Aging a Deck

Cat,
The deck is your property and of course is yours to do just what you want with. Am still trying to imagine the need 'customise' the original printing in the ways previously described.
Perhaps publishers haven't done this as dunking in slightly acidic tea could very well flush cellulose out of the card stock unevenly so producing warpage on drying out.

I'm not going to be able to take a grinder to my cards or anything, but I am quite curious as to how long this extreme plastic shielding will take to wear down. My Fenestra deck is soo damn clumsy at times I cant wait for it to smooth out and settle in.

So I have found my own unique and very "Kaley-way" (as my husband would say) to age my deck. I got the idea last night right before bed...my usual time to season and handle the cards or read. I took them one by one and pretty much bent them up, but not to the point of a crease. I've had my cards for probably about two years now and I handled them a lot before and then tucked them away in some silk and didn't bring them back out until this month. It's probably been at least a year or more since I've really started studying them again.

Anyhow! I made a wave like motion with each card and just sort of bent it every which way I felt like...but again, not to the point of a crease. They got bent out of shape somewhat and all but they really started to "stick" instead of slide. (They were like new and still slippery laminated before I did this.) It took me a good while to go through each card but interestingly enough I found myself connecting with the cards without even turning them over to view them first and I was right every time. It was really awesome so it became an exercise so to speak. I wrapped them back up tightly in my silk and gave them the night to "marinate." Today they stick instead of slide and they are more of a thick-like deck instead of flat and dense.

I love it! just me but you could try it! Binding them in silk after (I use ribbon to tie it around the cards) make them keep straightened out.

I soaked my Tarot of a Moon Garden in tea & they're drying. I'm wondering if anyone has tried ironing to flatten them? I know, I know, I don't iron anything & if my husband sees me ironing my cards I'll never hear the end of it. So I'll just have to be sneaky...or he'll want his clothes ironed aarrgghh!

canid said:

I soaked my Tarot of a Moon Garden in tea & they're drying. I'm wondering if anyone has tried ironing to flatten them? I know, I know, I don't iron anything & if my husband sees me ironing my cards I'll never hear the end of it. So I'll just have to be sneaky...or he'll want his clothes ironed aarrgghh!

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I would not iron them. The lamination on most cardstock is plastic, and it will come off if you apply heat. Just let them dry naturally.

Greg Stanton said:

I would not iron them. The lamination on most cardstock is plastic, and it will come off if you apply heat. Just let them dry naturally.

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I'd be inclined to second this

How does the Moon Garden look? Can we see some pics?

\m/ Kat

I've never heard of doing anything like this before! When I got my Druidcraft, I was a little disappointed about how "new" it looked, but it's been less than a year and it already looks pretty worn. I just keep it wrapped and (this may be strange) sleep with it, to keep it acquainted with my energies. It's almost like a security blanket now I feel uncomfortable when I don't hold it. Within months it had the "loved" look I was hoping for, and it just keeps getting more so. I would be too afraid it would disintegrate or something if I tried to accelerate the process.

singerofpeace - the big difference between the Hanson-Roberts that I did (and the Moon Garden that canid did) and your DruidCraft is the publisher's choice of cardstock. The infamous US Games stock is hugely laminated and very tough, whereas the DC stock is much less durable. It will wear a lot quicker than the USG stuff. So your DC would look and feel wonderful without having to go to the extremes that I've gone to

\m/ Kat