"Sticky" cards - any way to soften them?

If any of you do use talcum powder, make sure not to breath it in. It is poisonous and can damage your lungs.

http://www.shands.org/health/HIE Multimedia/1/002719.htm

I use a combo of talcum and cornstarch powder (with an open window and something tied over my mouth and nose so I don't inhale too much of it). It works really well, makes the cards nice and smooth... besides, The Hermit looks awesome dusted over with talc too (I have the same deck! )!

The fanning powder is inexpensive, readily available online, and works beautifully. I have revived many a deck with it and I consider it a necessary tool. Get you some!

Thanks, everyone! I'll try to get some fanning powder. Until then, I may use baby powder, since that's what we've got in the house. (I'm a cheapskate and I hate to buy online...) But it sounds like the fanning powder would be good to have in the long run.

-Taylor

laura_borealis said:

... what was that deck you got recently, nisaba, with all the body parts? GBMP might work great with that one.

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[http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=136839]This one[/url].

Used fanning powder on my Universal Waite, made a difference for the first couple of shuffles, then back to normal. A colleagues partner (who's a magician) gave me the powder, but said if the lamination on the cards is rubbish, no amount of powder will remedy the problem. Ended up buying a new deck which appeared to have a better finish, and no problems.

Talc

Alright, so I got a bit tired of my Vampyres sticking together and decided to try the baby powder route to see what happened.

I took some really old baby powder and sprinkled it on a sheet of paper and shook each card in a light dusting of powder, tapped the extra off, and began to shuffle when it was all done. I had to pull my shirt up so I didn't inhale all of that stuff, as I wasn't expecting quite a plume or cloud to come off them.

They feel a bit smoother than they did and not quite so "sticky" in that there's fewer mini-packs within that don't seem to want to shuffle apart. There's still one that I'm going to work on a bit more but for the most part it's actually pretty effective. There's just a slight... haze... on the cards but doesn't really bother me.

If I do this again, I'm going to get the magnolia baby powder or the lavender and use that instead

I used talcum powder on my Giant RWS - it worked OK for the first few shuffles but as the powder wore off they went sticky again. I might try fanning powder too as there are a few more decks that I want to be able to shuffle properly.

Hmm. Not sure I'd try this on any deck with gold or silver foil overlay (like my Golden Botticelli). I can see little clumps of powder catching in the relief. Come to think of it, my gilt-edged Golden came through with the edges all stuck together, but I might be reluctant to put powder on that too.

nisaba said:

There is some sort of card powder that people recommend. I am a sheapskate, so I used el-cheapo talcum powder. Worked a treat, and never needed to be re-done on those decks. Put a little in a flat copntainer, drop each card in it on one side only, pick them up and put the deck back together, flick through the deck to loosen any excess, shuffle a lot. Brilliant.

I recommend using an unscented talc unless you really like the scent.

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Haha, I'm a cheapskate too. I resorted to using some vintage 1970s Avon Lady Skater Perfumed Talc powder that I snagged at a thrift store all over my Vampire Tarot deck. It worked like a charm but now the deck smells like a lady who wears old flowery perfume. Probably not the imagery that Robert Place was intending for his deck to conjure up but it sure gave it some personality

Glass Owl said:

Haha, I'm a cheapskate too. I resorted to using some vintage 1970s Avon Lady Skater Perfumed Talc powder that I snagged at a thrift store all over my Vampire Tarot deck. It worked like a charm but now the deck smells like a lady who wears old flowery perfume. Probably not the imagery that Robert Place was intending for his deck to conjure up but it sure gave it some personality

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Just wait, eventually the Twilight generation will age and you will wind up reading with that deck to ladies who wear old flowery perfume, and they will never bat an eye !