Help, bent deck!

So, as per my previous post in the What deck are you using now thread http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=229640 I've just pulled all my decks out of storage to go over them again looking for ones I want to sell and ones to keep. And my nice Tarot Art Nouveux, which I kept in a little drawstring bag, has developed a weird bend. I really wish I'd had a proper deck box for this one, but anyways, I need help. How do I get it to be unbended and square again? Its not a full bend, more like they're curved a bit, like when you has a notebook and the pages had been turned, they're more rounded after that. It doesn't lie flat, so to speak.

Anyways, just poking around for advise before I go about sticking the deck under a huge stack of books. Its probably time I found a nice box for my loose decks.

"Bend" has more to do with the type of lamination and how well/poorly the lamination was applied. If the deck was over the edge of something for a protracted time that is one thing, but if the deck was stored flat with other decks and has a curve in it - it is more than likely the lamination and not moisture.

The first thing to do, of course - is to see if gently curving the deck in the other direction has any effect - which it may not.

Secondly, it either needs to be weighted down under large books, or needs to be stood on end between two large books held up by bookends or tightly squeezed onto a shelf between two flat objects taller and wider than it is.

Do not apply heat or steam to 'iron' the cards - the lamination is applied with heat rollers and this will only make it worse.

Good Luck! Sometimes the bend is permanent - even with decks stored in their original boxes.

When I got my Wizards tarot it came out of the box slightly curved concave. It wasn't too bad, but the cards wont lie flat. I've spent a while bending the whole deck back between my hands, which has helped somewhat, but it probably needs to spend a while under some heavy books too. I'm thinking it must be the lamination, and I'm not overly worried - I'd be concerned if one of my rare decks had the same problem, and would probably seek professional help from a book binder or restorer if that was the case.

I haven't received a deck with flat cards in years. Warping used to be an aberration, but no longer. I am a collector and store my cards with great care, flat, in their boxes, in a controlled-humidity environment - makes no difference. Within hours of the shrinkwrap's removal (and sometimes immediately), the cards curl. This happens to decks with both smooth and linen finishes. My husband (a printer) says it's because the ink is not allowed to dry completely prior to wrapping. Is demand that great? Where is factory quality control? It doesn't seem to matter whether the decks are independently printed, or produced by large companies like US Games.

I've not found anything that corrects the warping permanently - bending the cards in the direction opposite the warp works for a few days, in some cases. But they always revert. I've never found that placing decks beneath a heavy pile of books works at all.

A few of my decks have bends to them as well and I've yet to find anything that works permanently. Heavy books, manually bending them by hand, laying them flat, etc. works for a little while perhaps but they always go back. I've just accepted it as the way they are going to be, although it does slightly irk me.

I've one thing that helps for a while is to do the weighted books thing, but to alternate the cards between face up and face down.

Hey, that might be why the Vertigo Tarot came with every second card face down. I thought they'd just done it so you had to look at every card.

urbandryad said:

So, as per my previous post in the What deck are you using now thread http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=229640 I've just pulled all my decks out of storage to go over them again looking for ones I want to sell and ones to keep. And my nice Tarot Art Nouveux, which I kept in a little drawstring bag, has developed a weird bend. I really wish I'd had a proper deck box for this one, but anyways, I need help. How do I get it to be unbended and square again? Its not a full bend, more like they're curved a bit, like when you has a notebook and the pages had been turned, they're more rounded after that. It doesn't lie flat, so to speak.

Anyways, just poking around for advise before I go about sticking the deck under a huge stack of books. Its probably time I found a nice box for my loose decks.

Click to expand...

You could try putting a cloth over the card and ironing over it a few times (Test it on low heat first)

junkyardmystic said:

You could try putting a cloth over the card and ironing over it a few times (Test it on low heat first)

Click to expand...

Bad Idea! If you overheat the plastic laminate and shrink it - it will only increase the problem!

tarotbear said:

Bad Idea! If you overheat the plastic laminate and shrink it - it will only increase the problem!

Click to expand...

Oh there plastic cards, hmm let me think.

Put them in a wooden press for a while, but don't press them without something covering each side of the card.

(A press you use for flowers)