LEAST favorite deck to shuffle...ever

[Samweiss]

No, they're slightly smaller than the Cary-Yale and possibly the Piedpont, both of which I've been shuffling regularly over the last couple of years. Try turning them 90 degrees and doing a long, slow lace-shuffle instead of a short, fast one. You'll find that even with stubby fingers like mine if you've turned the deck side-on you can shuffle it well.

Thanks for the tip! Gotta try that.

 

[Tibor]

(For me personally) I think all decks from Shiffer (except Sol Invictus from the first print run and this was their first tarot deck as well) as all of them have those sticky and glossy card stock and the cards tend to be larger as well.

 

[Tibor]

How come some folks are saying that the Mary-El is easy to shuffle but the Son Tarot is not??? Aren't they made from the same card stock???? I only own the Son Tarot but I did own other Shiffer decks as well and they all had the same card stock that is why I did not bother buying the Mary-El.

 

[ana luisa]

I may agree with people who believe it's a Schiffer constant... Although I do like their decks a lot and go for sturdier cards (don't get moldy as the thinner ones) AND glossy finish , the Kingdom Within is by far the worst to shuffle.
http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/kingdom-within/

 

[Strange2]

I Love the Vampire Tarot by Place, but LEAST favorite deck to shuffle ever.

With those sharp corners and stick-together coating, this deck is designed to draw your blood when handling!

 

[foolMoon]

They are all smaller than many Visconti printings, and I love shuffling those. Okay, so I'm slow and I hold them oddly, having very short fingers, but size truly isn't a problem <grin> - with those decks I consider favourites to shuffle, it's about texture, not size.

You must have powerful hands and great skill in shuffling to be able to handle those well. But texture, yes, they help. I have this old worn out very first edition of the Mythic Tarot deck from early 1980s. Previous owner of this deck was a professional tarot reader who used it every day over 30 years.

The stock is not high quality at all, but due to excessive wear by use and age, it has this softened feel, and texture of bundle of cash. When I shuffle it, I feel rich

 

[rwcarter]

How come some folks are saying that the Mary-El is easy to shuffle but the Son Tarot is not??? Aren't they made from the same card stock???? I only own the Son Tarot but I did own other Shiffer decks as well and they all had the same card stock that is why I did not bother buying the Mary-El.

Beth Seilonen's Bleu Cat Tarot may signal a new trend for Schiffer as both the cardstock and lamination seem to be different than anything they've used before. And the Bleu Cat shuffles wonderfully.

I don't think I ever tried to shuffle the Mary-El before tackling the Son. After all the effort I had to put into breaking the Son in, I was able to shuffle the Mary-El quite easily. Had I tried to shuffle it before the Son, I might also have felt that it was horrible to shuffle....

 

[Cocobird55]

The second edition of the Anna K. It was very frustrating, because I loved the cards. The MM edition is so much easier to shuffle.

 

[daphne]

Forest Folklore Tarot.

Sticky sticky sticky cards. Extremely stiff and very laminated. And very sticky.

 

[agviz]

Magicians' Fanning Powder!

For everyone who has a sticky or clumpy deck that won't spread or shuffle easily – try magicians' fanning powder. It makes a HUGE difference on most decks of this nature. It's usually found in magic stores and it's also sold on Amazon. It's not expensive, a little goes a long way, and it seems to be long-lasting.

For example, I couldn't get the Mary-el cards to separate when I fanned them out because they were sticking together in clumps. After applying fanning powder, they spread easily and effortlessly. I went from hate to love.

Use very little of the stuff. I was applying it all wrong at first by sprinkling it directly on the cards. That's WAY too much. Sprinkle a little on your fingers or palms of your hands, rub your hands together, then lightly rub your hands across the front and back surface of each card. You should be using so little that you can't see any powder on the cards (even on dark cards). Try it first on a few cards and use more if needed.

It has worked wonders on every deck I've applied it to with the exception of one, the PCS Commemorative. The deck wasn't all that sticky to begin with but I wanted to see if I could improve it a little. Didn't help and made it worse, so I cleaned the powder off. Overall though, I have made a good number of sticky, clumpy, and old decks much more useable.