talkmagic.co.uk

While attempting to "age" my pack of tarot cards using the old overnight soak in cold tea techinique, I inadvertently ruined them. The backs of the cards seperated from the fronts.

Two questions: a) Anyone know a good (ie cheap) online retailer of tarot cards? and b) Anyone know a good technique for age-ing cards that doesn't involve soaking in tea?

TIA

www.blackhart.co.uk does Tarot and has a spray to age paper etc

The best way to age Tarot cards - hmm - use them for a couple of years

taneous wrote:The best way to age Tarot cards - hmm - use them for a couple of years

I'm so glad you said that before I got into this...

Why do you need to "age" your Tarot cards in the first place? If the artwork isn't of the older style you've pretty much ruined an expensive deck of cards out of ignorance.

If you want that brownish taint however, use brown shoe polish and put it on sparringly, let it sit for a minute and wipe it off. This will make your cards slicker but, on hot days, can cause them to stick in that if you have too much wax residue left on them it will melt and bind the cards so keep them in a cool dry space.

Now here's something to think about... I have one deck that I've used more or less every day for much of the past 15 years, It has a few minor "smudges" on a card here and there, maybe one or two bent corners and other than some faded art work, it really looks and feel like a deck less than a year old.

Why?

Because unlike playing cards a Taroist takes care of his/her TOOLS, keeping them in an appropriate box or bag and frequently pressing them. I know of Readers that use those little alcohol wipes like the handi-wipe cleaners and lightly clean their cards every few months. For this reason the cards don't age in the way you are envisioning... I've seen 50 year old decks you'd swear were next to new because the Reader takes care of his/her deck. So, if you're looking for realism in an aged deck, we come right back to what Taneous just said... USE THEM! Learn to work with them at the legit level and they will age with time and look far more real and ungimmicked than the route you seem to be considering.

I know you won't like the idea Craig, but it is possible that these cards are being used for magic tricks rather than readings so a particular ambience is required for the routine.

I've never done it but I thought that you just dipped the cards in cold teas rather than soaking them. I imagine coffee would work just as well.

nickj wrote:I know you won't like the idea Craig, but it is possible that these cards are being used for magic tricks rather than readings so a particular ambience is required for the routine.

I've never done it but I thought that you just dipped the cards in cold teas rather than soaking them. I imagine coffee would work just as well.

I was doing tricks with Tarot Cards 30 years ago... so I do understand that reality (love Stephan Minch's BOOK OF THOTH -- Hades Publishing and Jim Magus has many such bits as does Rick Maue). But, my point was, if you are shooting for "realism" in the aged look, you need to consdier what old Tarot cards look like vs. how playing cards age... there is a serious difference in that the one tends to be better taken care of and "revered" than the other.

Since the above post I took a look at some of my notes on aging things and here's what will probably work best...

Brown Shoe Polish is your best bet as I've already stated.

A Brown Crayon... use this only on the edges of the card not the flat surface... the edges of cards age, get dirty, etc. by running the crayon around the edge you can rub the colored wax on both sides of the cards face & back to create a yellowish taint, which is most common to cards.

TEA BAGS work well but make certain they are only slightly damp and sit on the card for brief periods like 3-4 minutes, so the moisture don't draw and cause seperation.

STRONG AS HELL COFFEE OR TEA will also work but as nickj pointed out, it's a time consuming action of dipping and letting the things dry, then dipping again until they start turning. You can spead up this process if you don't need the cards plyable, by "washing" them in the strong tea then spreading them out on a flat cookie sheet and placing them in a 350 (F) degree oven for about 15-20 minutes... this will set the stain but it makes the card stock more brittle and can warp the cards as well.

DIRTY HANDS is one of the best techniques and least considered. If you start off with very light coats of shoe polish on your fingers and just handling the cards, you will get natural smudges. But there's a little secret to this that may not seem overly obvious to most... look at the fingers of a person that smokes... especially if they smoke non-filtered cigarettes or cigars... they have a brown and yellow tar stain on them where the cigarette is held and allowed to burn down. This is a liquid stain and will transfer directly to the cards even an hour after the last cigarette e.g. decks handled by heavy smokers or in a smoke filled atmosphere (including incesne) will get stained along those edges where the fingers hosting the tar stains contatc the cards the most... this is also an old gamblers secret in that those in the know would actually use this stain as a means for marking cards.

A similar source of transfered dirt comes from those that work around lots of oil or grease products such as a machinist, mechanic, etc. instead of brownish you would see transfer of grey and black materials that easily smudge.

I bring up these two examples in case you want to build a background story as to who once had said cards and the kind of work they did which is why many of the cards seem so soiled by said stains. And do bear mind mind that prior to the 1970s and even well into our present era, many major personalities in the psychic world were heavy smokers in that tobacco "grounds them"... it's not always been a vegan's domain (and most of the "real" workers laugh their butts off as said concepts....)

Anyhow... hope this helps you all out.

Yes, the tarot cards are being used for a magic routine - hence the desire to create what would be perceived by the lay person as an "old" deck. Thanks for all the suggestions. Dirty hands and boot polish sound a good place to start when I get hold of a new deck.

Incidently I have worked in the past as a "psychic" tarot reader. I went to one lady's house, pulled out my nice clean deck and she looked at them and said with a note of disdain in her voice "Oh. They're new." Obviously she thought that I couldn't be much of a tarot reader if my cards were nice and clean.

Anyway, overnight in tea had worked before with playing cards hence the reason I attempted it with the tarots. I know better now.

themagicwand wrote:Incidently I have worked in the past as a "psychic" tarot reader. I went to one lady's house, pulled out my nice clean deck and she looked at them and said with a note of disdain in her voice "Oh. They're new." Obviously she thought that I couldn't be much of a tarot reader if my cards were nice and clean. .

There are those that hold to this attitude and the reason being, the like to see cards look like they've been "studied"... but, within the world of the occult we do have High and Low aspects... I studied with those that held to higher intellectual paths and habits. I don't say that as a put down, but only perspective; these teachers believed in taking care of and honoring the tools of your craft and preserving all you could for future generations.... the 50 year old deck I'd mentioned before had been passed down from mother to daughter and then grand-daughter and it was pretty much perfect and most certainly well loved... then again, I have a crystal ball that's been in my family for over a century that's never seen sun-light in the whole of that time (only candle and oil light in darkened rooms and only removed from its box after much pomp & circumstance).

But, let me put this in a slightly different light, if I may...

When I worked with Kirkham I got to work with the actual props built by P.T. Sielbit or Dante for the Thurston Show... Blackstone Sr.'s actual Buzz Saw and other such instruments... all of loveingly preserved and respected. It's a horrid thing knowing that many young people in today's world haven't sufficient respect or integrity for thier magic, to preserve it for future generations and worse, that certain sources of manufacture, haven't the "standards" to build magic today that's not disposable... or so it would seem.

I vote for taking care of it all as best we can so as to preserve the legacy.

Incidently I have worked in the past as a "psychic" tarot reader. I went to one lady's house, pulled out my nice clean deck and she looked at them and said with a note of disdain in her voice "Oh. They're new." Obviously she thought that I couldn't be much of a tarot reader if my cards were nice and clean.

Well I have an easy answer for that one:
"Yes, I bring a new deck along each time - it means that the tarot are unpoluted by the touch of others - remember I'm a professional reader."

Now as for ageing tarot cards... The problem is that most decks are plastic coated the same as ordinary playing cards and they have rounded corners, this is quite obvious to your sitter. All you do by 'ageing' them is to make them look rather grubby. You will never make them look really old.

If you are trying to make your deck look ANTIQUE, i.e. 100 years old or more then you need to start with a deck printed on ordinary card and with square edges. For example if I need an ANTIQUE deck of playing cards I use a deck like the 'Heraldic Arms' deck I use for 'Witchfinder General'.http://www.blackhart.co.uk/page77.html These are a replica deck from 1688 and are not coated etc. If you age these then they really can look like a genuine antique deck.

Unless in your presentation you are saying that the deck you are using is actually a couple of hundred years old then you have no need to age the tarot cards.

Of course you could always say in your presentation that you are RECREATING an ancient story - then there is no problem with using a new deck of tarot cards.

Regards

Keith Hart

Thanks for the info Keith. The desire to "age" tarot cards is purely for entertainment purposes. I would never dream of doing anything so crass for cards I intend to use for "real" tarot readings.

Incidently I have been looking with interest at your site for several weeks now, and fully intend to purchase some of your wares in the not too distant future. Imagine my surprise when you replied to a post of mine on MT. Coincidence or fate???

Thanks also to Craig for his thoughtful and considerate postings. Always a pleasure to read postings from Craig - I learn as much from them as I do from any text book.

I was in Sheffield last weekend and had a chance to get to one of the saturday moots at Magick Enterprises - some chap there had "Dr. Strange's instant old age atomiser"! Basically a lacquer-type spray with what seemed to be dust in it! It stung him £10 from somewhere but seemed to work quite well.

Dr Strange Instant Old Age Atomiser is available ONLY from Black Artefacts: http://www.blackhart.co.uk/atomiser.html

It can be used to age almost any prop which it sprays with 'dust' making the prop look as if it has been in a crypt for many years.

It is dry to spray so will not damage documents or cards (unlike trying to soak them in tea or coffee).

We invented the spray some years ago. I thought we had sold out but I found some more boxes when we moved up to Scotland last year.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by it 'stung' him £10! Anyway he purchased it from us - Black Artefacts.

Keith Hart

why not go to ebay and buy a cheap 2nd hand deck for a couple of quid?