

Probably - but lay it down *carefully* and don't press.

As to the dog, if you don't have one there is no need to have a bowl of water on the floor. Unless you have thirsty elves. <grin>

Good luck with it - keep us posted.

Heh, thank you. The cats share the same bowl, too. I wouldn't want to piss off a pair of cats...

The cards aren't super glossily laminated, so I'm not sure what to expect as far as that goes.

I think I would lay a (cloth) towel over them once they've had a few hours drying time... if you do it too soon, the towel will hold moisture in rather than wicking it out.

Also, once they've been drying for half a day or so, it should be safe to use a hair dryer, gently gently, *on cool*, from a few feet above the cards. Just don't try to dry them *all the way* with this method. I've done this with books that got knocked into my dog's water bowl before (ah, us clumsy humans!) and as long as I used the cool setting and didn't try to dry them completely this way, the pages didn't buckle. It just helps dry a lot of the *excess* moisture more quickly... you just can't do it when they're sopping or try to dry them completely in that way (and definitely don't use the hot setting!).

When they're damp but not quite dry, add some weight on top of the towel... a couple atlases work well, if you have any. The broader the surface area of what you're laying on top, the better.

Try putting a single layer of them on six or so sheets of newspaper, then more newspaper, then more cards, newspaper and so on until the whole deck is in there, then put lots of weights on them. Leave them for a day or so, then change the newspaper entirely and do the same. Keep doing this for a week or so, until they're totally dry, that way hopefully they won't develop a bow in the cards.

I did this with a deck I tea-soaked to age it, but didn't do it for long enough and was stingy with the newspaper. The deck has a bow.

\m/ Kat

Absolutely - though I do them individually in books (between the pages) and then force them into a bookshelf with as many books as will fit and then another one. It makes them good and flat.

And use paper towels; newspaper CAN leave print marks.... (Not tissues; they disintegrate.)

To the worried: this wasn't a tarot deck, it was my large box of postcards... but it worked a treat.

gregory said:

And use paper towels; newspaper CAN leave print marks.... (Not tissues; they disintegrate.)

Click to expand...

Fair point, I think I didn't really mind if the print came off as I wanted an aged look - but gregs is right, put some paper towels between the cards and the soaking medium

And I'm so sorry to hear about your deck

\m/ Kat

I soaked a mini Hanson Roberts, left it outside in a bucket...and it rained that night...don't ask...
I layed them all out on a towel..put another towel on top and let them sit there for a few days.
They were ok, but looked faded, and the texture of the card stock changed it was kind of fragile, and I eventually sent them to someone here that was looking for rain soaked, damaged decks to do an art project with.
Your cards stock might be hardier...so give it a go...good luck.