kwaw
Does anyone know the details of this technique? Or used/adapted it?
I am not too sure about the exact procedure for the soap finish, but from what I can make out from an 18th century french description of playing card making, the uncut sheet is heated up on a flat plate over a stove, first one side then the other (the bottom should be hotter than the top?), then a thickish felt rubber. the width of the sheet, is passed over a slab of dry soap then over the sheet, first the top side and then the bottom. Then, while it is still hot, it is polished with a smooth concave stone, somewhat more vigorously on the back side than the front. The sheets are then pressed to straighten them before cutting.
Not sure about how essential the heating is to the process, one can burnish paper cold (the soap provides 'slippage' for the burnishing stone). Sounds a bit risky to me, but perhaps one could soap a couple of cloths, place the sheet between them and iron them on each side to heat up the cards and permeate the soap (similar to how one would waterproof cardboard with paraffin wax)? Or alternatively, heat up the sheet with an iron (with a cloth to protect it), then apply the soap with felt cloth?
Not too sure of the process or how pleasing (or not) the results, or if different soaps make a difference (I know magicians use soap on cards to make them fan and spread easier, but it doesn't work with all types of soap. French card burnishing was done with Marseille soap I think, an (olive) oil based soap).
(I believe Bertrand Saint-Guillain used a soap and stone polishing process to finish his cards?)
I am not too sure about the exact procedure for the soap finish, but from what I can make out from an 18th century french description of playing card making, the uncut sheet is heated up on a flat plate over a stove, first one side then the other (the bottom should be hotter than the top?), then a thickish felt rubber. the width of the sheet, is passed over a slab of dry soap then over the sheet, first the top side and then the bottom. Then, while it is still hot, it is polished with a smooth concave stone, somewhat more vigorously on the back side than the front. The sheets are then pressed to straighten them before cutting.
Not sure about how essential the heating is to the process, one can burnish paper cold (the soap provides 'slippage' for the burnishing stone). Sounds a bit risky to me, but perhaps one could soap a couple of cloths, place the sheet between them and iron them on each side to heat up the cards and permeate the soap (similar to how one would waterproof cardboard with paraffin wax)? Or alternatively, heat up the sheet with an iron (with a cloth to protect it), then apply the soap with felt cloth?
Not too sure of the process or how pleasing (or not) the results, or if different soaps make a difference (I know magicians use soap on cards to make them fan and spread easier, but it doesn't work with all types of soap. French card burnishing was done with Marseille soap I think, an (olive) oil based soap).
(I believe Bertrand Saint-Guillain used a soap and stone polishing process to finish his cards?)