talkmagic.co.uk

I frequantly find it very had to control playing cards due to slippery &/or dry hands.
One example being that if I cut a deck from right hand into left hand & as pulling the top half away I snag the top card of the top pile & snap it to the top of the bottom pile, using all four right hand fingers, follow...

Generally I cannot get a grip on the back card. However if I lick my fingers before hand & do the sleight within 20 seconds of the lick drying or so the sleight works smoothly.

Obviously I can't keep licking my hands & I can't be the only one with this problem.

Is there a powder, gel, cream, spray or summink that can give the hands better hanling ability? How do you other guys & gals deal with this?

Also I've heard of rough backed cards, of all the gimmicked & straight decks I've purchased the backs have always been smooth. Are rough backed cards as the title would suggest with a rougher back & is it easier to control & grip.

Or does rough back mean something entirely illogical Jim?
Thanks

Rough back cards probably won't help with your sleights - cards treated with 'rough and smooth' are used to achieve certain effects. They are gimmicked cards rather than cards for general use, if you see what I'm saying. Dunno how much I can explain without giving it all away. I'm sure one of the mods can explain it a bit better.

You can get a product called 'Sortkwik' for a fiver from cards4magic.co.uk and this is a hand lotion especially suitable for card workers. It leaves the hands slightly tacky and helps to grip and control cards during dealing, sleights etc. (I can only do the Elmsley Count with licked fingers and they soon dry off so perhaps I ought to go buy Sortkwick myself!)

Check out the Playing Card Accessories section and scroll down until you find it.

Sortkwik is a great product... i use it meself as i suffer from dry hands

This question comes up quite a bit on magic forums. You will no doubt have a dozen or so potential solutions to the problem.

Thanks for pointing me in the direction of Sortkwik, will order a bottle.

Quick Update.

Got my sortkwik pot today & it does work wonders with handling the cards.

I used to have incredible trouble seperating cards in the ID, now it's the other extreme, the cards are forcing off to easily! Bit of revised handling & I'll be okay.
Thanks to all who pointed it out & I recommend to others suffering the same slippery hands problem.

You can get an even cheaper lotion from places like Boots. Any hand cleaning lotion will do. You apply it to your hands and tries whilst rubbing .

This was recomended by Michael Vincent.

I tried various types of hand creams, lotions, moisturisers until my side of the bathroom strongly resembled a small branch of Boots! They all did a good job of reducing dry skin etc but either left an oily residue on the cards or were absorbed into the skin too quickly leaving nothing on the fingers to aid adhesion. For really dry skin where it cracks in cold weather, I use Lotil cream - it's not so easy to get as it used to be and may need to be ordered but it works fine on my hands.

Having just received my tub of Sortkwik, I can see that this is a different product completely - it stays on the fingers far longer than cosmetic or dermalogical creams and greatly assists with moving papers and cards around. I noticed one of the cashiers at the local NatWest uses it as well and she's not into magic 'cos I asked her!

Here are two items which might be of interest to some of you folks:

You are right, Sortkwik works fine, but does not last very long for me. Especially when you get older, (I know about that!) dry hands become a problem. Petroleum based lotions just make things worse; even make your hands slippery. Some gurus suggest mixing your own rose water and glycerin, but that’s too much of a hassle for me. "Zim's Crack Cream" is glycerin based, long lasting and really works. For me, the dry hands problem no longer exists. You can find it usually in the first aid section, not the hand lotion section of many drug stores. BTW: Be sure to get the Zim’s Crack Cream in the little bottle, not the “Creamy Daytime Formula” in the tube. The stuff in the tube makes your hands sort of slick. The original formula in the bottle leaves your hands slightly tacky. I don’t know if this is available in Europe, but it is fairly common in the U.S.A. An internet search might turn up a source in the UK.

While on the subject of helpful concoctions: Even though you know how to use your voice and project, your voice can get really tired after four or five shows or you have a sore throat, etc. A product called "Entertainer's Secret" is the best stuff I’ve found to clear your voice for maybe 45 minutes at a time. I’ve tired honey and lemon, five fingers of tequila , everything you can think of, but this stuff works the best. I learned about this from a street singer. I have heard that even some opera singers use it. If you are interested, you might want to check out their web site at: http://www.entertainers-secret.com/

I hope this info helps,

Gerald

or if you cant get Zim’s Crack Cream (which just sounds hilarious to me) you can try getting hold of a bottle of "Chamberlain Golden Touch Lotion" (another glycerin base product) which unfortunately is also only available in the US but comes in a 354Ml bottle which lasts ages (and it also leaves your hands smelling lovely )

the_mog,
The “Zim’s Crack Cream” name does bring up some strange visuals which are probably better left unexplored. Just to clarify: “Zim’s Crack Cream” is for your HANDS. Zim’s is for people who have chronic dry skin that cracks, hence the name (I guess.)

I have also tried "Chamberlain Golden Touch Lotion", but Zim’s seems to work better for me. Both are good products.

Regards,

Gerald

There was an aftershave lotion recommended to me by a local magic dealer I visit. I can't remeber which one right now, but I'll post it as soon as I've spoken to him.

www.magic-mirror.co.uk

Texture spray might be the answer.

Steve Dela