Greetings:

I recently purchased a couple decks of Phoenix Double Deckers for the purpose of creating double faced cards. The only success I have had with standard cards is sanding them down to the desired thickness (hit and miss). I have never been any good at splitting cards try as I might.

I can't bring myself to using the Phoenix Double Deckers even though to have the gaffed cards custom made would cost more. Eventually I am going to probably go for it. I really want a better set of the Sympathetic 13.

I have since purchased 4 more of these decks and have been contemplating creating some fluid utility decks.

Which leads to the following question: Has anyone in this forum tried using these to make double-faced cards, and has anyone created a fluid deck, and were they functional or difficult to use.

I believe I have seen some card work where the two decks are in a specific order in relation to each other in the stack and it could have been a fluid deck, but not a requirement for the specific effect being performed.

On a side note, I'd love to see a Phoenix Double Decker style version of Mental Photography.

I have never thought of using Phoenix DD's to make double face cards - good idea! Maybe first sand them a little bit (on the backs) with a very fine sandpaper (400+) to take off the finish, so they stick better.
I'm not too familiar with the Sympathetic 13 but maybe you could get some of the cards in a normal Bicycle double-face deck?
Good luck!

Joshua Jay in his 2nd Penguin lecture talks about using Phoenix DD's to make DFers.


Dave

Yes - Joshua Jay uses them in a great routine I believe he calls it Reverse in Time.

I enjoyed that Reverse in Time routine.


Dave

I am going to try Harry Robson's Roughing Stick on one of the DDs and see how they turn out. At this point the cards are untried by me. When I found them I had been looking into a very thin card to make up DFers, Good to hear it has been tried and proven to work. Thank you for the feedback. I will report on how they turn out as a fluid deck.

I reached out to Shawn Even's at Mimesis Magic a few weeks ago, but he was out doing a tour at the time. I emailed him again and he replied. It appears he's worked these decks before. I decided to send my DDs to him for treatment. He said, and I quote "...when the Phoenix cards are roughed properly, their true potential is reached." I am really stoked about seeing the finished product.

I received my decks from Shawn today and I am very pleased with the results. They do require more subtle handling than standards, but they are amazing. I conceived of a new effect, but was not sure if it would actually work. Well not only does it work. It is mind blowing. DDs do work as fluid decks - well at least thanks to Shawn Evan's and his superb craftsmanship on mine.