"Aging" Decks... Anti-Bling, if you will

I got the feeling from Umbrae's posts that tea-dunking helped to soften up the cards, did you read through this thread? http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=99047

I don't know, though. I'll have to experiment further to see what results I'll get. I'm still not quite happy with my RWS, and I may tea-dunk it when I'm done using the distress inks on all the cards. Possibly the ideal RWS deck for me will be one I print out myself on stock of my own choice, once I get that Dover CD book in my hot little hands.

Looking forward to hearing of your results, emmsma! Post pics if you can!
And I'd love to see pics of your Gothic too, Yurikome. I hope your efforts pay off.

I will have to get better pictured of them tomorrow when they are dry, but I am happy with my results.

They can be seen here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/112599432854008443601/TrimmedThunderBayConver?feat=directlink

I made a strong tea - 5 bags of Lipton in a big pot. When it had cooled enough to stick my hands in I went to work. I actually left it longer than I'd intended. It wasn't cool, but it wasn't as warm as I thought I'd use.

I stuck in the whole deck but they stuck together like they were a solid chunk, despite my efforts to separate them.

After the recommended 30 seconds I took out my hunk of wet paper. Then I delicately separated each card and back into the bath it went, for another 30 seconds.

I'd laid out a layer of cloth diapers on the kitchen table where I was working. They fit 6 cards per diaper and I just layered another diaper over them til each card had been re-soaked and laid out.

I pressed firmly over the whole batch and then, working from the bottom, gathered up the cards from each layer and began to shuffle gently.

The cards are still very soft. I love it and wish they'd continue to feel this way when fully dry.

I do like the color, though uneven, I know that truly aged decks would not have uniform staining on them.

I did notice a few spots on some of the cards where the edges wanted to separate - i did trim and round the corners before the tea. They seem to be holding together though.

I still have them wrapped in a diaper and I take them out and shuffle every which way, every now and again.

This has been a lot of fun and I'm thinking of purchasing a cheap old RWS to try this on next.

Aw yeah. They look great! So much better trimmed. And the staining being uneven, that works actually. And once they're dry that might lighten. I really like them. Great work!

Layers of towels is a good idea... I was feeling kind of grrr-face about tea-dunking because I have very little space to spread things out, unless I just sit on the floor. But layering the towels solves that problem. Thanks for detailing your process so thoroughly too! I was wondering if the tea would really get to all the cards, and it sounds like it didn't for you till you separated them.

On another note, I think you do have a different TB Conver than me. Your backs look dark blue on white, and mine are black on white.

emmsma, they came out great !

I have been meaning to get a copy of the Thunder Bay Conver since they can be found quite inexpensively, but the backs of the cards sealed the deal. Gorgeous!

I love the subtle tea staining look.

I'll have to stick with the antique ink pads. I have 2 cats and would never be able to attempt this around them!

Edited to add: My Steampunk aging project is complete and I love how it came out! My next deck? Antiquing my Angel Tarot (1980; Angel Playing Card Company TdM)!

Now that they are dry, I do like the look of them. They have remained more flexible, though they do have a bow. They make that pop when you bend them, but are otherwise nicely done, I feel.

Know any way to get rid of the pop? Is this something that will go away in time, with shuffling? Pressing in a book?

I'm thinking my next project will be a yellow box RWS.

Now I just need to acquire one, for the purpose.

aurarcana said:

emmsma, they came out great !

I have been meaning to get a copy of the Thunder Bay Conver since they can be found quite inexpensively, but the backs of the cards sealed the deal. Gorgeous!

Click to expand...

They really are nice for the price! I remember the book that came with them was worthless, though.

aurarcana said:

I love the subtle tea staining look.

I'll have to stick with the antique ink pads. I have 2 cats and would never be able to attempt this around them!

Edited to add: My Steampunk aging project is complete and I love how it came out! My next deck? Antiquing my Angel Tarot (1980; Angel Playing Card Company TdM)!

Click to expand...

I'm glad your Steampunk deck came out well. I'm still iffy about my RWS. I'm thinking of it as a learning project... if it comes out horrible, I can always chuck it in the trash!

The Angel looks like a good candidate for aging. *nods*

That's funny that you can do the ink pads around your cats but not the tea staining. I have had to shut myself up in a room with my RWS cards so the cats don't mess with me. Otherwise Janey steals the makeup pads and pawprints the inked cards that are lying out to dry...


And emmsma....

emmsma said:

Now that they are dry, I do like the look of them. They have remained more flexible, though they do have a bow. They make that pop when you bend them, but are otherwise nicely done, I feel.

Know any way to get rid of the pop? Is this something that will go away in time, with shuffling? Pressing in a book?

I'm thinking my next project will be a yellow box RWS.

Now I just need to acquire one, for the purpose.

Click to expand...

My Thunder Bay Conver came to me with a bow. It was really more of a arc. Set two decks like that next to each other, paint them yellow, and they'd be mobbed for Big Macs.

I table-edged them (the basic Umbrae treatment) rather violently, then pressed them under some heavy books overnight, and it took care of the bow. I just checked them to see if it had come back, and it hasn't... even though I just wrapped them in a cotton scarf and dropped them into a wooden crate with some other decks. So you might try the Umbrae again, and see if that takes it out. Fingers crossed for you!

Well, this is finished (unless I go ahead and dunk it in tea) and my feelings are mixed. It was a learning experience, which is always good. I'm okay with the results but if I could go back and start over I would have done it differently. For starters, I would not have sanded it. Not even with a finer grade sandpaper, saying I could find one (remember mine was labeled extra fine). All it really did was scratch up that heavy U.S. Games lamination, so that the aging ink ended up collecting in the scratches. On some cards it's more obvious than others. You can see what I mean in the close-up.

On the other hand, without the scratched-up surface, I'm not certain the aging ink would have done much at all. There's no way it could get to the actual paper to stain it. aurarcana's Steampunk Tarot took the ink well, but since it's home printed (or professionally in small batches) I'm assuming it doesn't have heavy lamination (if any).

My deck is still usable and in some ways I like it better like this, as it is easier to shuffle, due to having been Umbrae'd. And it has a superficially older appearance. But there are still areas where it's bright white and I doubt that will ever go away, even with tea-dunking. My perfectionist streak is dissatisfied.

So, my conclusions:
-- The Umbrae treatment (running the cards over the edge of a table) gets two thumbs up.
-- Sanding takes a lot of time and effort and the results, frankly, pretty much suck.
-- The Tim Holtz Distress Inks probably work better if your cards aren't heavily laminated.


When looking at the pics, remember that this is the 1999 Original Rider-Waite -- the colors were less saturated and more brownish before I started this project.

Can someone write out all the steps for me because i want to "age" my RWS and i'm kinda confused about the sanding ^^;. but the cards look great!

I'm glad you like them. Thank you. I can write out what I did, but keep in mind that if I had to do it over, I'd do it differently!

1. Choose a deck you can easily replace, in case you goof up or hate the results. I used the 1993 Original RWS. I strongly suggest you don't use a beloved deck.

2. If you have the extra cards from your pack, try everything on them first. If you don't like the way it looks, you've only goofed up a spare.

3. Do the "Umbrae" on every card in the deck, i.e. run them over the edge of a table. This removes the stiff, new feeling by breaking some of the fibers. If you need more info on this let me know, and I'll dig up a thread or try to explain in detail. ALSO -- this is just about making the deck FEEL nicer, it doesn't visually age it. So you can skip it if you want.

4. Sanding. I did this in an attempt to remove some of the lamination. I used 220 very fine sandpaper meant for wood. I STRONGLY suggest using a finer grade, like 600 super fine. Also, a sanding block will probably make the sanding process more efficient. Do this outside if you can, it's messy... and it would probably be a really good idea to wear a mask so you don't breathe in the dust.

5. Last step: Tim Holtz Distress Ink. I used the Antique Linen color. Old Paper or Tea Dye would be good choices, too. Rub ink on cards using a round makeup pad (they are cheaper than the blending tools sold near the distress inks). Try to build up a patina around the edges and corners.

Here is where I think that using a super fine grade of sandpaper will pay off. I didn't remove enough of the lamination with my 220 sandpaper. So the ink tended to bead up on the card surface rather than staining the paper underneath. I had to repeatedly blot it on to build up color, and it also tended to collect in the scratches. On the other hand, you might like that look. YMMV!


This is an organic process and of course it can it varied in innumerable ways. The steps are just what I did with this particular deck. Feel free to ask questions, and I'll try to answer as best I can.

P.S. As far as sanding goes, what I did was cut little pieces of sandpaper and wrapped them around my paw, I mean fingertip, and sanded lightly over the surface of the card. See here.

But what I recommend is getting a sanding block like Anam Cara is talking about in this post.