How Do I Break in My Golden Tarot deck?

Hi all,

I just got in the Golden Tarot deck by Kat Black, but am having a heck of a time breaking it in. The cards are so big and stiff I can barely shuffle them (and I have quite large hands courtesy of my farm girl genes). Any tips from Golden Tarot owners? Or should I just prepare my poor thumbs for eternal blisters?

Some people might say to trim the deck, but I couldn't do that - I liken it to cutting up or writing in a book, and how would one ever get those pristine edges again? But that's just me. Lots of people trim and love the results. If I think size will be a problem, i just get smaller decks.

One way I shuffle, especially when a deck is in order, is to lay down the cards in rows, maybe 5 rows of 8 or so, and when I get to the end of the last row, I go back to the beginning and start again, putting the new cards down on top of the previous. Then, I pick up the piles in a haphazard order. This sort of breaks up the deck. Sometimes I will do this a few times. It also gives me a chance to check out the cards in a new deck. Then, before or after reading, I just do the hand over hand shuffling until it feels right.

I have kind of gotten away from riffle shuffling, as I feel it can be damaging over the long term, and I try to treat my cards as gently as possible. This is a new way for me, if you could see my older decks, you would see the results of years of being banged around, wrapped with a rubber band, lost in a box or bag or at the back of a junk drawer, getting wet, dirty, you name it.

The size wouldn't be an issue if they weren't so dang stiff! I do like your separation method though, I will have to do that tonight. I don't think I could bring myself to cut them though! And the riffle shuffle feels like the only legitimate shuffle to me...don't think I could bring myself to do it any other way : p. Thanks for the tips!

Well if there is a trick to "softening" cards I would love to know it. I have the same problem with the World Spirit deck. Don't laugh..I actually spend about 3 hours a day for a week just shuffling it again and again until my hands hurt..at night my husband shuffled it and my daughter did too. It has been shuffled like 100 times at least. It is still as stiff as the day I got it. *Sigh*

Pandora MoonRaven said:

Well if there is a trick to "softening" cards I would love to know it. I have the same problem with the World Spirit deck. Don't laugh..I actually spend about 3 hours a day for a week just shuffling it again and again until my hands hurt..at night my husband shuffled it and my daughter did too. It has been shuffled like 100 times at least. It is still as stiff as the day I got it. *Sigh*

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I'm not laughing, this may be me this weekend! Maybe breaking the deck down into smaller bits and shuffling those to soften it up will help? I'll let you know if it works!

Sorry...

In my experience, U.S Games "Printed in China" decks, while lovely, do not break in. They never get floppy, never lose that stiffness in the way that we have come to expect from other decks.

I love them and am quite happy for them to retain that stiffness though it can make them a little tough to riffle shuffle...

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=150944&highlight=table+edge

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=99047&highlight=table+edge

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=124192&highlight=table+edge

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=86486&highlight=table+edge

Just a few. Many have faced this. I gave up on my Golden for this reason.

And this one posted by Lyric:

My decks are “prepared”. Each card is placed on a table edge and slid abruptly downward, my free hand holding the sliding card flat on the tabletop. This puts an extreme bend on each card. This is done diagonally, horizontally, and vertically from both sides. It removes the stiffness, so cards do not “shoot out” while shuffling. It also breaks down some of the factory gloss reducing the glossy slide factor. This does not shorten the life span of your deck; in fact, it reduces the probability of creased and folded cards. It does help the deck look “used”.

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Thanks Alta! I tried to search for something just like this and couldn't find it. Fantastic!

Le Fanu said:

In my experience, U.S Games "Printed in China" decks, while lovely, do not break in. They never get floppy, never lose that stiffness in the way that we have come to expect from other decks.

I love them and am quite happy for them to retain that stiffness though it can make them a little tough to riffle shuffle...

Click to expand...

Agreed. US Games China decks are indestructable. If you can riffle that thing, my hat is off to you. It's so slick, and I find the gilded edges painful on my fingers. I, too, am a hardened and shameless riffler. But for this one, I have to clumsily hand over hand it. Still love it though!