Problems shuffling 'new' deck

[karafarrahbobera]

Omeada, thank you for posting those pix! I hafta admit that it sounded a little...well...brutal when you described your technique, but seeing the cards after you'd gotten done with them, well, they kinda looked like they'd end up being nicely used and broken in! I think I'll try this!

-Kara

 

[tarotbear]

plastigue

IHMO it is not the cardboard part of the cards at all but the plastic coating/lamination; how thick the plastic is and how long it may have stayed in the laminating machine. If one side of the plastic is shrunken more than the other, it could be almost impossible to 'permanently' flatten them.

With extensive use, many of us find our favorite deck is curved in the direction we shuffle; what we have done through many years of shuffling is stretched the coating on one side.

Perhaps instead of merely placing a heavy tome on top of them flat on the table, you could consider bending them in the opposite direction by placing the short ends of the deck up on something with space underneath, then placing something heavy in the middle of the bend to push and hold it in the opposite curve- stretching the plastic in the opposte direction?

Have you tried using fanning powder so they slip easier?

 

[Little Baron]

Omeada

That second picture looks painful, hehe. Ouch!!!

LB

 

[Bhavana]

Geeze 'Theold' that sounds a bit severe, reminds me of when i was biker and guys would tow their new jeans behind their bikes for a few days to break them in - with holes, dirt and oil.


Hey Karafarrabobera! Don't get me mixed up and tow your cards behind your bike OK?

Brilliant idea, wish I was still in touch with all of my old biker friends. The way we did it when I was growing up was to wear your new jeans into the ocean, then let them dry, preferably in the sun, while you are still wearing them. Not the most comfortable way to do it, but after a few times, it really does work nice. Obviously you did not want to do this in the winter. Adding a tiny bit of bleach to the wash water helps too, and so does washing them a lot.

I hate when cards are not completely flat. HATE it. Sometimes flattening them under heavy books for several weeks works, but I find that usually only long term and regular use really works in softening them up and getting rid of their tendency to bend in the wrong directions.

 

[Grizabella]

People wore their jeans into the bathtub, too and then let them dry while wearing them. And I've heard that people do the water method with new cowboy boots to get them to conform to the feet comfortably as well.

My method is pretty much like Omeada's, but that way of doing it results more in the Umbrae method. I use mine more gently using both hands and just do front and back. I use that method for "clunker" decks. They make this kind of a clunk feeling when you try to make them flat.

The Morgan Greers with the new lamination are the most likely to only want to shuffle nicely in one direction but make clumps in the other direction. I haven't used mine enough to break it in so it quits doing that, but hopefully with enough use and shuffling, they're eventually going to behave better. I don't use the Morgan Greer all that much.

 

[Bhavana]

People wore their jeans into the bathtub, too and then let them dry while wearing them. And I've heard that people do the water method with new cowboy boots to get them to conform to the feet comfortably as well.

AHHH!! Don't think I could deliberately soak my boots. I wear shoes out fast enough just wearing them!!

My new MG is harder to shuffle too, but it is a non issue because I don't shuffle riffle style anymore - but mine does not have heavy lamination, it is just that the cards are thick. Are the new MG's made in Italy? (I just got mine recently from the BookDepot., but it is made in China - so I am thinking they sold me an older printing)

 

[nisaba]

I don't believe in "folding" Tarot cards - paper has memory and you'll never be able to remove the fold in them - but when a deck starts to curl I *bend* them gently against the curl, then cut the deck so that the middle bits become the outside bits and bend again.

I had a jeans-jacket years ago that I loved dearly - it had a genuine bullet-hole in the centre of the back. It had been hung on a tree in the bush and shot with a rifle. Once when I injured myself slightly, I retained the presence-of-mind to smear some of my own blood around and below the bullet-hole before doing the necessary first-aid. I have no idea at all what became of that jacket: even though it wouldn't have fitted me for a decade, I would love to still have it.

 

[LuzBlanca]

I had and STILL have a problem shuffling this deck (Morgan Greer)... My first (Rider Waite) was stiff in the beginning (as most new decks) but its VERY strong to which I can shuffle putting one on top of the others without damaging the paper or corners. But the Morgan Greer as soon as I tried to shuffle this way one card (the paper) immediately got damaged as if it would cut in two or separate.
So I can only shuffle this deck by putting it all on the table and moving them around.

I also don't like when they are to slippery...

 

[Mishka13]

books

I would put them on a flat firm surface and place a heavy book or books on them for a couple days. Then sleep with them next to you for a couple days to connect with them again...Mishka

 

[Carla]

I've had several decks like this, and really all you need to do is shuffle them a lot. Yes, I mean riffle. Riffle them face down, then face up, then face down, then face up, face down, face up. Go into a kind of zen state. Riffle them while you watch telly. They'll break in.