Warped Deck, Can It Be Saved??

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 18 Jan 2005, and now archived in the Forum Library.

September Pixie	18 Jan 2005
My cousin has a well loved shapeshifter deck .. she's faithfully kept it in a nice bag and stored, oddly enough inside an old unused shoe.. somewhere over the few weeks of winter storage.. she pulled it out to use and it about 7 or 8 of the cards are slightly warped out of place.. She called me freaking out asking what to do so I promised her I would post for her.. My first thought was to run a cool dry iron over them but would this cause a problem with the paints or laminate? I simply advised to put them in a really heavy book until I could come up with further suggestions..

tarotbear	18 Jan 2005
Tough call. :( Every printer is different, but it sounds like they got damp for too long a time. Putting them under a heavy weight in a dry spot until the moisture dries out may be all you can do. Ironing them could shrink the laminate or remove the lacquer, and that doesn't unshrink. My deck is permanently 'curved' from shuffling them. The one thing I can do is periodicaly shuffle them in the opposite curve amd let them lie flat, not resting on the heel. The best way to 'save' it may just be to keep using it.

September Pixie	18 Jan 2005
The problem with them odd as it sounds it isn't water damage though.. my thought was perhaps the corners are bent at an odd angle, so for a peroid of time in a bent position made them slightly curved.. it would be kind of like constant use when shuffiling but its not bent in a C shape its more like { does that make sence? The card stock isnt thickened or warped in a way that one would be if it was soaked or something, but more like if you sat on it for a while.. but it makes shuffling nearly impossible as when the cards are in the pile the deck is nearlu twice its size due to the bending.. I've never had to deal with a warped card on my own only laminate problems, so this is new territory for me..

floracove	18 Jan 2005
Well, imo... Placing them under a heavy book sounds like a good idea. She may want to divide them into several piles, under several books... And as tarotbear suggested, playing with them should help limber them up. Either as a whole or in small piles.

Astraea	18 Jan 2005
I've had several decks that were warped right out of the box, and ironing doesn't help. As I understand it, warping is a function of ink-drying times in relation to the type/thickness of paper on which the cards are printed. Unlike the horizontal "bow" that cards acquire from shuffling, in my experience diagonal warping cannot be bent back into shape.

SongDeva	18 Jan 2005
If this is going to bother her, she may want to invest in a new deck. She can replace the warped cards in her old one, or can hold onto the old one for replacements. If she's attached to this one, she can store them together for a time, for energy transfer. I'd advise her to keep the deck on a shelf rather than in a shoe. :)

Keslynn	18 Jan 2005
One thing she might try is humidifying the deck and then placing it under heavy books. Perhaps she can leave the deck in the bathroom when she takes a shower? The humidity will loosen up the cardstock and make it more likely to take another shape. It's a preservation technique for documents that have been heavily folded and aren't overly delicate. :) Kes

Waterdancer	18 Jan 2005
I have been dealing with this problem with a few vintage decks I bought in an auction. They had been stored in a damp place. I have had some slight success with ironing them between two cloths. I have tried heavy books too. I did see a card press online at a magic store. I can't remember which one. It was meant to help magicians remove the bend from cards after they used them in card tricks.

The Warped Deck, Can It Be Saved?? thread was originally posted on 18 Jan 2005 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.