Physically Caring for your Deck(s)

Sorry if there is already a thread on this, the search function isn't working for me right now.


Anyway, how do you physically take care of your deck(s)? I've had my first deck for four years and it was the only one I've been using, but I believe it's in very good condition for all that use!

How I take care of my deck is the obvious ones like keeping it in a bag, using a spreadcloth, and making sure everyone has clean hands before touching it. But I also do something that my father taught me that I've never heard of anywhere else, where you powder your deck.

Basically you put trace amounts of talcum powder on your deck, and it protects the cards from the oils in people's hands (which can damage the cards). How I do it is once every so often, like once a year or every few months or something, take my deck out and spread it on a clean towel. Then I take another towel and put a tiny bit of talcum on it, shake it off, then wipe the cards (gently) with the second towel. It works really well in my opinion, and my cards don't seem to mind it, if not like it.

Is this wrong to do? Do you do something similar to this? Like I said I never heard of anyone else doing it before (but maybe people just don't say it or something) I want to physically keep my cards in good condition, so someday I can give them to my children. And like I said my cards don't mind it (I think my Morgan-Greer deck likes it actually, hehe -- haven't yet powdered my new deck though).

I've gotten several decks where the cards seem to want to stick together. I always dust them with a bit of powder, then wipe them off. It seems to help a lot. I also keep my decks in a bag -- love the ones at tarottotes.com. The cotton ones are very affordable.

Many Blessings,
Bodhran

it's interesting - i dislike keeping my decks in a bag, especially if they're not in the original box to keep them all together. i'm pretty obsessive about wanting to maintain that "new' look and feel to my decks, and go to great lengths to do so. many of my decks even still have the original plastic wrapper around the cards themselves, as i carefully cut off just the top of the plastic shrink wrap.

i think shuffling causes the most wear and tear on a deck, and find one of most destructive is the "riffling" method. "stripping", while less effective in randomly mixing the cards, is much easier on the cards, and i usually stick to that method. a good description a various shuffling techniques can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuffle

i'd personally hesitate using any kind of powder on a deck unless i was certain that the powder itself would not chemically interact with any component of the card itself - the laminate, ink, paper, or guilding. i'd guess that talc is a fairly inert substance, and it is used in paper coatings, paints and plastics, not to mention for ones skin care, so it's probably pretty safe.

I like the look of a worn deck. To me, it seems to express that the reader is serious, experienced and very familiar with their deck. That gives me confidence in their reading ability.

The way I care for mine is that I keep the decks in bags. I make sure my hands are clean and that I shuffle without bending them too much. I don't let others shuffle my decks.

I keep the Housewives tarot in its original box because it's so sturdy and cute.

My pocket Universal Waite I keep in it's box but then put that into a bag or otherwise the top falls off and the cards go all over.

I keep the Gilded in the bag that came with it and keep that in the box it came in.

My Bucklands are both in bags, one of them in mint condition and the other one (the one I use a lot) very well worn.

All other decks are in bags of their own, and I keep all my decks in the bottom of a wicker cabinet I have in the living room safely out of sight of curious people except for my Gilded, which now goes wherever I go.

I don't use a spreadcloth because I don't have one, but I make sure the surfaces I use are very clean.

Ok, I normally use a spreadcloth (when I do readings in a cafe where a spreadcloth would look to obvious I always make sure the table is clean otherwise I will either clean it myself or have the waitress do it).

Tarot cards are kept in box and/or bag. Ppl are not allowed to riffle my cards and I even do a kind of aura check of the client before s/he gets my cards in hands (there were 2 persons in over 20 years who did not get a reading from me).

2 years ago my old and worn RW got a bit of baby powder to become more slick again because the coating has long worn off. The Legend is just a bit faded and the Knight of Swords has a crease on the upper left corner but it still shuffles well.

I also put small baggies with silicate grains into the wooden crates, boxes and into the book case in which my decks are kept to absorbe humidity which may be in the air.

I sometimes give a deck a smudging when I feel it is necessary.

I love the feel of my RWS deck. Its old and worn. The edges are starting to flair a bit and it sometimes feels 'hollow'. The colours are wearing a little - theres not an ounce of shine on it! Its lovely. It sits in its silk cloth its had for ever which then resides in its box - which was once run over by a bus LOL!!

The rest all have their own coloured silk cloths/bags and boxes, and are much loved and respected.

I also have a little wooden cabinet with a glass front door which those decks Im not using - sit in waiting for me to turn up one day and unravel from their cloths.


Blessings
Elven x

Elven said:

I love the feel of my RWS deck. Its old and worn. The edges are starting to flair a bit and it sometimes feels 'hollow'. The colours are wearing a little - theres not an ounce of shine on it! Its lovely. It sits in its silk cloth its had for ever which then resides in its box - which was once run over by a bus LOL!!

The rest all have their own coloured silk cloths/bags and boxes, and are much loved and respected.

I also have a little wooden cabinet with a glass front door which those decks Im not using - sit in waiting for me to turn up one day and unravel from their cloths.


Blessings
Elven x

Click to expand...

Elven, I looooooooooove the idea of your deck.

My Thoth got sticky once upon a time and I put it in a plastic ziplock with some cornstarch and shook it up then, one by one, wiped off each card. But nothing more than I would do with an ordinary deck of playing cards.

I'm of the careworn well-loved much trusted tarot deck school. I like my cards flexible and easy to shuffle.

Cover your eyes... I riffle to deliberately wear the deck! -- audible gasp --

Did somebody just say "heathen"?

I have my Revelations deck in the taffeta bag it came in, but I'm getting some really nice velvet to sew a bag to keep the cards in; hopefully one that won't fall apart as this taffeta bag is doing.

I love my deck, it's very personal to me, but I don't do anything more special to it than carry it very near to me as often as possible.

I know, I'm weird.

The powder idea sounds wonderful. I custom blend my own powders and I have a protection powder I might sprinkle on my Archeon deck since it's the one I carry around with me and is the most susceptible to wayward energies. And I'm using it to gauge "group energies". I like to keep a check on the energy of the city if traffic seems strange. Or the energy of the workplace or anyplace I may be if something just seems "off". So protecting my deck is important.

Don't use mineral talc

Talc is usually made from (I hope I remember this correctly -) hydrous? hydrated? Magnesium Silicate - at any rate, a mineral which can't be broken down by the body. There is some evidence linking habitual personal hygene use of talc with ovarian cancer, and I seem to remember reading that it wasn't particularly good for the lungs, either. For this reason I wouldn't use it on my cards - choose an organic substitute such as cornstarch or rice flour.

This is an interesting thread! I don't think I'd be THAT obsessive about maintaining my cards, but I do treat them gently to avoid creases and too much wear on the edges. On 'clearing' method I read was to throw them across the room!!! Not likely!!!

I'm a bit torn between keeping them in the functional but not very attractive plastic Video-style case they came in (the cover is nice, but its made of that crackly, thin plastic insinde ...the book fits in above the cards) or making a nice velvet bag. I'll probably go for the bag... I don't see myself selling or swapping them. In some ways they are flawed, as far as decks go (pip card minors, I prefer images) - but I'm becoming increasingly attached to them.

I think I'll start washing my hands before I use them to reduce skin oils and acids. Also not a good idea to have oils and lotions on the hands - might react with the plastic coatings.

I'm a little wary of investing actual physical objects with too much power. They are just cards that give a point of focus, a window to look through. In other hands, they are just a pack of playing cards. I think. I'd be interested to hear about it, if you feel differently - I'm still forming my views on this.

best
Euri

wow

good info to have and im glad 2 know that im not the only one who likes to keep my cards in their original boxes! It just feels wrong otherwise but i do wrap my main deck in a purple silk cloth as well as keep it in its box