talkmagic.co.uk

Advice from a pro is surely more helpful than pointless posts, wouldn't you say?

Lenoir wrote:Advice from a pro is surely more helpful than pointless posts, wouldn't you say?

meh...depends on the contexted...

queen of clubs wrote:Why are we all just avoiding the obvious answer?!!

If you've worn out a deck, opan a new deck. These people who think a deck of cards is a posession rather than a disposable tool really annoy me.

If you're still using a deck that is so shagged it is too fat to fit inside the box, how the heck have you still been able to do magic with it for the past 9 weeks?!

Just. Open. A. New. Deck.

I have to agree with you. I open a new deck every 3- 4 weeks or so.
But I don't think that's the problem of spvn.
Because his hands get so sweaty his deck may be trashed after 3 days or so. And it would be really expensive to open a new deck of cards every 3 or 4 days.
So he would like to know how to prevent this from happening.

Mandrake wrote:Agreed - if you do magic with silks you wouldn't dream of using dirty stained and crumpled silks - would you?

Wana bet... Ive seen loads of acts that do Just that.
back in the day when i had a silk act, every sunday my place looked like twankees laundry.

Groovebird wrote:

queen of clubs wrote:Why are we all just avoiding the obvious answer?!!

If you've worn out a deck, opan a new deck. These people who think a deck of cards is a posession rather than a disposable tool really annoy me.

If you're still using a deck that is so shagged it is too fat to fit inside the box, how the heck have you still been able to do magic with it for the past 9 weeks?!

Just. Open. A. New. Deck.

I have to agree with you. I open a new deck every 3- 4 weeks or so.
But I don't think that's the problem of spvn.
Because his hands get so sweaty his deck may be trashed after 3 days or so. And it would be really expensive to open a new deck of cards every 3 or 4 days.
So he would like to know how to prevent this from happening.

you know, the state of your palms has very little to do with the cards expanding.

at one particular gig, i was getting about 1 effect from a deck, because it was hot and humid. i gave up on cards in the end, and did other stuff instead.
it does help if you carry them ina a close up case, because if you have them im a pocket, you have the added body heat to deal with.

daleshrimpton wrote: I've seen loads of acts that do Just that

Sadly so have I! One of the first magic books I read (probably in Latin!) stressed the need for hands to be clean, nails trimmed, clothes freshly laundered and pressed and all props to be of best quality and presentation which meant washing and ironing all the silks, making sure ropes were clean and so on. I haven't seen that advice in many recent books.....

i know its off topic, but the thing that really gets to me more than anything else, is whan a performer still has the white label stitched onto the silk.
i can excuse the odd crumple, but man that really does annoy me.

OBVIOUSLY I would like to open a new deck of cards everytime if I could. But it's too expensive for me to do so, I can't afford spending that much on cards. FYI I'm only a hobbyist. I'm not planning on holding any shows or performing any time in the near future, card tricks is merely a hobby of mine, in fact I seldom perform them to friends even.

My parents don't approve of me spending that much on cards anyway (yeah I'm pretty young) and even if I could spend as much as I wanted to on cards, I probably wouldn't spend much either.

So my question once again is, does a thicker stock help make the deck wear out slower than a normal rider back as I've heard from somewhere.

no, it doesnt. what tends to go on playing cards, isnt the face and back. Its the bit in the middle.
If you take a playing card apart, you will find several layers of thin, absorbant paper.And its that which soaks up the moisture.

I don't think the thicker stock is going to help you.

I have to agree with Queen of Clubs here. Do you have any personal budget? An allowance, or money to go to the cinema? Skipping one trip to the movies could be exchanged for a fresh pack every five days for an entire month (at least with the cinema & pack prices in California.) Packs just aren't all that much. They can be if you freshen up constantly -- I've shelved four packs this week already -- but I have the luxury of a paying job. In your case, every couple of weeks should help considerably. If your only money is from your parents, then you might have to make a deal with them. (Chores? Give up something else that costs money?) Your parents also probably have no idea that card quality is important. That may or may not be something you want to try to teach them. (Give them a completely new pack and a ratty old pack, and have them compare just how the cards slide on one another. It should be night and day!)

Unfortunately, the solution really is just new cards. Best of luck...

I'm taking a wild stab in the dark here... the cards your buying that are expensive.....

there not standard red or blue backed bikes are they?

if your not performing for anybody, and dont even do tricks for your mates, buying expensive cards is an utter waste of money.

buy cheep cards, and keep the nice deck for best.

Nah I'm buying the standard rider backs. I can only get them for about US$3 per deck, there are only that many magic shops in my country. Still, I really have no idea what to do with decks that I throw away.

Ha, to my parents, cards are just cards, they won't be able to tell the difference between a new one and an old one, to them saving an "unnecessarily spent" 3 bucks is much more important.

Thanks for the replies though, guess I'll just have to make do.

Hi, I thought I'd use this thread for posting my question, because it also concerns card handling problems.

(Please excuse my English)

So I'm having kind of a similar problem here : either my hands are too sweaty because of the stress, either they are too dry (when I'm practicing alone) and the cards won't come. You can imagine how hard it is to practice the Ascanio spread with dry hands right ?

So I'm asking you guys, how do you manage when your hands can't even pull one card from the deck because it just slides on without gripping it ?

Thanks.

If its nerves you can do the relaxing breathing routine to lower your metabolism and thus stop sweating.

You could also hyperventilate but that might not be a good idea if you are about to perform

I'm with everyone else I don't even DO card tricks and I've totaled like 3 or 4 decks already.

They do make "clear" decks that are not paper and this won't ever get destroyed but I'm guessing its a bit impractical when the spectators an see your break

http://www.magic.org/store/product_info ... ts_id=4678